BEAKER ERA FLAT AXES
Butterwick Bronze Flat Axe I wanted a local axe, and in Evans mighty Victorian book, Ancient Bronze Implements, I found a Beaker era axe discovery from Butterwick in East Yorkshire. Right place, right time frame. It’s a small thing, I was surprised how dinky it was when it arrived, but Neil produced a flawlessly elegant flat axe, the initial bronze axe type that the Beaker folk may well have introduced into Britain. |
Neil Burridge’s copy of the Butterwick flat axe (1)
Neil Burridge’s copy of the Butterwick flat axe (2)
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Copper Flat Axe
The Beaker period co-incided with, or resulted in, the introduction of metal technology into Britain, beginning with copper and then fairly quickly after (in archaeological terms) bronze. Many items, axes and daggers were cast in copper before 2000BC – indeed some archaeologists would see this period renamed the Copper Age rather than the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. This copper flat axe is typical of the early Beaker axes of that period. It cannot keep an edge as easily as a bronze blade and the cutting is therefore steeper than one in bronze. It needs repeated resharpenings when used for felling trees or trimming wood. I have yet to haft this axe, but imagine it will resemble Otzi’s copper axe when completed. It was cast by Neil Burridge. |
Copper Flat Axe
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