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Date: |
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Description: | A cast copper-alloy object, possibly the terminal from a knife handle or perhaps a mount, of potential Roman date. The object is in the form of a sea creature, possibly a dolphin, whale or fish, with globular oval body and tapering tail that curves forwards over the head giving the creature a very curved profile. On each side of the head are small transverse grooves that form the eyes. At the terminal end there is a single transverse rib on the outer edge before the tail expands to a flaring terminal. This is globular in form with three prominent transverse ribs seprated by grooves, and two smaller triangular projections at the bottom edge of the terminal. The body of the creature rests on a rectangular base that projects backwards, perhaps representing fins/flippers. From the underside of the base extends an integrally cast forked attachment. This is rectangular in form, set at right angles to the plane of the base, and expands to two projecting rectangular prongs separated by a broad rectangular slot. The entire object has a dark brown patina. It measures 30.08mm in length, 15.09mm in width, 9.93mm in thickness, and 10.08g in weight.This is a complete decorative terminal in the form of a sea creature with tail folded forwards above its head, probably a whale, dolphin or similar. Its findspot suggests a likely Roman date, and parallels might be seen in knife terminals with similar forked prongs recorded through the PAS (e.g. LIN-B5D8D5, WILT-9F04C5, SF-CD9DC3) but also in zoomorphic figurines (vessel mounts?) from Colchester (Crummy, 1983: nos. 4268-4269). A close parallel for the current example has not as yet been identified, and consequently a differing function or date range cannot be ruled out entirely.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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