Havering Hoard: Weapons found on building site to go on show

BBC ^ | October 21, 2019 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Ancient weapons discovered on a building site will go on display at the Museum of London Docklands.

The group of 453 artefacts found in Havering, east London, is the third largest ever discovered in the UK...

The find, which dates from between 800BC and 900BC, was officially declared treasure by a coroner earlier this year.

The discovery, dubbed the Havering Hoard, was uncovered last September, and will form the centrepiece of a major exhibition from April.

Archaeologists believed the manner in which the weapons had been so carefully buried in groups close together suggested the site could have been a metal workers' former vault or an armoury recycling bank or exchange, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Archaeologists believe the site could have been a metal workers' former vault[.]

Roy Stephenson, from the Museum of London, which is part of the same museum group as the Museum of London Docklands, said: "We're thrilled to be able to display this momentous discovery for the first time as the centrepiece of a major exhibition.

"It's incredibly rare to have uncovered four separate hoards of such size on one site.

"This discovery is also of huge importance due to the deliberate placement of each deposit and raises questions as to why this treasure was buried in this way and why it was never recovered."

[skepsel]

What a difference 40 years makes.

I went on leave for a month at a time in ‘80, ‘81 and ‘82.

Bought a Eurail pass, an Intl. Youth Hostel Assoc. membership card, signed a civilian back pack and sleeping bag out at the AFRC shop and hit the rails for London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc.

I also had a big double edged Gerber fighting dagger on my belt under my down vest.

I would check it and the shoulder bag I carried my map, tourist guide, water bottle, emerg C-ration TP pack, etc in at the cloak room when I visited museums, palaces, etc.

Never got more than a raised eye brow from the attendants, even at Parliament or the Tower or the Louvre.

In fact the guy at Parliament, a retired British Army NCO expressed appreciation for the edge, heft and balance, lol.

A bobbie at Hyde Park simply advised me to keep it under my vest when I went to see Speaker’s Corner and listen to the ravers and ranters for a bit.

I usually sat on a wall or bench with a bottle of beer or wine and used it to eat my lunches, cutting up my fruit, bread, cheese, sausage with it.

[Openurmind]

Looking forward to the testing for the origin of this copper.

[Swordmaker]

Well they didn't do a very good job......LOL!

The corrosion of the ages is part of the history and provenance of the weapons. Restoration should only be done judiciously and not to make them look new. They aren’t new. The effects of time are part of their story.

If you want to see what these once looked like, the proper way is to duplicate the alloy, and make a replica using techniques as close as possible to the original techniques as can be discerned. . . and documenting the procedure at each step.

[trebb]

Naval Jelly will take that rust right off...

[TXnMA]

Based on the text, I expected this to be evidence of an axe-bit refurbishing / resharpening workshop. IOW, a site akin to the lithic "Tranchet Flake" workshop at Colha in Belize, where used stone adzes were re-sharpened by skillful removal of a single, strategically-planned billet flake (at first called an "'Orange peel/segment' flake", then generalized as "Tranchet Flake").

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

However, examination of the photo shows relatively few damaged "bit edges". Rather, most of the damage I see is breakage associated with the hafting cavity or socket on these bronze (90-degree-hafted) axe heads.

Surprisingly, there appears to be few examples of damage to the (relatively-fragile) haft-binding loops...

Several of the axe heads appear to be intact and re-usable, but there may be cracks or fractures not visible in the photos, A number of the samples have sub-rectangular, rather than circular socket openings; the rectangle "corners" could well be stress-risers and fracture-initiation points...

Several fractures appear to be at the bottom of the socket hole, and there are clear indications of a weak (wedge-shaped) socket bottom design.

At any rate, the above failure indications -- plus the presence of amorphous melted bronze -- would tend to imply that, at least, the group in the photo with the gloved hand -- may well have been deemed non-repairable, and were scheduled for re-casting.

~~~~~~~~~~

That's a lot of inference from scant data, but, it makes sense to me...

YMMV... '-)

TXnMA
  

[TXnMA]

intended to copy you on my #25...

BTW, FReepMail for you soon, as well...

FRegards,

TXnMA
  

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds reasonble, thanks TXnMA!.

[bitt]

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