Table of Contents
Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records.
Introduction
There is a particular kind of large early-medieval knife known as a ‘seax’ (pronounced ‘sax’; from the Old English word for knife) which appears to have functioned differently from a sword (perhaps as a hunting knife, perhaps multi-functional) and so has a separate Object Type term.
Most of the fragments we deal with will be the non-ferrous fittings on the hilt of the weapon, which are also the most susceptible to change in form and decoration.
PAS object type to be used
Use SEAX
PAS object classifications to be used
Use pommel, pommel bar and guard, accordingly
Date
Seaxes are generally early-medieval objects, some of which extend slightly into the medieval period.
Examples
