|
Date: |
|
Description: | A copper-alloy and iron object resembling a tooth. It consists of a wedge-shaped block which tapers towards the bottom; extending from the angled upper surface is an iron spike. The object measures 14.8mm long, 5.9mm wide and 5.3mm thick. The weight is 1.01g. It is likely that this object is a post-medieval swaging block, a tiny anvil for the manufacture of a gold crown or cap for a partly damaged tooth. The iron spike would have been used to fix the tooth in a vice or in a wooden base. It probably dates to the 19th or 20th centuries.Evidence for the use of false teeth stretches back as far as the 6th century BC in Continental Europe. Evidence exists for the use, during the late Roman period, of copper-alloy prosthetic crowns on human teeth (see Rosenfelda, Dvoracheka and Rotstein 2000: 641-644). Although there are several references to the use of dentures in the medieval period, their manufacture was not common until the 18th century (Freeth 1999), when most dentures were made using using either real teeth or porcelain, ivory, silver or enamelled copper replicas, mounted on an ivory, porcelain or gold palate (Woodforde 1968).
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
|