Description

Summary: Bronze socketed axe, a part of the Manton Hoard found near Manton Copse, Preshute.

Research results

A Late Bronze Age socketed axehead of South Eastern plain type, found as part of a hoard of 10 axeheads near Manton Copse, Preshute in 1914, and purchased by the Museum in 1916. Just 18 years later, this was one of four axeheads in the group stolen during a major burlary at the museum in 1934; the axeheads were recovered 51 years later when they were identified in the collections of Ipswich Museum, having been sold to them with a false provinance. Although a late Bronze Age type, Boughton (2015) has suggested that the group was in fact deposited in the transition into the Early Iron Age as the group contains multiple mould sets (axeheads made using the same mould), a common occurance in Early Iron Age Hoards but which is far rarer in the Late Bronze Age. This axehead was produced in the same mould as DZSWS:BROOKE.309.

This axehead was described by Lawson et al. (2011) in relation to the discovery of a second hoard of axeheads nearby to this initial group in 1999, and the arguements for and against treating the two groups as a single dispersed hoard are set out.

This axhead was re-examined by Boughton (2015) as part of her PhD discussing Early Iron Age socketed axeheads. This study examined over 1400 axeheads from across Britain, defining a number of new types, some of which are regional, along with local and regional practices.