Socketed Axehead, Closeburn Town Park

Found by a metal dectorist in 1983, this bronze socketed axehead has a linear decoration around the socket. The blade is worn, and the axehead has a peg hole at the socket end. The handle would have been made from an angled piece of wood. The axe was possibly for ceremonial use only as it is too small to have been used. The axehead was found in ploughed ground at about a 4" depth, on a rise in the field at Closeburn Town Park. It was subsequently sent to NMAS (now National Museums Scotland) for stabilisation.   Late Bronze Age socketed axes   Socketed axes were made from more than one mould. The parts of the mould which could have been made from stone, clay or bronze, were fitted together and bound. A clay core was suspended inside to form the socket. The molten metal was poured into the mould and allowed to cool. The mould was then opened and the casting taken out and trimmed. The clay core was then removed from the socket. As there are few late Bronze Age finds in Dumfries and Galloway it is possible that the forms developed during the middle Bronze Age continued in production in this area.