ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Investigating Early Bronze Age halberds from Scotland using Time of Flight Neutron Diffraction and Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis

Abstract: Metalworking in Early Bronze Age Scotland is poorly understood in terms of manufacturing techniques and technological decision making. This is especially true of the casting and post-casting working carried out on ancient halberds. This experiment will analyse for the first time 4 halberds held by National Museums Scotland using Time of Flight Neutron Diffraction. Bulk Sn and Pb content, phase analysis, and microstructural information such as grain size and orientation will be obtained to learn about manufacturing techniques. NRCA will be employed to determine if alloys are binary or ternary, e.g. in the case of high arsenical content. The results will form a major dataset to be used in PhD research aiming to investigate the skill and choices of northern British metalworkers, and will substantially add to our knowledge regarding metalworking in EBA Scotland as part of a wider region including Ireland, the South of England, and the near Continent. Furthermore, the experiment represents the first time as far as the authors know that Bronze Age halberds have been analysed using Neutron techniques, marking an exciting opportunity to learn more about these fascinating weapons.

Principal Investigator: Mr John Strachan
Experimenter: Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark
Experimenter: Dr EDWARD CHARLES
Experimenter: Professor Andrea Dolfini
Local Contact: Dr Antonella Scherillo
Experimenter: Dr Matthew Knight

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2620718

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2620718

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Mr John Strachan et al; (2026): Investigating Early Bronze Age halberds from Scotland using Time of Flight Neutron Diffraction and Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2620718

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.