Today’s VM_365 image for Day 221 shows an Early Bronze Age flat axe that was found at Gore End, Birchington. The earliest prehistoric metalworkers used pure copper, which has been used to make this axe, making it one of the earliest examples of prehistoric metal working from Early Bronze Age Thanet.

Copper is quite a soft metal and it was later replaced by Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin,  which was much harder and could be reliably used to make a more versatile range of tools and other objects.