Axehead

Add to album

This bronze axehead was found at Watten in Caithness. It dates from around 1300 to 1150 BC.

The axehead belongs to a group of small axeheads with cast flanges and wide blades. It has a stop-ridge which prevented the haft from slipping down the tool. The deep flanges helped stop the axehead from slipping sideways in the haft.

Middle Bronze Age axeheads are technologically more sophisticated than the flat axeheads of the Early Bronze Age. This was because they were made with closed moulds rather than the open moulds used for the earlier axeheads.

Record details

To search on related items, click any underlined text below.

• Online ID: 000-100-034-286-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.DC 31
• Date: Between 1300 and 1150 BC
  
• Material: Bronze; with stop ridge
  Axe, flanged
  
• Dimensions: 4.75 x 2.25"
  
• What: Axe, flanged
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Caithness, Watten
  
• Event:
• Description: Axe, flanged
  
• References:
  • Coles, J.M. Scottish Middle Bronze Age Metalwork. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, 97 (1963-64), pp 82-156, esp. 98, 134. 
• Translations:
• Related Records: