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Description: | Cast copper alloy zoomorphic cosmetic mortar (also known as cosmetic or woad grinder) of late Iron Age to early Roman date circa 300 BC - 200 AD.
The cosmetic mortar has a plain bowed profile with an unfinished or incomplete loop at one end and a bird head terminal at the other. The mortar is sub-triangular (U shaped) in cross section. It has an elliptical or sub-oval plan with both end terminals tapering to blunt points. The mortar measures 62.5mm long, 8.1mm wide, and is 8.4mm thick. It weighs 13.46 grams.
The end loop is sub oval in profile and tapers to a blunt point. It is also (as mentioned above) incomplete. This may be due to wear as both ends do not seem to have been broken. Instead they both end with smooth (worn) points. This could also suggest that the break might be due to a fault in the metal formed during the casting process. The loop measures 15.9mm long, 3.3mm wide, and 13.3mm thick. The distance between the two worn edges is 2.8mm
On the upper edge of the mortar is the grinding area. This is elliptical (sub-oval) in plan and measures 25mm long, 4.2mm wide, and is 1.2mm deep. The grinding area has a very shallow U shaped cross section. There is also a small area of damage to this grinding area. This is likely to have occurred during its period of usage as there is an even patina covering the damage.
The birds head decorative terminal of the mortar is cast. This design differs from other plain end-looped mortars by the addition of a cast tapering triangular piece of metal to the terminal to form the beak of the bird. There are no other decorative motifs on the mortar.
The whole of the mortar is covered in a mid-dark brown patina. This patina has been chipped in several places, and this suggests modern damage whilst in the plough soil.
Similar end-looped cosmetic mortars can be seen in Ralph Jackson?s paper on 'Cosmetic sets from the late Iron Age and Roman Britain' (1985: Britannia, Vol. 16, pp165- 192) | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | -300
200 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Peter Reavill | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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