File:Middle Bronze Age palstave x-ray (plan). (FindID 588838).jpg

English: A complete and corroded Middle Bronze Age cast copper-alloy Group I or III palstave (1500-1300 BC). A copper alloy palstave with shield shaped pattern below the stop ridge, and raised flange facets. The blade of the palstave is sub-triangular in plan with rounded blade tips, one tip in particular is heavily abraded. The surface of the blade has traces of hammer marks forming lines which cross the blade. The cutting edge is rounded due to abrasion. The sides of the blade are concave in plan, and this curvature stops at the nicks at the junction of the blade and flange side. In profile the blade is sub-triangular with the widest section being before the stop ridge. On both faces of the palstave there is a prominent stop-ridge, one of which has a swallow hole (casting flaw) behind it, on the septum. This face also has an indistinct shield decoration below the stop-ridge on the blade face. The other side this shield decoration is not visible, and this may be due to the heavy abrasion and pitting. The flange sides are an asymmetrical lozenge in plan, and on the septrum faces the flange facets are higher on one face than the other. The septrum tapers slightly towards the butt, which is damaged due to another casting flaw. The surface has patches of a drk green/brown patina, otherwise it is heavily pitted, abraded and has some active corrosion occurring. The palstave measures 166.79mm long from the blade cutting edge to the butt, 65.5mm wide from one blade tip to the other, and 31.68mm thick across the stop ridges. It weighs 494.1g.

The palstave is an early example and is classified as a Group I or III type which has a shield like decoration below the stop ridge. These group of palstaves date to the Middle Bronze Age period, and can be narrowed down to 1500-1300 BC (<a href="http://finds.org.uk/bronzeage/objects/axes">http://finds.org.uk/bronzeage/objects/axes</a>).