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Description: | A corroded and damaged cast copper-alloy cosmetic end-looped mortar of Late Iron Age/Early Roman date (1st/2nd century AD). The mortar has a plain, shallow bowed profile, and is a shallow ellipse in plan. The circular loop at one terminal has abraded through (Th.: 11.1mm). The other terminal ends in a knob that is angled downwards. The body is roughly triangular in cross-section, with a dished inner surface for the pestle to rest. This latter somewhat retains its original smooth shiny patina while the rest of the surface of the mortar is pitted with corrosion. This smoothness also testifies to the grinding that occurred when the object was used.Such objects can be dated to the late Iron Age to early Roman periods (1st-2nd century AD). These mortar and pestle sets would probably have been used to grind minerals for make-up and were uniquely British. End-looped pestles with knobbed terminals can be found illustrated in Jackson (1985, 177; fig. 5).
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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