Axeheads (front)

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These bronze axeheads were found in 1990 in a hoard of late Bronze Age material at St Andrews in Fife. The hoard contained over 200 tools, weapons and ornaments as well as seven amber beads and three cannel coal bangles. It was buried between 950 and 750 BC.

The form of the axeheads is typical of those found in northern Britain during this period. Wooden handles would have fitted into the axeheads' sockets. Thongs could also have attached the axeheads to the sockets through the loops.

The St Andrews hoard had a number of weapons, including nine socketed spearheads of various sizes, one sword blade fragment and one tongue-shaped sword chape (protective binding for a sword scabbard). Some of the spearheads and other large objects preserve remains of woollen cloth, suggesting that the contents of the hoard were probably wrapped in a woollen cloth or inside a bag.

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• Online ID: 000-180-000-893-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland Part 2
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• Ref: National Museums Scotland  
• Date: Between 950 and 750 BC
  
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  • Cowie, Trevor, O'Connor, Brendan and Proudfoot, Edwina. A Late Bronze Age hoard from St Andrews, Fife, Scotland: a preliminary report. In: Chevillot, C. and Coffin, A (eds). Le Bronze Atlantique, Actes du premier colloque, Beynac 1990, Beynac, 1991, pp 49 
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