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Jan. 6th, 2011 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endlessraritiesIt's time for something completely different now.
As you all know, I spend much of my working life out of the office these days. So my lunchtime and teabreak enterprises - namely getting on with my Bronze Age metalwork projects - have been sadly curtailed.
A long while back I talked about the Gavel Moss hoard, and I introduced you to the star object - the dagger. Time for another Gavel Moss artefact now. This time it's one of the two developed flat axes which were included in the hoard.
Here's the initial pencil sketch:-
It's a beautiful piece. Not only are both faces decorated (yes, those chisel marks are meant to be that haphazard!) but it also features on odd 'barley twist' effect on the sides. Conclusion: the nature of the decoration is such that it would only be revealed if the object was not bound in place upon a haft. (Though the purists could argue that the 'barley twist' effect may in fact help keep the object in place when it's bound onto the haft.
Here's the final version, blown up to a larger size and then inked:
If you're wondering what the circular mark in the body of the object is, it is - as you may suspect - a hole, which has been drilled through it in modern times. I'm not sure whether it's the result of a previous owner mutilating in order to mount it properly, or a cack-handed effort at metallurgical analysis. Usually if it's the latter, the holes are much smaller, and much more discreet,
This is a lovely example of an axehead from the Arreton tradition, representing the final phase of metalwork which can be described as Early rather than Middle Bronze Age in character. The Arreton tradition is itself named after the Arreton Down hoard, which was found on the Isle of Wight in the 19th century, if I remember right, and which included axeheads, daggers and spearheads amongst its contents.
Here's the final version, blown up to a larger size and then inked:
If you're wondering what the circular mark in the body of the object is, it is - as you may suspect - a hole, which has been drilled through it in modern times. I'm not sure whether it's the result of a previous owner mutilating in order to mount it properly, or a cack-handed effort at metallurgical analysis. Usually if it's the latter, the holes are much smaller, and much more discreet,
This is a lovely example of an axehead from the Arreton tradition, representing the final phase of metalwork which can be described as Early rather than Middle Bronze Age in character. The Arreton tradition is itself named after the Arreton Down hoard, which was found on the Isle of Wight in the 19th century, if I remember right, and which included axeheads, daggers and spearheads amongst its contents.
