Establishing life trajectories for British and Irish Middle Bronze Age palstave axes
Establishing life trajectories for British and Irish Middle Bronze Age palstave axes
This paper presents the results of chemical characterisation, metallography, metalwork wear-analysis, and damage assessment conducted on 102 British and Irish Middle Bronze Age (c. 1500–1000 BCE) tin-bronze palstave axes. There is 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. A better appreciation of underlying metallurgy, combined with insight from prior experimentation with replica palstave axes, has allowed a more nuanced evaluation of wear characteristics and use-intensity. This, alongside available contextual data, has permitted the life trajectories of prehistoric palstave axes found within the archaeological record to be determined, highlighting a common narrative of preparation for, and minimal application in, functional use, with preservation favoured over destruction at deposition, as well as the considerable variability presented within their life histories.
Archaeometallurgy, Microscopy, Object biography, Use-wear traces
Andrews, Miriam
61a71817-9828-48d4-bcff-04d5cd65b266
Polcar, Tomas
c669b663-3ba9-4e7b-9f97-8ef5655ac6d2
Sofaer, Jo
038f9eb2-5863-46ef-8eaf-fb2513b75ee2
Pike, Alistair W.G.
e8603e20-0a89-4d57-a294-247b983fc857
17 October 2024
Andrews, Miriam
61a71817-9828-48d4-bcff-04d5cd65b266
Polcar, Tomas
c669b663-3ba9-4e7b-9f97-8ef5655ac6d2
Sofaer, Jo
038f9eb2-5863-46ef-8eaf-fb2513b75ee2
Pike, Alistair W.G.
e8603e20-0a89-4d57-a294-247b983fc857
Andrews, Miriam, Polcar, Tomas, Sofaer, Jo and Pike, Alistair W.G.
(2024)
Establishing life trajectories for British and Irish Middle Bronze Age palstave axes.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 60, [104811].
(doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104811).
Abstract
This paper presents the results of chemical characterisation, metallography, metalwork wear-analysis, and damage assessment conducted on 102 British and Irish Middle Bronze Age (c. 1500–1000 BCE) tin-bronze palstave axes. There is 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. A better appreciation of underlying metallurgy, combined with insight from prior experimentation with replica palstave axes, has allowed a more nuanced evaluation of wear characteristics and use-intensity. This, alongside available contextual data, has permitted the life trajectories of prehistoric palstave axes found within the archaeological record to be determined, highlighting a common narrative of preparation for, and minimal application in, functional use, with preservation favoured over destruction at deposition, as well as the considerable variability presented within their life histories.
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Accepted/In Press date: 9 October 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 October 2024
Published date: 17 October 2024
Keywords:
Archaeometallurgy, Microscopy, Object biography, Use-wear traces
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 495881
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/495881
ISSN: 2352-409X
PURE UUID: 45325837-4ffe-42fd-b7ca-9878fb481c13
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Date deposited: 26 Nov 2024 17:45
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:07
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