6 lbs. On the lower side of the square end is impressed a stamp on which appear the letters L.G.R. It is made from a solid piece of iron exactly as a modern axe would be, the eye having been punched out. 
FIG. 41. PUNCTURED INSCRIPTION ON AXE FROM
PIT XVIAlong the upper edge is a punctured inscription in two lines (Fig. 41). The first consists of the centurial mark followed by the name BARRI. In the second line the letters appear to be COMPITALICI. It is interesting to compare this beautiful axe, evidently the work of a professional tool-maker, with an axe from Pit XXIII (Plate LX., Fig 1). The two are similar in shape, both having a curved blade at one end and a square head at the other. The extreme length of the latter is 7¾ inches. The edge measures 3½ inches. The weight is 3 lbs. 7 oz. It has a slip eye with side clips, which has a general resemblance to that on the larger axe. But the whole is formed of two pieces welded together at the eye, just as might be done to-day in a country smithy, and the welding of the steel on the head and edge is somewhat clumsy.
Implements of Husbandry
We have already noted that in a fort with such elements of permanency as were obvious at Newstead there must have been some cultivation. Nothing was found which could with certainty be set down as having formed part of a plough, but the pits yielded a few characteristic implements of husbandry. A hoe, half-spade and half-pick, about a foot long came from Pit XIV (Plate LXI., Fig. 9). It could be utilised in throwing up entrenchments, but its real purpose was probably tillage. Liger figures a specimen closely resembling it from a grave at Neuvicque, Charente Inferieure.[1] A smaller example, 8 inches in length, was found in Pit LXXXIX. A single specimen of a rake (Plate LXI., Fig. 7) came from the Baths (Pit LVII). It is formed of a wooden clog, made of oak, the length of which, when complete, was probably 13 inches. Through this have been inserted seven prongs, which project 6 inches and are slightly curved. The opposite ends of the prongs are doubled over the lower edge of the clog so as to form a fastening.
The two sickles on Plate LXI. differ slightly in pattern. They have short curved blades, and must have been little more than a foot in length. Fig. 2 is from Pit I; in it the end of the tang has been turned over the
1 La Ferrounerie, vol. ii. p1. 21, H.
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