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Description: | Incomplete fragment of a bone knife handle of probable late medieval or early post medieval date (1450-1650). The knife blade is not present, however from the style of the handle it would have been a relatively small tanged blade. The handle is formed from a single carved piece of bone which would have fitted over the tang. No rivets or other forms of pinning are present. The handle of the knife is sub rectangular in plan and cross section; the long edges of the handle taper along their length to a broken terminal. The opposite terminal is also missing - both being broken. The handle is believed to be made from bone rather than antler; due to the nature of the close grain of the material and lack of clear vessels. The knife handle measures 39.9mm length, 13.7mm width, is 7.2mm thick and weighs 3.09 grams.The handle is decorated with a number of carved motifs; both faces of the handle are carved with similar designs. The design consists of thee zones; each of which is contained by vertical paired carved lines. Between each of these lines are a series of incised ring and dot decoration. The bottom zone consists of 1 ring and dot - the middle two ring and dots arranged vertically and the third has 4 ring and dots arranged in a vertical cross. The outer edges of the handle are plain and undecorated. There are several areas of damage present; these include a small fracture on the body of the handle and two long horizontal cracks which have split the handle into two pieces. It is likely that these cracks have been formed through a combination of differential drying and previous damage whilst in the burial environment. The handle is in a friable state and it is possible that it has been burnt or deposited amongst burnt embers.The handle is a mid grey brown colour with patches of darker brown staining A direct parallel for this knife handle has not been found. The blade is likely to be a whittled tanged knife, however, this is difficult to establish due to the fragmentary nature of the artefact. Similar decorative styles can be seen in examples of Tudor date from London (see Egan, 2005; Material Culture in London in the age of transition section 9) and a similar date is suggested for this example. A similar knife handle was reported through the PAS from Wellington, Hereford (HESH-4714F5)
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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