The Battle-Axe Series in Britain

F. E. S. Roe

doi:10.1017/S0079497X00014390

The Battle-Axe Series in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 May 2014

F. E. S. Roe

Show author details

F. E. S. Roe: Affiliation:
61 Hamilton Road, Oxford

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Rights & Permissions

Extract

The literature of the past seventy years relating to battle-axes and axehammers is limited, and relates mainly to the separate publication of individual finds. Sir John Evans, in his classic work, Ancient Stone Implements listed eighty-seven battle-axes from England, Scotland and Wales. R. A. Smith, in 1925, carried out a more detailed survey with emphasis on the associated finds, but drew conclusions about evolution and dating which are untenable according to present archaeological thinking. In 1960, Ashbee briefly delineated five types, making a distinction between ‘axe-hammers’, his Woodhenge and Parcelly Hay groups, and ‘battle-axes’, comprising more evolved implements with connections with the Wessex Culture. In this present survey it is hoped to make good the neglect this subject has suffered, by presenting a corpus of finds which is as complete as possible, together with some considerations on typology, associations, petrology—where details are available—distribution, origins and dating.

Type: Research Article
Information: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 32 , December 1966 , pp. 199 - 245

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X00014390 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

^{page 199 note 1} SirEvans, John, Ancient Stone Implements, 1897, 2nd ednGoogle Scholar.

^{page 199 note 2} Smith, R. A., Arch., LXXV, 1924–1925, 77Google Scholar.

^{page 199 note 3} Ashbee, P., The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain, 1960, 107–9Google Scholar.

^{page 199 note 4} Warne, C., The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset, 1866, 63Google Scholar.

^{page 201 note 1} As a check, the means for L, B and D of the non-expanded battle-axes, i.e. those identical in shape with the axe-hammers, were calculated. The results gave the same difference in size as for battle-axes of all shapes.

^{page 203 note 1} Stukeley, W., Itinerarium Curiosum, 1776, 2nd edn., 57Google Scholar.

^{page 203 note 2} P. Ashbee, op. cit.

^{page 205 note 1} Two battle-axes in Stage I are in fact concave, though still having a blade depth which is less than that at the hole, App. No. 13 (fig. 5b, no. 13) and App. No. 15.

^{page 205 note 2} Glob, P. V., Studier over Den Jfyske Enkeltgravshultur, 1945,Google Scholar fig. 25.

^{page 212 note 1} R. A. Smith, op. cit., 102 and figs. 42, 43; Childe, V. G., Prehistoric Communities of the British Isles, 1940, 154Google Scholar and fig. 43, 2.

^{page 215 note 1} Piggott, S., PPS, XXVIII, 1962, 236–7Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 1} Hon.Abercromby, J., Bronze Age Pottery, 1, 1912, nos. 4a and 10 and pl. V, fig. 10Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 2} Annable, and Simpson, , Guide Catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Collections in Devizes Museum, 1964, nos. 136–46Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 3} Available analyses for ten such knife-daggers have shown them to be made of bronze (Britton, D., Archaeometry, 4, 1961, 47)CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 4} Piggott, S., ‘Abercromby and After’, 82, in Foster, and Alcock, (eds.), Culture and Environment, 1963Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 5} Invent. Arch., GB 14, 1956Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 6} Piggott, op. cit., p. 86.

^{page 219 note 7} Thurnham, Arch., XLIII, 1871Google Scholar, pl. XXXIII, fig. 2.

^{page 219 note 8} Greenwell, W., British Barrows, 1877, 264, fig. 125Google Scholar.

^{page 219 note 9} Piggott, op. cit., fig. 17, 5.

^{page 222 note 1} Piggott, op. cit., 74.

^{page 222 note 2} Butler, J. J. and Smith, I., 12th Rpt. Inst. of Arch., 1956, 28Google Scholar and fig. 4, 1.

^{page 222 note 3} Piggott, op. cit., 82.

^{page 222 note 4} Mortimer, J. R., Forty Years Researches …, 1905Google Scholar, fig. 511.

^{page 222 note 5} PSA, XXIV, 1911–1912, 2nd ser., 82Google Scholar and fig. 2.

^{page 222 note 6} Mortimer, op. cit., fig. 514.

^{page 222 note 7} Greenwell, op. cit., fig. 124.

^{page 222 note 8} Greenwell, op. cit., figs. 123, 14.

^{page 222 note 9} Henshall, A., PSAS, LXXXIX, 1955–1956, 383Google Scholar.

^{page 222 note 10} Piggott, S., The Prehistoric Peoples of Scotland, 1962, 92–3Google Scholar; PSAS, LXXXIX, 1955–1956, 393Google Scholar, fig. 19, D.

^{page 222 note 11} ibid., ‘Abercromby and After’, 53–91, in Foster, and Alcock, (eds.), Culture and Environment, 1963Google Scholar.

^{page 222 note 12} ApSimon, A., Bull Inst. Arch., London, I, 1958, 24–6Google Scholar.

^{page 222 note 13} Piggott, op. cit., 81.

^{page 222 note 14} Hon. J. Abercromby, op. cit., 140.

^{page 222 note 15} Stone, J. F. S., WAM, XLVIII, 1937–1939, 363Google Scholar.

^{page 222 note 16} Longworth, I., PPS, XXVII, 1961, 283Google Scholar.

^{page 222 note 17} Simpson, D. D. A., Tr. Dum. & Gall. N.H.& A.S., XLII, 1965, 3rd ser., 35Google Scholar (cf. his nos. 25 and 45 with the Foulden vessels.)

^{page 223 note 1} Phillips, C. W. F., Arch. J., 90, 1933, 128Google Scholar, pl. viii, C and 136.

