Object: Blade (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1100 to -800)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Conwy, Conwy, Conwy (Wales)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 54.6 mm
Thickness: 4.2 mm
Weight: 40.1 g
Description: Bronze Age copper alloy blade fragment from an uncertain artefact.



The implement is incomplete and has broken in antiquity before the blade and has a surviving length of 54.6mm. The piece has been cast in a simple one-piece mould and has undergone no further finishing. At the break the piece has a width of 16.4mm. The sides are curved and diverge sharply to define an expanded blade with a crescentic edge. The implement is flat with a thickness at the break of 4.2mm and 3.2mm at the blade, and weighs 40.1g. Both faces are irregular as would be expected, given that the piece is from the mould. The upper face has a general silver colour, probably because of tin surface enrichment but also has patches of a pale to mid green patina. The underside has a general pale green patina. The implement is an unusual constituent within an assemblage, not least because it has undergone no finishing and may be seen as coming straight from the mould.



A parallel for the piece is from the Acton Park (Wrexham) hoard, where an unusual implement interpreted as a possible chisel was found associated with primary shield pattern palstaves (Savory 1980, No.262 (7), Fig.30). The Acton Park chisel is of similar blade dimensions, is also 'as cast', is flat and has a wide expanded blade. The Acton Park piece however is complete and has flanged sides, since this item has broken before the position of the flanges any identification is speculative. Alternatively, and perhaps more plausibly, this might represent a broken blade of a later tanged chisel, broken below any tang or collar. Tanged chisels are known from a variety of Late Bronze Age contexts such as the hoards from Penwyllt, Powys, and Brogyntyn, Shropshire (Savory 1980, No.284(9); No.288(3)).
Notes: This object is part of a hoard of five objects, found around 1975. The hoard consists of another two palstaves (NMGW-632296; NMGW-759FC0), a socketed axe (NMGW-75C4F7) and a socketed gouge (NMGW-75FE70).



This hoard can be fairly confidently dated to the Late Bronze Age, resolution within this time period however, is problematic and requires metallurgical analysis to resolve. The palstaves (NMGWPA 2005.93.1-2) are suggested as being of 'Guilsfield' type and suggest manufacture during the Wilburton metalworking industry. Wilburton metalworking corresponds to Needham's (1996) Period 6 and is dated to c. 1150-950 BC. The socketed axe (NMGWPA 2005.93.3) of Type Gillespie can be dated from late Wilburton to Ewart Park (Schmidt & Burgess 1981, pp 193), although Wilburton associations are known (ibid.). Savory (1980, pp 55) has suggested that simple mouth mouldings on socketed gouges suggest a later date within the type, probably implying a Ewart Park date for the gouge NMGWPA 2005.93.4, within Needham's (1996) Period 7, dated to c. 950-750BC.



It is the Identifier's opinion that these complex dating issues may only be resolved through metallurgical analysis to identify the alloying group as outlined by Northover (1980).
Subsequent action: Returned to finder