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Over the last few decades, typological studies have become quite a niche field when compared to the importance attached to this subject by earlier generations of scholars. As a consequence, existing typological classification schemes have remained in use, often without being critically reassessed against the backdrop of new evidence. One prominent example is the carp's-tongue sword, one of the most diagnostic objects of the Atlantic Late Bronze Age, where limitations both in the choice of morphological traits and in the corpus of material used for classification have caused serious problems with regard to their typo-chronology.1This has also led to distortions in our understanding of Late Bronze Age hoard chronology at large.2
To address these issues, the first part of this paper will compare different approaches to classifying carp's-tongue swords, in order to calibrate their typo-chronology and ultimately gain a better insight into the spatial and chronological dimensions of their manufacture. For this we are drawing on the considerable advances that have recently been made regarding the typological differentiation between distinct morphological subgroups of carp's-tongue swords.3The validity of the typology we employ seems to be corroborated by metal analyses providing evidence for the use of different alloys with different types of carp's-tongue swords.4
As a consequence of the general shift from object-centred to landscape-focused approaches in archaeology over the last few decades, recent studies of Bronze Age metalwork depositional practice have concentrated on putting finds in their regional context with regard to what might be called a 'topography of ritual', considerably enhancing our understanding of how Bronze Age communities conceived space and interacted with their socially constructed environment.5With few notable exceptions,6however, there have been no recent attempts to look at variation in the composition of metalwork assemblages and in hoarding practices at a supra-regional level in Atlantic Europe. This holds particularly true for the end of the Late Bronze Age - the Ewart Park, Covesea and Dowris metalwork traditions - for which at present no similarly thorough treatment is available to match that offered by Coombs's study of metalwork assemblage composition during the preceding Wilburton period.7The last broad comparison of Late Bronze Age metalwork assemblages on both...