This volume forms a recent contribution to the Prähistorische Bronzefunde series. Extensive as that series is, however, spearheads from the British context have not until now been addressed, as Richard Davis observes in his initial discussion. He also makes the point that Bronze Age spearheads as a whole have been subject to less attention than might be expected given the volume and frequency of their occurrence across Europe. Davis has previously worked on British Bronze Age metalwork, and on spearheads in particular, thus being well placed to compile this corpus of material, and the volume provides a unique and thorough review of Early and Middle Bronze Age spearhead examples from across Britain.
A concise introduction covers research history, metalwork chronology, the fundamentals of spearhead occurrence and production in Bronze Age Britain and a helpful explanation of the terminology used by the author in discussing the material. Davis’s attention to the function of spears is also of particular note. The idea that Bronze Age metal weapons and tools were made to be used is one which the expansive history of typological categorisation has at times somewhat disregarded, thus vitiating characterisation of material. Drawing upon analytical methods used in his earlier doctoral research, which focused on basal-looped spearheads, Davis’s discussions of possible functions, albeit brief, are an apposite contribution, facilitating a constructive perspective of connections between the production of spearheads and their prospective uses.
The coverage of the material divides the assessed spearheads into ten morphological groups which are then further subdivided by variant types. For example, ‘Group 4: Plain Kite Blade’ comprises both ‘long’ and ‘short’ types. Each spearhead type is addressed through discussion of origins, past research and context, and morphometric data and analysis are present for each example and group reviewed. The discussion of terminology within the introduction to the volume is such that Davis’s descriptions can be set within a relatively straightforward framework of reference. The volume draws upon and complements work conducted on the Middle Bronze Age in Ireland, and contributes to the broad perspective of the distribution of spearheads across the British Isles, as well as providing a further basis by which British examples might be compared with those from the Continent.
It might have been beneficial to include some discussion of the means of hafting beyond the rather adumbrated mention within the volume, given that the shaft would represent an integral part of the spear as a composite object. There is some previous research which could be drawn upon, notably Green (1978) on evidence from Llyn Fawr, albeit of the Late Bronze Age. However, a more significant level of detail on this aspect of spearheads was perhaps, not unreasonably, beyond the scope of the intentions of the volume.
J P Northover provides an appendix to the volume which reviews the metallurgical analysis of a sample of tanged and looped spearheads from the material. It discusses the alloy contents of spearheads from each typological group and offers some germane interpretations of the potential significance of varying materials for the production of varying spearhead forms. Within the main body of the text both the discrete sections and figures are clearly defined and lend to the overall ease with which the volume can be followed, although the distribution maps for each spearhead group might have been better placed within the chapters for each group rather than being put in the appendices at the end of the volume. As would be expected from a volume in this series the plates are well presented and the illustrations clear, although, given that the spearheads in question were three-dimensional objects in which structural integrity would be dependent on the whole form, the inclusion of further depictions of the objects besides the two-dimensional frontal perspective might have been of use.
The brief discussions of finds contexts generally take the orthodox position of equating wetland deposition to ‘votive’ activity, and such discussion could have been expanded upon to provide further elucidation and justification, but that is a minor point in the context of the work as a whole. Although some other valid points have been raised, for instance by Stuart Needham in terms of approach and categorisation, the extent of the data within the volume and its potential to act as impetus for more nuanced analyses of British Bronze Age metalwork, and spearheads specifically, will undoubtedly be of benefit for future research.
