I5i 



A HOARD OF AXES, ETC., OF THE BRONZE AGE, 

 FROM SCARBOROUGH. 



T. SHKPPARD, M.Sc, F.G.S. 



{Plates II. and III.). 



While the wastage of the Yorkshire Cliffs is deplorable, the 

 result is sometimes of advantage to the geologist and anti- 

 quary. Recently, in the vicinity of Scarborough, the fall of 

 a cliff revealed a hoard of bronze implements which, though 

 picked up piecemeal, is now gathered together again, and 

 has been placed in the Municipal Museum at Hull. The 

 collection consists of twenty pieces of bronze, many of which 

 were evidently destined for the melting pot, and doubtless 

 formed the stock-in-trade of some metal-worker of the Brcnze 

 Age. In consists of 12 fairly perfect socketed axes, and portions 

 of three others, two pieces of a large spear head, the handle of 

 a sword, a socketed gouge, and a socketed chisel ; all in 

 bronze. Four of the socketed axes are of the typical East 

 Yorkshire form, such as usually occurs in the district, and 

 represented in the hoards found at Leppington, Sproatley 

 and other places. They are of the type shown in figure 164 

 of ' The Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain' (1881), 

 by the late Sir John Evans. They contain, however, one or 

 two interesting features. 



Fig. 1 is a well-made implement, 3^" in length, i|" at the 

 cutting edge, and iV square at the socket. It is provided 

 with a loop, and is decorated on the two sides with three 

 parallel lines, extending from the collar to about half-way 

 along the length of the axe. On the inside is a prominent 

 central ridge, extending about three-quarters of the distance 

 of the wedge-shaped hollow in the axe. The implement has 

 a small hole, about \" in width, near the loop on the left-hand 

 side, evidently a flaw in casting, which has doubtless destined 

 the axe for the melting pot before use, as the lines where the 

 two valves of the mould met are still prominent, and the 

 cutting edge is in its rough squared shape, instead of being 

 hammered out and sharpened. It is clear that this particular 

 implement has never been in use. 



No. 2 is of the same length, and the square socketed end is 

 also ii" across. It is provided with a strong loop, and has 

 evidently been in use. The cutting edge has been hammered 

 out and sharpened, though is now somewhat blunt, due partly 

 to oxidization. There is no well-marked collar, and each 

 side of the axe has three slight ridges, extending for about 

 half the length. On one side they are equi-distant, and on 

 the other not quite ; the second line being nearer one side 



1917 May 1. 



