Details

LOT 0275

'The Braintree' Bronze Age Axehead and Foundry 'Carp's Tongue/Ewart Phase' Hoard

DEPOSITED CIRCA 900-800 B.C.

7/8 - 4 3/8 in. (5.20 kg total, 2-11 cm).

Being an entire 'founder' hoard deposit comprising: complete socketted axes (6; three with linear ornament to sockets); fragments of socketted and earlier type palstave axes (18, including two that fit together); fragments of other items (4) and pieces of copper 'bun' ingot (8). [36]

Provenance

Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Braintree, Essex, UK, on 14th August 2019.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.BM-C514EA and with a copy of the Harwich Museum loan form.
Disclaimed under the Treasure Act with reference number 2019 T731.

Published

The British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), reference BM-C514EA (this find).
Exhibited at Harwich Museum, Harwich, Essex, UK, 29th June-4th September 2023.

Literature

See Pendleton, Colin F., Bronze Age Metalwork in Northern East Anglia, BAR British Series 279, 1999, for much information on similar pieces found in East Anglia; see also Evans, John, The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1881.

Footnotes

The composition of this hoard is quite typical of similar deposits found across south-eastern England and dating to the Late Bronze Age; most such finds include broken fragments together with pieces of ingot and some complete items, as seen here. It is unusual to see an entire deposit offered together as most such are either held in museums or have been divided up.