File:Bronze Age hoard (FindID 189183).jpg

Report by Sally Worrell:

"This group of 56 artefacts represents a diverse and extensive range of artefact types. All the artefacts date from the Ewart Park phase of the Late Bronze Age (1000-800 BC). The artefacts were found scattered over a small area and were probably dispersed due to the actions of the plough. The majority of the artefacts are types whoch commonly occur in Late Bronze Age hoards in south-0eastern Britain. There are 7 complete, 10 incomplete and 7 fragments of socketed axes representing a minimum of at least 16 axes; the majority of which are of south-eastern type (no.s 1-22 in report). In addition, there are two socketed knives ( no. 23-24), one tanged knife (no. 30), three fragments of Carp's Tongue swords (no.s 31-33), four spearhead fragments (no. 34-37), two casting jets (no. 44-45), one complete ingot (no. 46) and nine fragments of ingot (nos. 47-55).

There are also a number of artefacts which are more unusual in British hoards of this period. These include the socketed hammer (no. 28). mortising chisel (no. 29), tanged spearhead (no. 38), bucket baseplate (no. 39) and vessl fragments (nos. 40-42). The bucket baseplate is similar to the baseplate recently found at Barley, Herts. A complete bucket base with four baseplates and a portion of the bronze vessel was found at Little Houghton, Northants (Needham 1986). The socketed axe filled with lead (no. 17) and the axe whose socket extension is also likely to have been filled with lead (nos. 8 and 21) are unusual examples. Similar treatment has been noted on a fragment of a small socketed axe in the hoard from Ellesborough, Bucks (Farley 1979, 145 no. 4 fig 7) and two examples were noted in the recently discovered hoard from Crundale, Kent. No. 17 is also interesting in that a fragment of copper-alloy was placed in the socket, presumably at the same time as the lead. The small socketed axes represented by the lower blade fragments (nos. 19-22) are generally well finished, thin-walled examples which in some instances have blunt blade edges which show little sign of wear.

Although a considerable quantity of the artefacts are not fragmented, many artefacts show signs of heavy wear and breakage for inclusion as scrap metal and it is likely that they were collected with other surplus bronze to form a metal resource for recycling. The presence of tools, weapons, metal-working debris and ingots of raw material suggest that this is a founder's hoard."