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Description: | Copper alloy key used for turning pegs with square ends. Cast in one solid piece, this object is roughly ‘Y’ shaped in plan. It is formed from a socketed shaft, 33.52mm long, 16.26mm wide, 10.78mm thick which is subrectangular in section. The socket is subrectangular and extends into the shaft for no more than 10mm. The socket mouth is 16.24mm long and 12.16mm wide. Extending from the shaft at a slight angle are two integral ‘necks’, subcircular in section and 23mm long. On the outside of the upper portion of each neck is an integral outward facing terminal in the form of a man’s head, so that each head is effectively looking away from each other. One head is complete. It is moulded so that the raised eyebrows and nose are joined together. The nose is then joined with a moulded raised moustache which runs into a beard. The eyes are represented by raised dots and the mouth is a short, horizontal groove. A moulded helmet that appears to have cheek guards and a slight crest on top, surrounds the face. This head is 21.64mm long and 14.28mm wide. The other head is almost identical in design but is only 13.34mm wide. The features are considerably more worn and there is a semicircular portion of the beard missing, but the head still has a length of 21.7mm. The two heads are joined at their backs by a horizontal bar that runs between the two that is 15.02mm long, 5.84mm wide, 5.12mm thick and subcircular in section. When viewing the object in plan, this bar is straight on its underside, but has a gentle concave curve on its upper side. This bar was most likely used for hanging the object from a strap or cord. The object has been polished or cleaned since discovery, so now has a brown patina with patches of shiny bronze. Apart from the moulded terminals, the object is undecorated. The object has an over all length of 64.2mm, is 43.28mm wide across the heads and weighs 79.30g. An exact parallel for this object could not be found with human heads. However, Egan (1998) illustrates a very similar object with foliate terminals in ‘The Medieval Household’. Here the key has the same subrectangular socketed shaft with the foliate terminals in the same, roughly ‘Y’ shaped form. Egan notes that the items that relate to this type of key has yet to be identified, but that it is unlikely to be for turning square pegs on a musical instrument as the key is robust and unnecessarily elaborate for the job. To date there are no objects with corresponding spigots or ends. Though the form of the human heads could link this object stylistically with the early medieval period, the functional form of the socket must link it with the known medieval examples. Barry Ager of the British Museum comments that this is not to say that similar objects were not made earlier, but until more is known about them or their context, it is impossible to date them with any more accuracy. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | McDonald, Caroline - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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