^{page 223 note 2} Childe, V. G., The Prehistory of Scotland, 1935, 90–1Google Scholar.

^{page 223 note 3} Patchett, F., Arch. J., 101, 1944 (1946), 28 and 38Google Scholar; 107, 1950 (1952), 48.

^{page 223 note 4} W. Greenwell, op. cit., 223 and fig. 47.

^{page 223 note 5} PSAS, XXXV, 1901, 266Google Scholar.

^{page 223 note 6} Britton, D., PPS, XXIX, 1963, 258Google Scholar.

^{page 223 note 7} J. R. Mortimer, op. cit., 218 and figs. 560, 561.

^{page 223 note 8} Butler, J. J., Palaeohistoria, V, 1956, 53–71Google Scholar.

^{page 223 note 9} Arch. Ael., XII, 1936, 4th ser., 207Google Scholar.

^{page 223 note 10} P. V. Glob, op. cit., figs. 21, 23.

^{page 223 note 11} Piggott, S., The Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles, 1954, 177, 252Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 1} Simon, A. Ap., 10th Rpt. Inst. of Arch., 1954, 37Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 2} Piggott, S., PPS, IV, 1938, 52Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 3} ibid., The Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles, 1954, 355.

^{page 224 note 4} See also Annable and Simpson, op. cit., 1964, nos. 286, 387 and 384.

^{page 224 note 5} Piggott, S., ‘Abercromby and After’, 84, in Foster, and Alcock, (eds.), Culture and Environment, 1963Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 6} Fox, and Grimes, , Arch. Camb., LXXXIII, 1928,Google Scholar nos. 33–4.

^{page 224 note 7} Bateman, T., J. Brit. Arch. Assoc., VII, 1852, 216–17Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 8} Britton, D., PPS, XXIX, 1963, 273Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 9} Longworth, I., PPS, XXVII, 1961, 263, no. 226Google Scholar.

^{page 224 note 10} Bateman, T., Vestiges …, 1848Google Scholar, 51 and illus.

^{page 224 note *} I am grateful to Dennis Britton for calling my attention to this find.

^{page 224 note 11} Longworth, op. cit., 305, no. 176.

^{page 225 note 1} Atkinson, , Piggott, and Sandars, , Excavations at Dorchester, Oxon, 1951, 94Google Scholar.

^{page 225 note 2} Piggott, S., The Prehistoric Peoples of Scotland, 1962, 95Google Scholar.

^{page 225 note 3} Butler and Smith, op. cit., 31.

^{page 225 note 4} Britton, D., PPS, XXIX, 1963, 313Google Scholar; Invent. Arch., GB 29, 1957Google Scholar.

^{page 225 note 5} S. Piggott, op. cit., 96.

^{page 225 note 6} Britton, D., Archaeometry, 4, 1961, 39 and 41CrossRef Google Scholar, no. 52.

^{page 225 note 7} ApSimon, A., 10th Rpt.Inst. of Arch., 1954, 42Google Scholar.

^{page 225 note 8} Britton, D., PPS, XXIX, 1963, 293Google Scholar, and fig. 19.

^{page 225 note 9} Piggott, S., PPS, IV, 1938, 85Google Scholar.

^{page 225 note 10} Elgee, H. and Elgee, F., PPS, XV, 1949, 100Google Scholar and figs. 10, 12.

^{page 226 note 1} Piggott, S., Neolithic Cultures, 1954, 363Google Scholar.

^{page 226 note 2} ibid., PPS, XXIV, 1958, 227.

^{page 227 note 1} Childe, V. G., The Dawn of European Civilization, 1957, 159Google Scholar.

^{page 228 note 1} Schroeder, R., Die Nordgruppe Der Oderschnurkeratnik, 1951, Taf. 2, 120Google Scholar.

^{page 228 note 2} ibid., op. cit., Taf. 11, 1–2; Taf. 13, 1–5.

^{page 228 note 3} Piggott, S., PPS, IV, 1938, 98Google Scholar; cf. Schroeder, op. cit., Taf. 18, no. I; Taf. 24, no. 3.

^{page 228 note 4} ibid., ‘Abercromby and After’, 78, in Foster and Alcock (eds.), Culture and Environment, 1963.

^{page 228 note 5} P. V. Glob, op. cit., 24, fig. 5.

^{page 228 note 6} S. Piggott, op. cit., 63, 75.

^{page 228 note 7} Åberg, N., Die Steinzeit in Den Niederlanden, 1916, 46,Google Scholar fig. 21; Oudheidkundige Mededeelingen van hel Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden, V, 1911,Google Scholar Ab. 12.

^{page 228 note 8} Glasbergen, W., Niewe Drentse Volksalmartack, 1957, 16Google Scholar.

^{page 228 note 9} Van Giffen, , Die Bauart der Einzelgräber, 1930,Google Scholar Taf. 40.

^{page 228 note 10} S. Piggott, op. cit., 65.

^{page 228 note 11} Butler and Smith, op. cit., 20.

^{page 229 note 1} P. V. Glob., op. cit., 18, fig. 1.

^{page 229 note 2} Smith, R. A., Arch., LXXV, 1924–1925,Google Scholar fig. 47; cf. fig. 48.

^{page 229 note 3} Åberg, Nils, Das Nordische Kulturgebeit, 1918Google Scholar, Abb. 212.

^{page 229 note 4} ibid., Die Steinzeit in Den Niederlanden, 59, 1916, fig. 30.

^{page 229 note 5} Struve, K. W., Die Einzelgrabkultur in Schleswig-Holstein, 1955,Google Scholar Taf. 7, 6 and 7.

^{page 229 note 6} cf. N. Åberg, op. cit., Abb. 10.

Article contents

The Battle-Axe Series in Britain

Extract

Access options

References

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests