Description

Summary: 1 bronze chisel or small flanged axe, found with primary cremation in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G64, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A copper alloy flanged axehead or chisel, found with the primary cremation in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G64, excavated by William Cunnington.

A dog was placed over the cist which contained this cremation. Wilkin (2011) discusses this grave group alongside a number of other Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age graves in Wiltshire, Dorset, and Oxfordshire, in order to explore the significance of the inclusion of animal remains in graves of this period for human-animal relationships. They suggest that whilst these are not frequent inclusions, only appearing in 15% of graves, they are disproportionately non-meat bearing elements such as skulls, horns, and antlers and may have had symbolic connotations. He suggests that animal remains linked practical and cosmological concerns; for example: the quality of a year’s antler harvest may have impacted communities’ ability to construct a monument, tying social identities to natural cycles. The inclusion of domestic cattle and wild deer in the same graves may have had significance in terms of how the dichotomy of hunting and farming was viewed by contemporary communities, whilst the animal remains themselves may have referenced the inherent characteristic of the animals themselves and assisted in the evocation of spirits or powers, or have had symbolic potential.

This object has been discussed by Boutoille (2019) as part of a preliminary survey of stone metal working tools in Britain and Ireland. She suggests that it is possible similar small axeheads and chisels may have been used as metalworking tools, although that this needs to be confirmed by use wear or a similar analysis. She notes 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.