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Description: | Early Medieval shield mount: The copper alloy, incomplete mount is in the form of a fish. The body of the mount is sub-rectangular with convex lateral edges. One terminal is a broken terminal forming an angular 'C' shape, and these breaks do not appear to be too recent. One arm has broken off and is retained, and this break is recent. The opposite terminal, which possibly formed the tail has a flat, undecorated, slightly off-set platform which is sub-trapezoidal in plan and the outer edge being a broken edge. Again this edge has not been broken too recently. Protruding from the edge of the body, just before the tail, there is a small triangular curving fin on either side. The fins are decorated with a lower-relief linear border. The body of the fish is also decorated, the lateral edges and a line running the length of the body is formed by a row of high-relief square blocks within two a linear high-relief border. The two field between these partitions has a simplistic interlace design. Between the tail and the body, this border is comprised of two double-strands either side of a wide groove. The fins and body of the fish has gilding remaining on the surface. This surface also has patches of active corrosion. The reverse of the mount is undecorated. There are not indications of fixing points on the mount. In profile the mount is slightly undulating, but is almost flat. The mount measures 56.94mm long, 25.17mm wide, 1.65mm thick and weighs 11g.The mount is a shield mount dating to the 6th to 7th centuries. Similar mounts have been recorded on the PAS database, such as NMS-E2B508, and LVPL-E6F3E3. Excavated examples similar to this are from Sheffield's Hill, Lincolnshire; Worlaby, Lincolnshire; Kenninghall, Norfolk; and Barnes Foreshore, Middlesex and are all illustrated in Dickinson (2005) Figure 10, and these are classified as an aquatic creature, Type ib. Other creatures which occur as shield mounts are dragons and eagles (2005, 127ff), and there are considered to be symbols of protection (2005, 110). The 20 mounts which Dickenson discuses have all been found in burials, mainly those of males of 'elite status or at least high standing' (2005, 110) and the few which have been found in female burials have been adapted for jewellery (2005,110). All of these mounts are distributed in the south-east across to the River Avon in Warwickshire and up to the Humber in Lincolnshire (2005, Figure 1).T. Dickinson, 2005 'Symbols of Protection: the significance of animal-ornamented shields in early Anglo-Saxon England', Medieval Archaeology, 109-163.
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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