- Museum number
- 1861,0920.6
- Description
-
Cast copper alloy socketed spearhead. Leaf-shaped blade with lozenge-sectioned midrib and string side loops. Casting flashes remain on sides of socket. Point broken off and edges of blade slightly chipped. Surface smooth. Black patina, traces of golden bronze on one side of blade, a few patches of green.
- Dimensions
-
Length: 97 millimetres
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Weight: 29 grammes
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Thickness: 14 millimetres (at base of socket)
-
Thickness: 7 millimetres (at widest part of socket)
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Width: 16 millimetres
- Curator's comments
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Ehrenberg 1977
Part of hoard found beside Icknield Way and containing bronze collars, discs, a socketed axe and one or two other spearheads, probably from the same mouldm as well as La Tène objects.
Hagbourne Hill (1861,0920.6, 1862,0719.10 and 1862,0719.11)
A number of finds have been made on Hagbourne Hill, including three spearheads. The combined evidence for the finds is extremely confused and the following facts which emerge do not seem to correlate:-
a). In 1861 a spearhead (1861,0920.6) was given to the British Museum with other artefacts including bronze collars, discs, possibly coins, a socketed axe and certain La Tène objects.
b). In 1862 two spearheads (1862,0719.10 and 1862,0719.11), one probably from the same mould as 1861,0920.6 were acquired by the British Museum. They are said to have been found by the side of a skeleton on Hagbourne Hill in 1803.
c). In 1803 Ebeneezer King recorded that a socketed axe, at least one spearhead, two horse bits no earlier than the first century B.C. (Harding, 1972, 91), a cast ring-headed pin, paralleled in the Iron Age Arras culture, and one gold or silver coin, either Gallo-Belgic or Roman, were found in a circular pit at the bottom of a rectangular pit on Hagbourne Hill (King, 1812, 348).
d). In 1845 Jesse King exhibited "Roman and Romano-British" antiquities found in Berkshire at the British Archaeological Association, which included a "javelin head in bronze found with a skeleton at Hagbourne Hill" (King, 1845, 310).
e). In 1939 seven or eight rectangular pits, apparently resembling that recorded by E. King, were found with some Iron Age pottery, during building work on Hagbourne Hill.
Harding (1972, 92) suggests, tentatively, that the site, and in particular the rectangular pits, may have been an Iron Age cemetery, bearing affinities with early La Tene sites in Champagne. If so, the spearhead found with a skeleton may represent the first use of the site as a cemetery.
Alternatively, the various accounts may indicate a number of separate finds which represent repeated use over several centuries of the site which is on the Icknield Way, overlooking the Thames Valley.
Bibl: King, E. (1812) A description of antiquities on Hagbourne Hill in 'Archaeologia', XVI, 348; Evans, J. (1881) 'Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain and Ireland', 322; Evans, A. (1908) Discussion at Society of Antiquaries in 'Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London', XXII, 31; Peake, H. (1931) 'The Arcaeology of Berkshire', 199.
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Rowlands 1976a
Publication: Roskill, V. (1938) 'The Bronze implements of the Newbury region, in 'Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club', Vol. VIII pp.28-30, Fig. 13.
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Found in one of several pits (probably the storage pits of a settlement). Discovered by chance in the spring of 1803 on common land on Hagbourne Hill. The alleged hoard consisted primarily of Iron Age objects: two three-link horse bits (1861,0920.1-2), three terrets (1861,0920.3-5), a bronze ring-headed pin (1861,0920.8), and some coins. There were also pieces of Bronze Age date: two pins (1861,0920.7 and 9), three spearheads (1861,0920.6 and 1862,0719.10-11), and possibly the butt end of a palstave axe (1861,0920.10). It is possible that all these objects were deposited at one time, but perhaps more probable that this assemblage represents either two hoards, one Bronze Age, the other Iron Age, or that all finds were made separately.
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1861,0920.6