Daggers & Halberds & Spearheads - Oh My!!

The saga with the Inland Revenue continues.  Once I've finished this post and had my tea, I'll be spending the rest of my evening trying to track down my activities on the HMRC website so I can phone to a tax advisor tomorrow.

On a lighter note...  I finally got to grips with the problems of cordoned, collared & bucket urns today.  I read a great paper that presents the results of a programme of radiocarbon dating on cremated bone - of course, there's only a handful of urns that have been dated as yet, but every little helps in the greater scheme of things.

It's been quite a frustrating day.  I have a paper to rewrite (taking into account the aforementioned paper) and loads and loads of Neolithic and Bronze Age pots to illustrate.  I'm desperate to get on with it, but I have to finish my report for Tuesday's field survey.

Prehistoric pottery versus 19th century farmsteadings?  The pottery wins hands down as far as I'm concerned, any time.  But alas I can't quite break free of the survey report just yet. 

Tomorrow, I should be able to get on with the fun things...

Even more exciting was an unexpected e-mail from a colleague who wanted my thoughts on a copper alloy object brought in by a metal detectorist.  Was it interesting?  Well, it was Early Bronze Age, which made it interesting right away. 

I wound up racking my brain trying to decide whether it was a halberd or a dagger.  The two forms are similar, but different.  This doesn't make any sense, I know, but there's loads of different attributes to consider.  What size is it?  Are there are any marks left by a hilt or haft (daggers having a hilt set vertically, while halberds sit horizontally upon the shaft)?  What's its cross-section?

Sadly, a few photographs don't answer half these questions.

You know, I'd much rather be grubbing about in my books looking up Early Bronze Age daggers and halberds tonight.  But sadly I'm going to be shackled to my tax return instead.  Bleaugh!!!

Daggers & Halberds & Spearheads - Oh My!!

The saga with the Inland Revenue continues.  Once I've finished this post and had my tea, I'll be spending the rest of my evening trying to track down my activities on the HMRC website so I can phone to a tax advisor tomorrow.

On a lighter note...  I finally got to grips with the problems of cordoned, collared & bucket urns today.  I read a great paper that presents the results of a programme of radiocarbon dating on cremated bone - of course, there's only a handful of urns that have been dated as yet, but every little helps in the greater scheme of things.

It's been quite a frustrating day.  I have a paper to rewrite (taking into account the aforementioned paper) and loads and loads of Neolithic and Bronze Age pots to illustrate.  I'm desperate to get on with it, but I have to finish my report for Tuesday's field survey.

Prehistoric pottery versus 19th century farmsteadings?  The pottery wins hands down as far as I'm concerned, any time.  But alas I can't quite break free of the survey report just yet. 

Tomorrow, I should be able to get on with the fun things...

Even more exciting was an unexpected e-mail from a colleague who wanted my thoughts on a copper alloy object brought in by a metal detectorist.  Was it interesting?  Well, it was Early Bronze Age, which made it interesting right away. 

I wound up racking my brain trying to decide whether it was a halberd or a dagger.  The two forms are similar, but different.  This doesn't make any sense, I know, but there's loads of different attributes to consider.  What size is it?  Are there are any marks left by a hilt or haft (daggers having a hilt set vertically, while halberds sit horizontally upon the shaft)?  What's its cross-section?

Sadly, a few photographs don't answer half these questions.

You know, I'd much rather be grubbing about in my books looking up Early Bronze Age daggers and halberds tonight.  But sadly I'm going to be shackled to my tax return instead.  Bleaugh!!!