NHER 15534 (Find Spot record) - Late Bronze Age hoard

11 to 12 December 1979. Beeston Hall School.
Found on playing field immediately beneath topsoil during metal detecting, later excavated NAU.
Late Bronze Age hoard; fourteen socketed axes, three fragments of same, one spearhead, one socketed axe mould, one jet, one cake fragment.
In base of pottery jar (apparently broken before hoard deposited) which otherwise would have been considered to have been an Iron Age type.
Probably the most important Bronze Age hoard to have been found in Norfolk.
A. Lawson (NAU), 17 December 1979.

Also contemporary string, examined at Kew - limebark bast.
See (S1), (S2) and (S3).
See file for letters and photographs (S4).

2012.
Draft report detailing Late Bronze age hoard recovered in 1979. Awaiting final report in digital format.
See (S5) in file.
A. Beckham (HES), 6 June 2012.

2013.
See report (S6) for a detailed description of the hoard found in 1979 and the circumstances of its discovery and excavation. It is noted that the axe mould valuve is a rare find, with only two other bronze moulds for faceted axes know. The direct association between the metalwork and the Post-Deverel Rimbury pottery vessel is also of interest.
This report also details the results of scientific analysis undertaken between 1980-1981, including the processing of metal samples and the examination of samples taken for plant material. Evidence recovered from the latter suggested that the axes had possibly been bound together with lime bast string prior to deposition. One of the axeheads also contained a length of finer, twisted string made from nettle bast.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 November 2019.