FIGURINE

Copper-alloy figurine of an armoured man on horseback. The horse and rider were made as separate, solid three-dimensional castings but were discovered together as one piece by the finder. They subsequently came apart as the iron spike holding them together had corroded away. The figurine is almost complete, the horse is missing one lower leg and hoof, and the rider is missing whatever was held in the right hand (perhaps a spear) and the left hand, which may have originally held a shield. These fragments are missing due to old breaks, now worn, and the finder did not recover them. The rider measures 61.03mm in height and 34.55mm in width across the arms, the widest point; it weighs 44.65g.

The rider, a male human, is in a sitting position, with his right arm raised and his left arm lowered but held away from his body. He wears a crested helmet and short hair, represented by small grooves, can be seen below this. The face is oval and has large oval eyes with large eyebrows above them. The nose is triangular and protruding, and a transverse groove represents the mouth. The ears are not depicted.

The rider is wearing a short pleated tunic, with the pleats represented by longitudinal mouldings. The tunic has a belt and short sleeves, leaving the arms bare. The upper arm of the figure's complete right arm is extended at right angles to the shoulder and the lower arm is held vertically. The hand has grooves representing bent fingers and was clearly originally holding something, presumably a spear. The other arm is lowered and held away from the body. The hand is missing, but the position of the arm implies that this missing hand would have probably held an object in front of and to the left of the body, presumably a shield. The rider is also wearing a cloak, which flows out behind him and also has longitudinal decoration representing its folds. The cloak has a notched edge and is further decorated with circular indentations. The knees of the legs protrude from beneath the tunic and the legs may be bare; they are set apart to accommodate the back of the horse. The feet are crude and none of the toes are depicted.

Overall, the rider is naively and even childishly modelled. Although he is generally in proportion, the torso is fairly small and short and the shoulders narrow. In the underside of the rider, between its legs, there is a mass of iron corrosion surrounding an iron circular-sectioned projection; it is this that held the rider in place on the horse's back originally.

The horse is a better-modelled figurine. It is 94.12mm in length and 67.69mm in height at the head, 127.15g in weight. The left lower limb of one hind legs is now missing and it seems that one front leg may have been slightly bent. Despite this there is no doubt that the horse is moving forwards in a fast gait, with its forelegs stretched forwards. The overall proportions of the horse are not anatomically correct; it is generally slender with a very narrow body and elongated legs. The small head is raised, with oval forward-facing vertical ears and large oval eyes, very similar to those of the rider, with eyelashes. The nose is rounded and nostrils flared, and the mouth appears to be open. The mane is depicted by wavy mouldings and grooves down either side of the neck, and is also plaited down its centre with five vertically projecting plaits represented, the first of which is presumably the plaited forelock and is much longer than the others. The body of the horse is decorated with an incised decorative band consisting of a longitudinal zigzag with a row of small dots above and below it; this decorative band passes around the front of the horse's breast and beneath its tail. It is possibly a representation of harness. The tail is long and slender, with the individual hairs represented by grooves. It flows downwards and is flattened towards its tip; it is the same length as the surviving legs. The centre of the body has a slight constriction, which has a mass of corroded iron adhering to it.

There is a corroded circular cross-sectioned shaft passing right through the centre of the horse's body, and it is this shaft which also passed into the base of the rider holding it in position originally. As this iron shaft passes right through the horse it could perhaps have also been used to attach the figurine to a base, although it is perhaps more likely to have been soldered in position at its hoofs. Interestingly there is also a fragment of copper-alloy sheet, which appears to be wrapped around the central constriction and which may perhaps have represented a saddlecloth; the corroded iron shaft passes through the centre of this.

This figurine is made of copper-alloy. Although it is impossible to say without analysis the metal may have a high lead content, due to its heavy weight and silvery grey coloration. The figurine remains in extremely good condition with only small patches of pale green corrosive products present.

Copper-alloy figurines of armoured men on horseback, representing a native version of the Roman God Mars, are known from a number of sites in Britain. These include Westwood Bridge, Peterborough (Johns 1990, 448); Martlesham, Suffolk; Brigstock, Northamptonshire; and a cache of small figurines from Willingham Fen, Cambridgeshire. There is also a stone relief from Stragglethorpe, Lincolnshire (Henig 1984, 49-52, fig 13 and 14). However, this Cambridgeshire example is most similar to a figurine from near Brough, Lincolnshire described and discussed by Catherine Johns (1990 446-52). It is however less crude in style than the Brough figurine and is, as Martin Henig has commented, by far the most distinctive artistically moulded example discovered to date. Enamelled copper-alloy horse-and-rider brooches are also found in Britain and both these brooches and the figurines are most likely to be associated with temple sites and to perhaps have been votive offerings.

The gait of the horse is interesting, Johns (1990 446-52) looked in detail at the exact pose represented by the Brough, Lincolnshire horse and it in the light of this that the gait of this Cambridgeshire example has been examined. The gait, which is presumably intentionally represented, is most likely to be the canter. The canter is a controlled, three-beat gait that is usually a bit faster than the average trot, but slower than the gallop. The gait can possibly be further identified as an extended canter due to the extreme extension of the horses' front legs. This is an extension of the canter, where the horse's frame lengthens and the horse takes larger stride, covering as much ground as possible without losing the 3-beat gait. The pricked ears, similar to those on the Lincolnshire examples, may also indicate, as Catherine Johns suggested, that the horse is alert and paying direct attention to the commands given by the rider. Therefore, like the Lincolnshire example, this figurine could be used to emphasise the high level of horsemanship in Romano-Britain.