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Description: | A copper-alloy complete cosmetic pestle dating from the 1st to 2nd century. Ralph Jackson (1985) has identified this type of artefact as a double-looped idiosyncratic version of a centre-looped type of pestle used as part of a two-piece cosmetic set. The pestle has a circular cross-section but is pointed oval shape in plan. Cast integrally there is a flat-sectioned shaft coming from its side which terminates in two small circular loops (set together like a figure of eight). It is 19mm long, 8mm wide and 6mm thick. The shaft is 13mm long and 4mm wide. The two loops are each 7mm in external diameter and 3mm in internal diameter.
When not in use, cosmetic sets were intended to be hung or suspended by a leather lace or thong, perhaps hanging from the waist. The discovery of sets in inhumation burials at St. Albans, Chichester and Wanborough suggests they may have been chatelaine-type instruments, similar to ??pocket sets?? of toilet implements used during the Iron Age and Roman periods. Due to possibly being suspended from the waist, casual or accidental losses must have been a problem (ibid., 169-172).
The majority of centre-looped mortars and pestles have been found in the south-east of England with particularly large numbers from East Anglia and a massive concentration in Colchester. Few 'cosmetic sets', or their component parts, are closely and securely dated, but many do seem to fall in to the 1st/ 2nd century AD (ibid., 172, 175). | Subjects: | Double-looped version of centre-looped | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Minter, Faye - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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