English: Circumstances of Discovery: On the 12^th July, two side-looped palstaves, and one socketed hammer were found. The hoard was found on the side of a ditch on pasture land, in North Somerset.

Description:

1. Copper alloy side-looped palstave, Transitional Type. The palstave has high petal shaped flanges, and three ribs which run from the centre of the stop ridge, and end approximately a quarter of the way down the blade in a triangular/trident shape, roughly parallel to the end of the side-loop. The body of the palstave is narrow but widens down the blade eventually flaring at the cutting edge. The septum is covered with mud, and the patina is grey with flecks of orange. The surface of the palstave is chipped at the cutting edge, and heavily corroded and bulbous on one of the blade faces, beneath the stop ridge and on the un-looped blade side.
Weight: 520.6g, Max Length: 163.54mm, Max Width: 60.43mm

2. Copper alloy, side-looped palstave, Transitional Type. The palstave has high petal shaped flanges and the potential remains of a rib extending down the blade face from the stop ridge, which has been heavily corroded. The body of the palstave is narrow but widens down the blade eventually flaring at the cutting edge. The butt is squared and the blade facet has a chip on it. The patina is grey and white, and there is a large orange coloured section beneath the stop ridge, and the surface of the palstave is uneven and bulbous is places.
Weight: 492.8g, Max Length 162.60mm, Max Width: 61.48mm

3. Copper alloy socketed hammer. The socketed hammer has a single ridge moulding around the socket mouth, and four ribs which run down the body of the hammer and form a triangular shape. On one side of the hammer is a protruding spike.
Weight: 153.1g, Max Length: 72.58mm Max Width: 27.97mm, Length of spike: 10.88mm

Discussion: The two Transitonal Type side-looped palstaves are dated to the Penard (c. 1300-1150 BC) metalwork phase of the Middle Bronze Age (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 146). This is a broad group which has been sub-classified in northern Britain (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 45-151) but not yet in southern Britain. The two palstaves can be locally paralleled to the trident decorated side-looped Transitional Type palstave of North Curry, Somerset (Pearce 1983, 519).

The socketed hammer also dates the hoard to the Middle Bronze Age Penard (c. 1300-1150 BC) metalwork phase. The hammer does not fall into the Type I or Type II major types of hammer as although it has the mouth moulding of a Type I hammer, the body is not short and squat, nor does it have a slender and parallel body which is typical of a Type II hammer. (Coombs 1971, 275).

However, the decoration of the socketed hammer is reminiscent of Type Gwithian socketed axes, displaying similar features such as the three ribs descending from the underside of a single mouth moulding, that converge sharply (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 173). A mould for a Type Gwithian socketed axe with similar decorations was found at the Gwithian settlement in Cornwall (Schmidt and Burgess 1981, 174).

Alternatively the socketed hammer may have functioned as a small portable anvil or "stake" (the socket used to attach the object to a wooden stake in the ground), (Evan's 1881, 181), suggesting that the unusual spike on the side of the object (where a loop would be) may have served as a small anvil beak. The hoard could then be compared to the contemporary Flax Bourton hoard in Somerset, where a large anvil was found together with a palstave (Ehrenberg 1981, 23).

References: Schmidt P. and Burgess C. 1981, The axes of Scotland and Northern England Prahistorische Bronzefunde Abteilung IX. Band 7

Evans, J. 1881, The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland. Longmans, Green and Co.

Ehrenberg, M.R. 1981, The anvils of Bronze Age Europe. The Antiquaires Journal .

Coombs, D.G 1971, Late Bronze Age Metalwork in the South of England, Unpublished PhD theses, University of Cambridge

Pearce S. M. 1983. The Bronze Age Metalwork of South Western Britain. Archaeopress:

British Archaeological Reports (British series) 20.