Description

Summary: 2 hammerstones made from the two ends of a broken stone axe that had been decorated with double grooves around its edges, found with a primary male and female (shaman/metalworker?) inhumation in bowl barrow Upton Lovell G2a, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

Both fragments of this axehead were examined microscopically by Tsoraki et al. (2021). They identify microwear traces which suggest both that the damaged cutting edge had been used to work a material such as wood, or more likely, bone, and that there had been a deliberate attempt to remove traces of production around the central perforation. Alongside other observations, such as the reworking of the broken upper half and the probable reuse of the lower half as a percussor, as well as the two halves eventual reunification in the grave, they use the object as a case study for the application of ‘New’ Materiality and assemblage theory to explore the potential meanings the object may have held.

This grave group has been discussed by Boutoille (2019), who notes that it is exceptional in both the quantity of metal working tools and also their character, as although other hammerstones made from polished stone axeheads are known, this is the only grave in which they are found as grave goods. Boutoille discusses these objects as part of a preliminary survey of Bronze Age metal working tools in Britain and Ireland, noting that the range of metal working tools found in Britain appears to be more limited than than on the continent, although that it would still have supported a range of methods. She also notes that metal working tools from graves in the Early Bronze Age only tend to consist of those for finer work, with heavier hammers known from other contexts.

This object and the other grave goods found with the primary double-burial of Upton Lovell G2a have been examined by Tsoraki et al. (in prep.) as part of the Beyond the Three Age System. In addition to the percussive traces reported in Tsoraki et al. (2021), gold-coloured residue was also identified on the cutting edge, but attempts to analyse it with the Scanning Electron Microscope failed.

Two fragments of a decorated, polished peforated 'battle-axe' found deposited together with a primary double burial of a male and female, often interpreted as a metalworker or Shaman's burial. One half has been extensively reworked to remove evidence of the perforation, whilst the butt appears to have been reused as a percussor.