Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records. Introduction Mirrors could take the form of a flat, polished metal surface held by a handle (Leahy and Lewis 2018, 110-111); silvered glass as …more
Category: Iron Age
800 BC – AD 42
Cosmetic Grinders (2001 guide)
Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records. Introduction These sets, comprising a pestle and mortar, are likely to have been used for grinding small quantities of powders for cosmetic or medicinal …more
Toggles (2001 guide)
Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records. Introduction Toggles have received very little study (see Jackson 1990; nos 83-87). The ancestral toggle is basically a cylinder with symmetrical mouldings and a …more
Ceramics (including the Pottery Guide)
The PAS has produced a guide to the recording of pottery vessels which can be downloaded as a pdf here: PAS Pottery Recording Guide. Other ceramic items (clay pipes, ceramic lamps and moulds, kiln furniture and so on) are briefly noted towards the end of the Pottery Recording Guide, with recommendations as to the object …more
Button and Loop Fasteners
Introduction Button-and-loop fasteners seem to have been multi-purpose, some perhaps for horse-harness (especially the chunkier earlier ones) and some for human clothing (Worrell 2008, 341). Their core distribution in lowland Scotland and northern England, has been extended southwards by PAS finds, which are now well known from Yorkshire and the Humber, the East and West …more
Brooches
Introduction A brooch is essentially a pin with something (a plate, a frame etc) joining the two ends, effectively keeping the pin from falling out of the costume. It can be used for fastening things together, or just for decoration. PAS object type to be used Use BROOCH for all brooches, whether they are bow …more
How to Record a Coin
Introduction The main difference between recording a coin (or jetton, token etc) and any other object is that for a coin there is an extra form to complete, in addition to the standard finds form, findspot form, and so on. Coins are standard, mass-produced objects, and the numismatic forms are set up to capture this …more
Spindle Whorls
Introduction Spindle whorls are perforated weights from wooden drop spindles. Their weight helped give the spindle momentum in the twisting, or spinning, of fibres into yarn, for later making into textiles. Various materials were used for spindle whorls: stone (various, often local, types), shale, ceramic (baked clay, reused vessel sherds), animal skeletal material (bone, antler), wood, and …more
Bridle Bits
Introduction Bits are composite objects used to control horses. They consist of mouthpieces, held in a horse’s mouth, attached to cheekpieces, in turn attached to the headstall and to the reins of a bridle. The arrangement of these elements is far more complex on a curb bit, which uses a lever action; for the most part we …more
Cheekpieces
Introduction Cheekpieces are separate components of snaffle bits from bridles; they were used in pairs, one at each end of the bit. They either had a hole through which a bit’s mouthpiece travelled and a loop for attaching the cheek strap of a bridle (in the late early-medieval period), or they were looped through the end-loops of a …more
