FIGURINE

A small Roman copper-alloy anthropomorphic figurine representing a bound captive. The naked captive is crouching with his legs drawn up and together and his elbows on his knees. His arms are flexed with the hands clasped together. The posture is dictated by the shackles the captive bears: a rope connects his neck, hands and feet, with a loop around these three areas. The fibres of the rope are delineated by diagonal mouldings. The legs are at an angle of 65 to 75 degrees. The area between the legs, arms and stomach is soldily cast, with the limbs moulded. A large circular perforation travels horizontally through the stomach. This is met by a perpendicular circular perforation travelling vertically from the captive's head to his bottom. The head appears relatively large and has moulded features including eyes, nose, jawline and hair. The nose is stubby. The eyes are small and sub-circular, defined by a ring of removals around them. The ears are sub-triangular with triangular removals within. The hair is styled in a distinctively 'Celtic' tonsure with the hair brushed back from the forehead and delineated by incisions. The hair is depicted as being shaved behind the crown. The artefact has corroded to a mid-dark green colour.

To date, sixteen bound captive figurines have been found across the empire and classified by Ralph Jackson. This find represents the most southerly example of Jackson's (2005, 145) Type II figurine found in Britain to date. The artefact is paralleled closely by an example found in London (ibid., 145; ref. 11), and even bears the same shaved head, hairstyle and perforations. The front view of the face bears comparison with a number of objects, including a pin recorded on this database: HAMP-1E6536.

Such objects were clearly meant to be mounted through the perforations, although who was meant to view them is less clear. The argument that they represent slaves is convincing (see Jackson 2005). Although more are coming to light through metal detecting (see NLM2845, DENO-9632F6, DUR-3DB631, DENO-EB7C77 on this database) few have been found in secure archaeological contexts. A broad date in the 2nd or 3rd century can therefore only be suggested (ibid., 148). To date, bound captive figurines have only been found on the Rhine/Danube frontier and in Britannia (see ibid., 147; fig. 6).

The find has been published elsewehere by Worrell (2008, 365-66; ref. 15); images first appeared in The Searcher, November 2005, Issue no. 243, p. 13. The image was used illustratively by Webster (2010, 48; fig. 4.2).