A Late Bronze Age Spearhead from Hilversum-De Boskuil (prov. North Holland / NL)

A Case Study in Extracting Information from Stray Metal-detecting Finds

Abstract

This contribution highlights the significant academic potential of prehistoric bronze artefacts found later as stray objects by metal-detectorists and all too often dismissed as being of low information value by discussing a Late Bronze Age spearhead discovered at Hilversum as an example. X-ray photography of the object revealed that part of the shaft was still preserved intact (despite being found in a sandy upland landscape). Compositional analysis using pXRF spectrometry indicated that eastern Alpine ores or ingots were possibly used for its base copper, but these were mixed with both tin and lead (perhaps elsewhere). The wooden fragment recovered from the shaft turned out to be a young shoot of hazel (Corylus avellana), which was used for spear shafts in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (in addition to the more common ash). A piece of the hazel shaft was submitted to radiocarbon dating, providing a solid dating in the Late Bronze Age (1188-946 BC). Pollen analysis undertaken on the sediments on the inside and outside of the spearhead socket presented indicators of both upland and wetland landscapes, but the fact that evident contamination (i. e. Norway spruce, planted in the 19th century) was limited to the samples of the shaft’s exterior, suggests that the spearhead shaft with preserved wood may also preserve palaeoecological information. Careful evaluation of the find and its wider context suggested that it may originally have been placed in a funerary context.