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Date: |
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Description: | A probable cast copper-alloy shield mount of the 6th century, Anglo-Saxon.The mount is incomplete and damaged by post-depositional processes, and it can be estimated that 75% remains in three fragments.The mount is in four fragments that roughly join together, and the following describes the object as if it were intact. In plan, the mount has a sub-triangular plate/terminal, an oval body, and a largely incomplete zoomorphic (probably an eagle) head. In its current state, a large, tapered terminal dominates the remaining object, and the face was probably once decorated but now bears little decoration, though there is some iron corrosion that has formed on the object from contact with an unknown ferrous object. The wide base of the terminal meets an oval panel with flat ends and a decorated border of double-moulding. The panel has a series of interchanging circular and lozenge-shape insets, and the insets may also bear traces of gilding. The lozenge-shapes insets retain cut glass or possibly garnet settings, as does one small circular inset at the end of the panel.To one side of the panel, a decorated portion of the object remains, connecting the panel to the top of the triangular terminal. Incised linear decoration is visible, and the feature is reminiscent of a lapet or decorated panel of an Anglo-Saxon brooch. A sub-triangular lapet projects from the opposite side of the panel near its centre and probably was joined to the head of the mount.There is a constriction at the end of the panel bearing the head and evidence for openwork, with a possible beast-leg/eagle talons emerging and turning back toward the panel and missing its tips, though this appearance may be due more to damage and corrosion than any actual representation of a beast's leg.The reverse/underside is undecorated, but retains three cylindrical cast-integral shanks. A smaller one is found on the underside of one end of the object with a break near its end. The larger shank is found on the underside of the terminal and zoomorphic head, and these shanks are 'capped' as if they have been struck.The object has suffered damage due to agricultural practice, but possibly also due to exposure to fire, but at a low intensity of heat. The incomplete head aids in the likely identification of the object as an Early Medieval shield mount, as the beast leg/eagle talons probably suggest a shield mount of the eagle-headed variety found in association with a number of shield and shield fittings from across northern Europe, including the Sutton Hoo mound 1 burial. It can be speculated that the damage this mount suffered was due to inclusion in a cremation rite, though further analysis is needed.
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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