Little Thetford flesh-hook

Little Thetford flesh hook
Little Thetford flesh-hook
Material Bronze
Size Hooked part length:12 in (30 cm) weight:9 oz (255 g)
Butt end length:6 in (15 cm) weight:4 oz (113 g)
Created late Bronze-age
(1150 – 950 BC)[1]
Discovered 1929, Little Thetford
Present location British Museum
Identification CHER 06956
Bronze Age
↑ Neolithic

Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC)

Anatolia, Caucasus, Elam, Egypt, Levant, Mesopotamia, Sistan
Bronze Age collapse

South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC)

Ochre Coloured Pottery
Cemetery H

Europe (c. 3200–600 BC)

Aegean, Caucasus, Catacomb culture, Srubna culture, Beaker culture, Unetice culture, Tumulus culture, Urnfield culture, Hallstatt culture, Apennine culture, Canegrate culture, Golasecca culture,
Atlantic Bronze Age, Bronze Age Britain, Nordic Bronze Age

China (c. 2000–700 BC)

Erlitou, Erligang

arsenical bronze
writing, literature
sword, chariot

↓Iron Age

The Little Thetford flesh-hook is a late Bronze-age (1150 – 950 BC) artefact discovered in 1929 in Little Thetford, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. A flesh-hook is a metal hook with a long handle used to pull meat out of a pot or hides out of tan-pits. This particular find is one of 32 other such archaeologically significant finds, scatters, and excavations within 1 square mile (2.6 km2) of Little Thetford.

Discovery

The artefact was found by a Mr. Dresser, whilst digging a ditch on reclaimed fenland, at Little Thetford in 1929. Discovered about 9 feet (2.7 m) down, it consisted of two-parts, connected by the remains of a wooden shaft. The wood remains have not survived; a contemporary wooden shaft has been added by the British Museum for display purposes. The artefact is in the British Museum though is not, as of 2012, on display.[2] Within 1 square mile (2.6 km2) of Little Thetford, there have been 33 finds of various kinds over the years,[3] such as flints[4] from the Neolithic era through to a windmill[5] of the late Medieval period.

Uses

The word flesh-hook is relatively modern. The OED gives the origin of the word as 1325 AD, and defines it as a metal hook with a long stail,[6] used to pull hides out of tan-pits or as a hook for pulling meat from the pot.[7] It may also have been used as a tool to prod animals.[8] The use of this flesh-hook in the Bronze-age can only be speculated.

Construction

The metal used in the construction is a bronze alloy, found to be typical of the late Bronze-age. The material was analysed using ICP – AES and contained (approximately) 85% copper, 10% tin, 3% lead, and 2% impurities; although the constituents of the individual parts varied around these figures.[9] From an analysis of 36 other Bronze-age flesh-hooks known to be in existence,[10] the assembled length of hook-part, butt-end, and missing wood part is speculated to be 2.5 feet (0.76 m).[9]

The artefact was manufactured by casting, using a mould in a lost-wax (cire perdue) process.[9]

Dating

See also: Prehistory

The British Museum dates the artefact within the Bronze Age 1150 – 950 BC.[1] The Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Record database dates the artefact as late Bronze-age 1000–701 BC.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "flesh-hook". The British Museum. 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  2. 1 2 Bowman, S. "Late Bronze Age flesh hook, Little Thetford". Cambridgeshire HER. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Heritage Gateway home". Cambridgeshire HER. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Ely Museum (1984). "Neolithic polished flint axe, Little Thetford". Cambridgeshire HER. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  5. ↑ Hughes, H C. "Late Medieval windmill". Cambridgeshire HER. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  6. ↑ A handle, esp. a long slender handle, as the handle of a rake, etc. "Oxford English Dictionary: 'Stail'". Oxford University Press. 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  7. ↑ "Oxford English Dictionary: 'flesh-hook". Oxford University Press. 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  8. ↑ "A guide to the Antinquities of London: Bronze flesh-hook". The British Museum. 1920. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 Bowman, S. "The Dunaverney and Little Thetford flesh-hooks: history, technology and their position within the later bronze age atlantic zone feasting complex". The Antiquarian Journal (Society of Antiquaries of London) 87: 53 – 108. Retrieved 27 June 2010. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  10. ↑ Needham, Stuart; Sheridan Bowman. "Flesh-Hooks, Technological Complexity and the Atlantic bronze Age Feasting Complex". European Journal of Archaeology. doi:10.1177/1461957105066936. Retrieved 27 June 2010.

External links

This article is about an item held in the British Museum. The object reference is 1929,0415.1.
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