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Description: | An incomplete cast copper-alloy 'Moustache-shaped' object of Bronze Age date. It is missing the ends of both lower tips due to old breaks. The object is cast in the round with swollen oval body that tapers downwards at both sides to the now incomplete pointed terminals giving it an inverted U-shaped form. At the centre of the body is a slight vertical band or constriction, either side of which the exterior surfaces of the object has decoration comprising multiple ridges and grooves. These run from the central constriction towards the pointed terminals, finishing just before the sides narrow to the terminals. The object has a central perforation, positioned behind the central constriction and between the downcurving terminals. This is oval at the top centre of the object and rectangular on its underside, filled with a solid dark brown/red concretion. All surfaces of the object have a dark brown patina, with some pitting and patches of green copper-alloy corrosion in places. It measures 23.39mm in length, 22.58mm in width, 12.23mm in thickness and 18.38g in weight. The precise date range of these unusual objects remains uncertain, although several examples have now been recorded through the PAS. Examples from the Salisbury Hoard (Stead, 1998) were found alongside Bronze Age metalwork but with deposition in the Iron Age. Examples from Suffolk (SF-520513 and SF-9183) were found loosely associated with a scatter of Middle Bronze Age finds, as were an example from Methwold, Norfolk, and more recently from an excavated Middle Bronze Age context from Clay Farm, Cambridgeshire (cf. NMS-F2BA41, NMS-1F5E55). These suggest a possible Middle Bronze Age date for the current object.
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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