ARROWHEAD

A complete cast copper alloy barbed and tanged arrowhead of probable Early Bronze Age date. The arrow has a deep brown patina and a relatively simple casting with a raised midrib, bevelled edges and a slightly concave blade in between. The midrib and the tang both splay outwards at the base, which terminates in a convex semi-circular butt that appears to have been deliberately moulded in this form although retains an amount of flashing around the edges. It has relatively crude notches between the tang and barbs, one of which appears incomplete but is probably merely poorly cast, but evidence of their casting is clearly visible on one face. The entire object is in relatively good condition with no obvious damage apart from some slight blunting and notches to the blade edges that may potentially indicate possible evidence of use wear. It measures 55.54mm in length, 25.50mm in width, 3.42mm in thickness, and weighs 10.03g.

Parallels to this arrowhead can be noted in other copper alloy examples recorded in East Anglia, in particular examples from Stanningfield, Mildenhall and Withershield in the Suffolk HER and one from Essex. None of these carry the distinctive splayed base evident on the current example. These were all stray detector finds and consequently the dating of the objects is problematic. However, Dr. Colin Pendleton (SCCAS) notes that there is no reason to doubt an Early Bronze Age date (c. 2100-1500 BC) contemporary with flint examples of similar form, adding that copper alloy arrowheads of this date are extremely rare in Britain.