+850 year old village

[Horst]

I went to a small village which had it's 850th anniversary some years ago hunting a pasture.

seems like it was very common that horsemen were "headless" these time as this is already my 2nd find missing it's head.



I am just not sure what this is....for size comparison I put a teaspoon next to it



the coin is a 10 Euro Cent coin but about 10 inches down...... pretty young for being that deep

 

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[EccentricInTexas]

Bronze knife/spear/arrow point maybe Its a neat find what ever it is!!!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Plumbata]

That item next to the spoon looks like it might be an awl, it doesn't really look like a proper projectile point to me.

 

[Inspector]

Nice hunt, congrats on the saves

 

[JamieD]

Looks like a Bronze Age awl to me. Great find

Some other examples here:

https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/Bronze+Age+awl

 

[Icewing]

I think it could also be a candle pricket

Something like this
18TH C PRICKET STICKS - Candlesticks & Lighting

 

[CRUSADER]

That item next to the spoon looks like it might be an awl, it doesn't really look like a proper projectile point to me.

I agree, it looks like a leather workers awl. Tough one to date, it might be ancient but I'm wondering if this one was a single ended type with a wooden handle, not the usual double ended type?? Late Medieval??

 

[CRUSADER]

Looks like a Bronze Age awl to me. Great find

Some other examples here:

https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/Bronze+Age+awl

I agree its an Awl, but not convinced its that old, ie Bronze Age.

 

[Hawks88]

Nice finds. Congrats

 

[Reanm8er]

Great job Horst, nice finds!

You know, the legendary headless horseman of sleepy hollow was a Hessian soldier. Just sayin!

Best wishes.

 

[Horst]

many thanks for your very kind replies. Especially for the suggestion that the item could be an awl. It would make perfect sense to me. I find double slit roses of different size and shape very regularely (one even has leather left in it. The area I live in is very much a countryside and people travelled a lot through this area. Major trade lanes corssed in this area. It would make very good sense that people worked on saddlery in this area.

 

[bertha]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Plumbata]

I'm wondering if this one was a single ended type with a wooden handle, not the usual double ended type??

That's what it looks like to me, with the working end pointed to the right. I thought it was somewhat reminiscent of the later Bronze Age tanged (versus socketed) chisels. If it's much more recent the only reason I can think of to use bronze versus cheap iron would be to avoid chemical reactions with tannic acid in leather which would create iron tannate, a messy black substance good at staining and discoloring things.

And I have become suspicious of the abundance of double-pointed bronze age "awls", they are so plentiful that I've come to believe that most were used as a rudimentary form of currency instead of all actually being tools. So a small-change tool-money like unfinished sickles and axes. Or maybe I'm just too close to Colorado and their air wafting up here is going to the brain .

 

[Horst]

Plumbata, very interesting point....to be exact it is 88 mm long and 15 mm and the widest part...to me it is very likely to be an awl...I found this pic on the internet when I googled bronze age awl

awl

 

[JamieD]

I agree, it looks like a leather workers awl. Tough one to date, it might be ancient but I'm wondering if this one was a single ended type with a wooden handle, not the usual double ended type?? Late Medieval??

Yep, fair comment about the date, some of the examples on the PAS acknowledge that it’s hard, if not impossible, to date awls and that they were probably made in the same basic form as far as the medieval period at least. The majority of bronze ones are recorded as Bronze Age though or probable Bronze Age even though it can’t be confirmed.

I think the bias towards Bronze Age dating is mainly because, as Plumbata suggests, from the Iron Age onwards it was much more common to make them out of iron than bronze. I’ve been trying to find some definite examples of later Bronze awls and I’m struggling. I’ve looked at the records of an excavation of medieval York where they found 31 awls in Medieval contexts but all were ferrous metal.

Would agree that it’s a tanged type that would presumably have had a handle. I don’t think this necessarily makes it later than the double ended variety though, they still seem to be mostly recorded as Bronze Age on the PAS and elsewhere.

 

[CRUSADER]

Yep, fair comment about the date, some of the examples on the PAS acknowledge that it’s hard, if not impossible, to date awls and that they were probably made in the same basic form as far as the medieval period at least. The majority of bronze ones are recorded as Bronze Age though or probable Bronze Age even though it can’t be confirmed.

I think the bias towards Bronze Age dating is mainly because, as Plumbata suggests, from the Iron Age onwards it was much more common to make them out of iron than bronze. I’ve been trying to find some definite examples of later Bronze awls and I’m struggling. I’ve looked at the records of an excavation of medieval York where they found 31 awls in Medieval contexts but all were ferrous metal.

Would agree that it’s a tanged type that would presumably have had a handle. I don’t think this necessarily makes it later than the double ended variety though, they still seem to be mostly recorded as Bronze Age on the PAS and elsewhere.

I have evidence of finely made Roman Bronze examples & I'm not falling into the trap of thinking its just because they are from a Roman Site. They are clearly more refined & better shaped. (not double ended)
I therefore have no problem believing that many bronze examples were made in the Iron Age as well (plus the Roman period). This easily accounts for why we find so many, so called 'bronze age' examples, just another recording error. Medieval, I'm less certain of.

 

[Horst]

I guess we will never find out for sure but I am happy with that find. It's my first awl. Thank you all for your very kind input.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice finds, congrats!

 

[BLK HOLE]

Nice save and interesting discussions, I learn quite a bit from you guys in the "Old Country"