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BRONZE AGE METAL AND AMBER IN TRE NETHERLANDS (III:2) CATALOGUE OF THE SOCKETED AXES, PART A J. J. BUTLER & HANNIE STEEGSTRA Groninger Jnstituut Archeologie, Groningen, Netherlands 1'001' ABSTRACT: First pali of a catalogue and evaluation of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age bronze socketed axes in the Netherlands. Herewith a number oftypes characteristic ofthe southem pmi ofthe country: the socketed axes of Niede/'l11aas, Plainseau, Helmeroth, and Geistingen types. Almorican socketed axes are listed, but dis missed as modem import dubiously documented. Ol' KEYWORDS: Netherlands, Bronze Age (Late), Iron Age (Em'ly), socketed axes, types, imports, regional production, distributions. l. INTRODUCTION % 2 .-----------------------------� 1.1. Numbers and distributions 5 Previous articles in the series 'Bronze Age metal and 20+-------------------------,-"---� amber in the Netherlands' have appeared in Palaeo histOl'ia 32, 37/3 8, 39/40, and 41/42. This Part III:2A is a catalogue ofthe socketed axes in the Netherlands; 15+----1 111 beginning with types CUlTent especiaIly in the south 1 em pmi of the countly. 1 O -I---t-'I-i--l Socketed axes are the largest category of Bronze Age axes found in the countl·y, with 382 specimens +----1 (including, however, 57 specimens in Netherlands 5 museutns and other collections without ar with only vague recorded provenance), representing c. 42% of the total number of about 910 Bronze Age axes Fr Gr Dr Ov 'Ge Ul NH ZH' Ze NB Li FI Unk known in the Netherlands (fig. 1; table l); this is .AXFIITillJAXI DAXR ffil]AXSDAXP rather more than the 286 palstaves, and more than ten times the number of winged axes in the country. AXW DAXT There is a marked contrast with the situation in the neighbouring region of middle West Germany, Fig. I. Percentages of various axe types by provinee in the Neth erlands. AXF = flat axes; AX1 = low-flanged axes; AXR = high where, according to the statistics of Kibbert (1984), flanged axes; AXS = stopridge axes; AXP = palstaves; AXW = out of a total of just over 1000 axes, there are 556 winged axes; AXT = socketed axes. winged axes against 376 socketed axes. These are crude numbers, uncorrected for unknown and uncer Table l. Number of flat axes (AXF), low-flanged axes (AXI), tain provenances and other factors, but the immense high-flanged axes (AXR), stopridge axes (AXS), palstaves (AXP), discrepancy in relative importance of winged axes winged axes (AXW), and socketed axes (AXT) in the Netherlands. and socketed axes in the two areas is evident. Further, N2ote: 'unprovenanced' here inc1udes specimens only vaguely Kibbeli's distribution maps (his Taf. 78 and 79) show provenanced, i.e. (mostly presumed) provinee only. that winged axes are rather scarce in the German upper Rhine area and socketed axes comparatively Type Provenanced Unprovenanced Total plentiful in the area bardering on the Netherlands. AXF 19 5 24 For the purposes of this section we consider the AXI 43 4 47 north ofthe Netherlands to comprise the modem prov AXR 99 IO 109 inces of Flevoland, Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe and AXS 27 3 30 Overijssel; the middle of the countl·y, the provinces of AXP 263 23 286 AXW 28 GeIderIand and Utrecht; the west, Noord-Holland, 5 33 AXT 325 57 382 Zuid-Holland and Zeeland; and the south the provinces ofNoard-Brabant and Limburg (map l). Total 804 107 911 264 J.J. BUTLER & H. STEEGSTRA 100 80 i '. \ . .... / . • Dr . 60 i I ····· I - ·_· r ...; ,;. Ns 40 ov <�'\r· j .. : .i-' :) . 20 Ge -..� o Fr Gr Dr Ov Ge Ut NH ZH Ze NB Li FI Unk N-B Fig. 2. NUl11ber of socketed axes in the Netherlands per province. (�::�.'?�.f'�''-!-.J""") (' � AnI . ......... Belgium Germany As a glance at the distribution of all types of sock eted axes will show (map 2; fig.2), tbeir spread with in the Netherlands is by no means uniform. Rougbly a third of the country, especiaIly the western part Map l. Provinces of the Netherlands and neighbouring areas: Fr. (anciently mostly low-lying and boggy), with the Friesland; Gr. Groningen; Dr. Drenthe; Ov. Overijssel; Ge. Gel modem provinces of Zeeland, Zuid-Holland, Noord derIand; Ul. Utrecht; N-H. Noord-Holland; Z-H. Zuid-Holland; Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland, and the northern ZI. Zeeland; N-B. Noord-Brabant; Li. (Neth.) Limburg; FI. Flevo marine-clay coastal strip (most of the modern prov land. Belgian provinces: O-VI. Oost-Vlaanderen; An!. Antwerpen; inces ofFriesland and Groningen, in tbe Late Bronze B Lg. (Belg.) Limburg. German Lander: Ns. Niedersachsen; Nr Age not yet ready fo r occupation) is practically free W. Nordrhein-Westfalen. Dot-dash line = national boundary; dotted line = provincial boundary. of socketed axes, with the exception of the