English: Cast bronze (copper alloy) flat axe of Early Bronze Age date, the sub-type of axe is difficult to identify mostly due to the small size of this example. The axe is sub-triangular in plan with a narrow rounded butt that is 9mm wide, the sides expand in evenly to the cutting edge which is 49mm wide, the blade is slightly convex in shape with a prepared cutting edge which has been eroded / abraded in the soil. The blade bevel is slight. When viewed in profile the axe is lentoid (elongated oval).There is no evidence of development such as a median bevel or raised side flanges. The original patina of the axe is mostly lost through corrosion and lamination. The metal revealed is a light green colour with a dusty patina. In places small elements of possible decoration can be seen; this includes small punched depressions on the upper and lower faces - along the edge, and cabling along the long sides. These areas indistinct due to the abrasion. The axe fits with some of the earliest metal artefacts found in Britain, possibly associated with the Migdale Metalworking tradition. This would date it as coming from the first phases of the Early Bronze Age and is comparable to (although not containing all the attributes of Migdale axes (many of these tend to have narrower butts which flare at the cutting edge). These axes all fit within the earliest phases of metal working in Britain, metalworking stage II, which corresponds to Needham's (1996) Period 2 circa 2350- 2050 CAL. BC. This means that they are dated, broadly, to the same period as Beaker pottery, barbed and tanged flint arrowheads, copper halberds and gold lunulae.

The Axe measures length 74mm, width 49mm, thickness 8mm weight 118.4 grams.

The finder has kindly donated this important find to Hereford Museum and Art Gallery