Rights Holder: York Museums Trust
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Unique ID: YORYM-9EA492
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
This identification was done by Adam Daubney (Lincolnshire, Finds Liaison Officer). He has seen many examples and has written an article for the PAS 2007 Conference Proceedings (Daubney 2007) on mace heads. A cast copper alloy knopped mace head. The mace is short and has been broken in half, no shank remains. The mace is square in cross-section and it has a central hole. The remaining fragment has six pyramidal knobs in rows, whole knops decorate the central band, with half knops on the top and bottom filling in the gaps. The knobs are all very worn and slightly mis-shapen, which is in keeping with it being used as a weapon. There is a brownish patina over most of the surface. Other examples are recorded on the Portable Antiquities Schemes database, many of which are from the East Midlands, particularly Lincolnshire. Their exact function is not known, and it has been suggested that they are eccesiastical staff fittings rather than offensive weapons (Adam Daubney, (pers comm.). Daubney states that it is interesting that this is from Bridlington (i.e. on the coast). A significant number of these finds are from coastal counties and around major inlets. This is similar to an example from Fiskerton, Lincolnshire, in being fairly squat (see Medieval Archaeology, 2005, p336, fig 5b). There are elaborate examples from Ireland and Scandinavia that suggest a function other than warfare (eg ecclesiastical), however England has only ever produced these undecorated examples so far. The dating of these items is still problematic, though a general late 12th - 14th Century has been applied.
Class: Knopped
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1150
Date to: Circa AD 1400
Quantity: 1
Length: 37.2 mm
Width: 26.6 mm
Thickness: 12.8 mm
Weight: 59.8 g
Date(s) of discovery: Saturday 1st March 2008
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Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batey, C. | 1988 | Medieval Archaeology | p336, fig 5b | ||||
Daubney, A. | 2010 | Medieval Copper-alloy Mace-heads from England, Scotland and Wales | Oxford | BAR |