small number of fi nds in the dune area Iining the west coast. Though parts of this western area were habit • one per Gemeente able, the Late Bronze Age settlements, such as those • 2 or more per Gemeente excavated at Hoogkarspel in Noord-Holland in recent �o= years, have not given evidence for the availability of / bronzes; possibly they were too isolated and depen dent on a subsistence economy. The more axe-rich O part ofthe country includes the somewhat higher and drier landscapes, including the Maas-RJline gravet terraces, the Campine, the Veluwe, Twente (eastern Overijssel), the Drenthe plateau. Throughout this easternpart of the country, however, the distribution pattern is fa irly evenly spread; the extra density seen in middle Limburg and in the Nijmegen area is prob ably due to intensive modem dredging and gravel winning in that p31i of the Maas-RJline trajectories. In detail the socketed axes in the Netherlands are exceedingly diverse: there are many more or less distinct types, and often rather fe w examples of each type. It seems likely that there were a goodly num ber of small producers working fo r local offset ar eas, and if there were many imports there was no massive' impOli. Only in the case of the socketed axes of Plainseau type is an exception possibly to be con sidered. Map 2. Distribution of socketed axes (all types and varieties) in the Netherlands. Bronze Age metal and amber in the Ne ther/ands (III:2) 265 1.2. Notes to the catalogue Abbreviations fo r museums and organisations: RMO = Rijksmuseum van Oudheden; ROB = Rijks Besides the catalogue number heading the entry for dienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek. each object, we cite in brackets a DB number, which References to literature frequently include the identifies the object in our computer database. This tenn Verslag or Jaarvers/ag. This refers to the An will prove to be a convenience for cross-referencing. nual RepOlt of the museum concerned. Other litera The fo llowing ABC will explain the code as it is ture citations are located in Section 11 below. here employed. In Patt II: l; II:2 and III: l we have A catalogue number preceded by K indicates a aiready used AXF fo r flataxe, AXI for low-flanged reference to the catalogue of Kibbert (1984). axe, AXR for high-flanged axe, AXS for stopridge axe, AXP for palstave, AXW for winged axe and L for looped, BM fo r bronze mouid. AXT signifies a 1.3. Socketed axes of the south of the Netherlands: socketed axe with loop, AXTU a socketed axe with a glossary of typology and telminology (fig. 3) out loop. Further descriptive features or subdivisions are In the descriptions of the socketed axes here pre indicated by letters or punchmtion characters added sented, the terminology is in part that which is in on the right: A = arch on faces; C = crinoline blade general. use for the type, but in part non-standard. tips; Fac = facetted; J = expanded blade tips; M = Here we explain briefly the terms we use that may midrib; Nr = Neckrib(s); P = plain (unomamented); require clarification. We explain herewith also a Pel = pellet(s); Rb = rib(bed); S = ogival body; Wi series of non-standard abbreviations which we have = 'wings'. occasionally employed in the text and catalogue be Geographical expressions here abbreviated with low in an effort to reduce the burden on writers and lower-case letters with reference to socketed axe readers of lengthy descriptions. The method is sim types are as fo llows: arm = armorican; niema = Nie ply to replace, where possible, descriptive adjectives dermaas; pis = Type Plainseau; helm = Form Hel with graphic symbols ava ila ble on the standard key meroth; hol = Form Hol/en; geis = Type Geistingen. board. soulhern Iype northern Iype body socket mouth lOOP_ ll O� seelion rim b Fig. 3. G1ossm'Y for socketed axes in the Netherlands. 266 II BUTLER & H. STEEGSTRA Collcll': the thickened moulding surrounding the facets fo rming the cutting edge of the axe. In Kib mouth opening. It can vary from minimal to (_) beli's middle West Germany such fa cets occur with bulging as fig. 3, left; ,_/ con icai; /_, invetied varying frequency on socketed axes of his types Ol' conicai as fig. 3, right; <_> biconical as fig. 30a; Frouard, Løvskal-Bargeroosterveld, Helmeroth, and (_l flattened as Cat.No. 494; or trumpet-shaped. Lappenzier. In the northern pati of the Netherlands Socket mouthjorlllula: fo llows the fo tmula a-axb arch facets are common and characteristic, while in b; c-cxd-d; where a-a gives the width and b-b the the southern part of the country they are only occa breadth of the collar, and c-c the width and d-d the sional, occuning on Plainseau axes Cat.Nos 528 and breadth of the mouth opening. 529 and on Helmeroth axes Cat.Nos 544, 545 and Neela'ibs: one more thin horizontal ribs just 547.