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A copper-alloy mount of Early-Medieval (early Anglo-Saxon) date.

The mount is roughly square, with a frame around a central panel decorated with a 'chip-carved' design in which a combination of V-shaped grooves and ridges defines a zoomorphic pattern. At the base of this panel is the head frame of a bird, aligned left to right (in red on the annotated photograph). The head is angular in appearance and contains a recessed, sub-rectangular eye. The upper half of the projecting beak has a straight, angled top side, vertical right hand end (defined by the edge of the panel) and a concave underside into which the semicircular lower half of the beak fits. An inward-pointing triangle is located above the back of the head, separating it from the three strands of body and leg. These (in blue on the annotated photograph) are angled towards the top right-hand corner of the panel, gradually declining in width; the widest and longest element is probably the leg, the other two the body. Fitted in between is a triangular three-toed foot (in green on the annotated photograph).

The panel of decoration retains much of its original surface gilding. In contrast, the flat rectangular border, which extends around the perimeter, has been silvered. The head of the mount is of thin cross-section and there is a single circular-sectioned rivet at the centre of its underside.

The mount measures 20.4mm high, 19.4mm wide, 2.1mm thick (head) and 9mm deep (including rivet). The weight is 4.69g.

The form of the decoration on this mount is typical of Salin's Style I, broadly datable to between c. 475 and 600 AD. This dating can be further refined by the use of both gilding and silver plating: the 'Anglian English Bichrome Style', as discussed by Hines (1997: 215) in relation to his series of Great Square-headed brooches, where it is identified as occurring within Phase 3 (c. 530-c. 590). Recent radio-carbon dating of a grave from Eriswell with Bichrome Style, however, has suggested an earlier start date, around 500 AD (Dickinson et al. 2011, 47)

Similar small rectangular mounts with Style I ornament within an undecorated border include PAS records SF-01C966 (from Friston, Suffolk) and FASW-A0BFA1 (Winchester, Hampshire). A further, published, example (but without the border, and perhaps cut down from a different object) was found at Coddenham, Suffolk (West 1998: 21/fig. 21.8). Such mounts are generally considered to be horse harness decorations.

• West, S. E., 1998. A corpus of Anglo-Saxon material from Suffolk, East Anglian Archaeology 84, .
• Hines, J., 1997. A new corpus of Anglo-Saxon great square-headed brooches Woodbridge : Boydell for the Society of Antiquaries of London, pp.

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Created: Friday 10th February 2012
Updated: Wednesday 22nd February 2012