File:Cast copper alloy side-looped spearhead (FindID 505645).jpg

English: Extremely well-preserved cast copper-alloy socketed side-looped spear of Acton Park 2, Greenwell and Brewis' Class IV, dating from the early Middle Bronze Age, c. 1600-1400BC. The spearhead is complete, the blade and socket undamaged with a smooth chocolate-brown patina showing hardly any sign of decay at all. There are only a few patchy areas of corrosion on the surface, towards the tip and around the socket. The casting seams have been carefully removed and smoothed down and the loops are small and decorative, the upper part of the curved bow is decorated with a diamond-shaped incision. The head of the spearhead is small, leaf-shaped and the socket has a pronounced midrib. The tip of the spearhead is thicker than the rest of the blade and there are very fin and clear re-sharpening marks all around the edges of the wings, running parallel to it. The head looks reshaped and reworked and it is much smaller than the usual size of Middle Bronze Age spearhead heads.

There is still wood remaining in the socket, which may hopefully be analysed by York Archaeological Trust. Side-looped spearheads are Greenwell and Brewis' Class IV and date to the early Middle Bronze Age. They are likely to belong to the Acton Park 2, Taunton (Cemmaes) or Penard metalwork assemblages, corresponding to Needham's (1997) Period 5, c. 1500-1150BC. The spearhead was likely to have been short and similar to Savory (1980) nos. 227 - 230, which Savory argues are of Acton Park metal, although no. 228 gave an analysis suggesting Penard metal. A side-looped spearhead from the Thames at Mortlake (DoB 31) has been radio-carbon dated by Needham et al (1997) producing an early radiocarbon date of 3225+/- 65BP (OxA-5948) 1680-1400BC with a 95% confidence rating.