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Description: | Unusual cast copper-alloy and corroded iron mount/terminal, probably from a knife with an iron tang. It is unusual because of its decoration, which consists of a female double faced head. The base is a thick circular disc 13 mm in diameter. It has a groove around its circumference, and on the underside is iron corrosion from a central iron shank. This disc replaces the neck; above it is are the heads. The rear quarter or so of the heads are fused, and the hairstyles and faces (although worn and corroded ) look identical. The hair has a centre parting and seems to be loosely gathered. The best-preserved face has large eyes and a small face, and the chin is pointed. The modelling seems to be fairly naturalistic. It measures 23 mm tall from the base to the tops of the heads, 15 mm wide from ear to ear, and 16.5 mm thick between the very worn noses.
An almost identical double female headed terminal has been found at Bures St Mary, Suffolk (see SF-D0D636). Ralph Jackson of the British Museum believes that these examples are similar to one from Richborough which has an integral copper-alloy handle, and is one of a series of distinctive knives highlighted by Annemarie Kaufmann-Heinimann in her Gotter und Lararien aus Augusta Raurica (Forschungen in Augst 26, Augst, 1998), 32-35, figs. 9-11. Where iron blades survive they are Manning's Type 1. He would date the knife series to the 1st - 2nd century AD and the Suffolk examples are likely to be of a similar date. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Geake, Helen - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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