It is named after a founder's hoard discovered in Ewart Park in Northumberland and is the twelfth in a sequence of industrial stages that cover the period 3000 BC to 600 BC.
Alloying metal with lead became a common practice during the period and numerous hoards date to this period. In common with the continental Hallstatt culture, horse harnesses and vehicle fittings were developed and links with the late Urnfield culture and Hallstatt early C are apparent.
Recently, the Ewart Park Phase, and related Atlantic phases, have come to be seen as the probable point of origin of some developments in metalwork, that then spread widely across inland continental Europe. This reverses the previously assumed direction of travel. The types concerned include swords, winged chapes and buckets.[1]
Ewart Park Sword
According to the Portable Antiquities Scheme:
"Most Bronze Age swords in museum collections in Britain come from the Ewart Park Phase. Generally these swords have a bulging shape in the blade at the midway point before narrowing towards the shoulders and the terminal which is fan shaped. Size and number of rivets vary greatly. These swords developed from the Wilburton swords with little influence from the continent and it appears they first occurred in Northern Britain."[2]
The Ewart Park phase was succeeded by the Llyn Fawr Phase which is parallel to Hallstatt C proper.
References
^Koch, John T., p. 9 in: Gosden, Christopher, Crawford, Sally, Ulmschneider, Katharina, Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections, 2014, Oxbow Books, ISBN1782976582, 9781782976585, google books