English: An incomplete cast bronze socketed chisel, dating to the Late Bronze Age between 1150 – 800 BC (length: 64mm; diameter of socket: 14mm; width at chisel edge: 8mm; thickness chisel tip: 2mm; weight: 27.52g).

This artefact has an incomplete circular socketed terminal at one end (diameter: as above; thickness of metal: 2mm), with the inside of the chisel being hollow to the opposing tip. To the either side of the chisel’s length, there is a singular casting line or mark (average width: 1.5mm) ‘of the joint of the mould in which it was cast’ (Evans, 1881, page 172). From the incomplete socketed mouth of the chisel, the form and length of the artefact adapts into an angular and ‘V’-shaped section, which then narrows to a point at the chisel edge. The artefact is in a slightly worn but good condition with a dark green patina and small infrequent areas of pitting on the surface.

A similar example is illustrated in Evans, J, 1881, ‘The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland’, pages 171-2, fig 200, which was found as part of a hoard from Carlton Rode, Norfolk, which Evans comments is well adapted for cutting mortises.

Other similar examples of socketed chisels are also illustrated in the Archaeological Journal Vol IV (1849), page 382, found at Westow, Yorkshire, and in the Archaeological Journal IX (1852), pages 302-3, found at Romford, Essex. Evans (1881) also describes other socketed chisels found at Heathery Burn Cave, Durham; Roseberry Topping, Yorkshire; Meldreth, Cambridgeshire, as well as examples from France, Switzerland and Italy.