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Description: | An incomplete and damaged, copper-alloy Roman skirted terret. This terret takes the form of an oval hoop, which acted as a rein guide, from which flares an integral ?skirt? that would have covered the fixing loop. The hoop is subcircular with a circular cross-section. It is of irregular width, flaring towards its base. It has an external diameter of 36.52mm, an internal diameter of 22.14mm, an external height of 32.26mm and an in internal height of 20.66mm.
The integrally moulded skirt flares from beneath the hoop. It is lozenge shape in plan (ie viewed from above) and a downward ?V? in section. The edges of the skirt have been shaped with a scalloped edge, though these have suffered some damage and now appear irregular and chipped. As the edges are worn smooth, it is likely that this damage occurred in antiquity. The skirt is 45.20mm long and 23.20mm wide.
Beneath the 'skirt' projecting from the centre of the underside of the base of the hoop is an integral, rectangular shaped protrusion, which obviously formed part of the loop that the skirt was designed to cover. It has a clearly broken edge. Surrounding the protrusion is a fair amount of iron corrosion product, suggesting that it has been in contact with something iron, or that part of its fixture was of this metal. The patina of the object is mid green, where the original surface survives, and light green where damage to the surface and edges have occurred. This is also true of the underside. The total weight of the object is 45.77g.
Examples of these ?skirted? terrets have been found in Suffolk, and it is no surprise that they should be turning up in Essex. They probably date to the mid first century AD and have a military connection, i.e were used on carts or chariots used by the legions. | 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: | 43
200 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Caroline McDonald | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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