{"id":137,"date":"2014-08-21T15:52:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T14:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/?p=137"},"modified":"2014-08-21T15:52:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T14:52:18","slug":"the-bronze-age-returns-to-northumberland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/2014\/08\/21\/the-bronze-age-returns-to-northumberland\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bronze Age returns to Northumberland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following on from Andrea\u2019s use-wear analyses on Bronze Age axes, a new experiment is now on the go.\u00a0 Josh Desrosier, a Newcastle University student, has been working alongside\u00a0 Andrea to\u00a0 test out a number of replica bronze axes.\u00a0 While it may look like we were having a pleasant day\u00a0 out in the woods chopping down a few trees (which we were!) there were some significant aims to the whole exercise.<\/p>\n

An early Bronze Age flat axe, a mid Bronze Age palstave and a late Bronze Age socketed axe were cast and hafted by bronze smith Neil Burridge.\u00a0 These axes were\u00a0 based on British prototypes and then used by Josh and Andrea\u00a0 in a series of controlled field tests that involved felling and sectioning birch trees\u00a0 on National Trust property near Wallington in Northumberland.<\/p>\n

The experiments were designed to find out<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0whether changes in the shape and hafting styles of bronze age axes were motivated by increased efficiency<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0whether any of the\u00a0 axes displayed different wear traces during the experiment.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re still waiting for the official results of the tests, some\u00a0 effects became clear immediately.\u00a0 Firstly, a Bronze Age axe in the hands of a fit and healthy individual is a very efficient tool.\u00a0 Josh had some tree felling experience\u00a0 and so knew\u00a0 good techniques, but even so the speed that a tree could be felled and sectioned was impressive.\u00a0 Secondly, we noticed that even after felling four trees, the cutting blade had only blunted slightly- certainly not enough to warrant re-sharpening.\u00a0 But on close inspection of the cutting edge at the end of the day we could see the beginnings of small nicks forming and the tell tale scratch marks that have indicated heavy use on so many of our real Bronze Age axes.<\/p>\n

Experimental and reconstructive archaeology is not only a lot of fun, it can help answer long standing questions.\u00a0 And after all, why bother getting involved in endless academic debates when a day out in the woods might yield some answers!<\/p>\n

For more info about the experiment, see Josh\u2019s blog:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/batwep.wordpress.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/a>

Josh starting on a tree<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An action shot!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A very clean cut<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Taking<\/a>

Taking a cast of the blade. The putty is fine enough to show use wear marks.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following on from Andrea\u2019s use-wear analyses on Bronze Age axes, a new experiment is now on the go.\u00a0 Josh Desrosier, a Newcastle University student, has been working alongside\u00a0 Andrea to\u00a0 test out a number of replica bronze axes.\u00a0 While it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/andrewparkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}