This object is one part of a three-piece copper alloy axe mould for making socketed axes, dating from the late Bronze-Age. It is part of a reusable mould; the complete mould would have been in three pieces - with another matching piece for casting the other face of the axe, and a plug for making the socket or mouth of the axe.
It would have been made by a specialist metalworker; the form of the axe that this mould would have produced appears to be a South-Eastern ribbed axe (with fairly long ribs decorating the face), suggesting that the metalworker originated from or had contact with South-Eastern Britain.
The mould itself would have originally been cast in a mould; the former or model for it would have most likely been made out of wax and then encased in clay, then the whole would have been heated, the wax poured out and molten metal poured into the cavity left by the wax. When the metal had cooled, the clay would have been broken away, leaving the now solid mould piece.
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