Bronze axe

Collection type: Object
Description: Bronze axe
Long description: Axe head with expanded edge. It would have been slot hafted like a stone blade. There is a small red painted circle after the accession number on one face of the axe head. [SM 03/04/2007]
Geographical reference: Ireland, Republic of
Europe > Northern Europe > Ireland, Republic of; Ireland County Cork Mallow
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Archaeological period: Early Bronze Age
Date collected: By 1874
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Bronze Metal, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Process Cast, Process Forged (Metal)
Dimensions: Thick: max 9.5 mm, Width: max 135 mm, Length: max 179 mm, Weight 743 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.119.32 Other numbers: 16 601 1435.2327 PR Cat other PR nos: 1435 PR Cat other PR nos: 2327
Research and responses: Pitt Rivers was in Ireland [serving in the Army] from 1862-66, this object may have been obtained during this period [Bowden, 1991: 60-4] [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]
In the late 1940s or 1950s, a drilling was taken from this object for elemental analysis and a sample removed for metallographic examination as part of the work of the Ancient Mining and Metallurgy Committee of the Royal Anthropological Institute. For the results of the analysis, see under 'Publications'. [MN 30/03/2009]
Associated publications: Listed on page 314 of 'The Distribution of Early Bronze Age Settlements in Britain (Continued)', by O. G. S. Crawford, in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 40, no. 3 (September 1912), pp. 304-317: '[Site of discovery] Mallow [Present abode] Oxford P.R. (1425, 2327)'. (Photocopy in RDF: Researchers File: Crawford). This article is also available on JSTOR (stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1778948).) [MN 30/01/2009; JC 26 3 2009] Listed as number 601 under the category 'Type Killaha' on page 27 of The Axes of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland (Prähistorische Bronzefunde, IX, 1), by Peter Harbison (Munich: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1969): '601. Mallow, Co. Cork. Single find. Pitt-Rivers Mus., Oxford (1435.2327). Crawford, GJ. 40, 1912, 314 (Pl. 25,1).' See also line-drawing in Plate 25.1 (unpaginated). [MN 04/02/2009; JC 26 3 2009] Published under catalogue number 16 on pages 76 - 77 of Allen, I.M., Britton, D., and Coghlan, H.H., 1970, 'Metallurgical Reports on British and Irish Bronze Age Implements in the Pitt Rivers Museum', Occasional Papers on Technology 10, Oxford University Press, Oxford: Flat and Flanged Axes; Description Flat axe. Butt thin, asymmetrically arched in outline, with small notch, possibly original, near middle. Cutting-edge has hints of wide bevel on one face, sharpened. One side now rounded in cross-section other has traces of two longitudinal facets. One face smooth and well preserved, other badly pitted sides; have traces of recent abrasion [Drawing] Analysis Chemical: Sn 6.998% Spectrographic: Pb 1.67%, As 1.83%, Ni 0.027%, Bi 0.0052%, Fe<0.006%, Ag 0.19%, Mg <0.005% [confirmed bronze copper alloy] Metallographic examination Examination showed twinned grains superimposed on a cored structure. Lead inclusions were present and interdendritic porosity had occurred. The hardness had been increased to 93.8 HB.'. [GB 20/5/2005] [MN 29/01/2009] [CMP 09/08/2010]

Search terms: Tool, Weapon, Axe