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The Use and Significance of Socketed Axes During the Late Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Ben Roberts  and
Barbara S. Ottaway
Ben Roberts*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, UK
Barbara S. Ottaway*
Affiliation:
University of Exeter, UK
*
[email: benroberts2020@hotmail.com]
[email: b.ottaway@exeter.ac.uk]
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Abstract

The widespread employment and acceptance of use-wear analysis on materials such as flint and bone has not been accompanied by a parallel development in archaeometallurgy. This article explores its potential and problems through the investigation of socketed axes in eastern Yorkshire, in England and south-east Scotland during the late Bronze Age. Experimental work on modern replications of socketed axes was compared with wear traces on prehistoric socketed axes. The results indicate that prehistoric socketed axes had been used as multi-purpose tools, but that the nature and extent of their uses before deposition varied considerably. By combining use-wear analysis with contextual information on socketed axes in the late Bronze Age landscape, ideas concerning their significance can be explored.

L'approbation des analyses de traces d'utilisation sur des matériaux comme le silex et les os et leur emploi courant ne sont pas allés avec un développement parallèle en archeo-métallurgie. Dans cet article, nous voulons étudier le potentiel et les problèmes inhérents en examinant les haches à douille dans le Yorkshire de l'est et l'Ecosse du sud-est pendant l'âge du bronze récent. Les traces de travail expérimental sur des répliques modernes sont comparées avec les traces d'usure sur les haches préhistoriques. D'après les résultats obtenus, les haches préhistoriques ont été utilisées comme outils polyvalents, mais la nature et l'ampleur de leur utilisation avant déposition varient considérablement. En combinant les analyses de traces d'utilisation avec les informations contextuelles sur les haches à douille dans l'environnement de l'âge du bronze, nous sommes en mesure d'examiner les idées relatives à leur signification.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Die Gebrauchspurenanalyse an Silex und Knochenwerkzeugen ist weitverbreitet und akzeptiert. Um diese Akzeptanz auch auf Metallartefakte auszudehnen, wurden weitgehende Forschungen an spätbronzezeitlichen Beilen aus Yorkshire und Schottland unternommen. Versuchserien mit experimentell hergestellten Beilen ermöglichten den Vergleich dieser Gebrauchsspuren mit jenen an prähistorischen Beilen. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die vorgeschichtlichen Bronzebeile als Mehrfach-Werkzeuge benutzt wurden und dass die Art und der Gebrauch der Beile, sehr unterschiedlich war.

Diese Ergebnisse der Gebrauchsspurenanalyse, kombiniert mit Information der ursprünglichen Umgebung der Beile, führten zu interessanten Einblicken, z. B. in Bezug auf regionale Differenzierung, die in diesem Beitrag vorgelegt werden.

Keywords

experimental archaeologylandscapelate Bronze Agesocketed axesuse-wear analysisanalyse de traces d'utilisationhaches à douilleâge du bronze récentenvironnementarchéologie expérimentaleGebrauchsspurenanalysespätbronzezeitliche Bronzebeileexperimentelle ArchäologieYorkshireSchottland
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , 2003 , pp. 119 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 Sage Publications 

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