Modelling tribological processes to examine the lives of Bronze Age palstave axes

Abstract

There have been few attempts to conduct sequential and highly-controlled experiments in the
laboratory, to isolate how wear formation processes propagate on metal artefacts during simulated
use. It was the aim of this research, therefore, to establish a multi-method approach to model the
progression of surface wear and the appearance of major deformation phenomena on replica palstave axes, for the purpose of clarifying the use-intensity of their prehistoric counterparts. There is much uncertainty regarding the role of palstave axes; they very likely facilitated ongoing forest clearances, yet, expressed often in hearsay, is the ‘pristine’ nature of their recovery condition. This project involved using a drop tower (Instron CEAST 9350) to conduct experiments on replicas with several alloy compositions and post-production processing, to study the sequential development, form, and properties of surface wear and major deformation phenomena, in isolation from interfering variables. The analysis variably included photography, low-power microscopy (digital), high-power microscopy (SEM), and microhardness indentation. The results have demonstrated that the wear manifested at the cutting-edge of replica palstave axes during use can be successfully tracked by mechanical testing and sequential analysis. A better appreciation of underlying metallurgy, combined with insight from the experimentation with replica palstave axes, has permitted a more nuanced evaluation of wear characteristics and use-intensity of prehistoric palstaves. This, alongside damage assessment and available contextual data, has allowed the life
trajectories of 102 ancient palstave axes to be determined, highlighting the considerable variability
of their biographies.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Tomas Polcar: orcid.org/0000-0002-0863-6287

Catalogue record

Export record