An axe discovered twice? The Fahne, Westerende - Kirchloog socketed axe. A votive deposit in the Fahnster Tief (Niedersachsen, Germany)

In this paper we report on the socketed axe from the Fahnster Tief ast Westerende-Kirchloog (Germany). It was recovered during the construction works for a shipyard, and probably dislocated from the adjacent Fahnster Tief rivulet channel, where it had been deposited in later prehistory. Typologically, the low-placed pellet signals that the socketed axe is of non-local origin. Basing ourselves on the perceivable similarities of the Westerende-Kirchloog to cited examples by Kibbert and the general dating of axes of Plainseau-affinities, a late Late Bronze Age (HaB2/3 or Per. V, c. 925-790 BC) date seems probable. pXRF-analysis of a coring sample (re)discovered at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology showed a low-impurity (only 0.5 %wt Pb) high-tin (c. 14 %wt Sn) bronze alloy, that has few European parallels.