SCABBARD

This artefact has been studied by staff at the National Museum and Galleries of Wales: Cardiff. Sincere thanks are due to both Dr Gwilt and Ms Davies for their time and expertise in providing such a good record of this rare and important find. A late Iron Age Scabbard Mount from the Oswestry Area, North Shropshire. Report compiled by Adam Gwilt (Curator of later prehistoric collections) and Mary Davies (Conservator). National Museum of Wales: Cardiff. Description Length 69.4mm max, height of front plate 22.8mm, external width of hoop 17.5mm, internal length 63.7mm, internal width of hoop 12.2mm, thickness 2.4 – 3.1mm, height of side bars 10.3 – 10.6mm, height of back bar 4.9mm, weight 19.6 grams. This is a cast, copper alloy, oval hoop with a descending decorative front plate. The continuous hoop or bar is decorated on its external surface with three grooves parallel to the edges and separating two ridges with cast cord decoration. At either side, the hoop is strengthened with a simple descending convex tongue 5.5 – 5.7mm wide. The margin of each is defined by a parallel grove, 1.8mm from the edge. The decorated front plate is an openwork design, comprising an open circle confined by lunate hooks. The circle (external diameter 16.9 – 18mm) is attached to the bar at the top and the lunate hooks at the side, leaving two openwork bi-concave triangles each confined by the hoop, hooks and circle. Inside the circle are two smaller circles at the top and bottom, each containing a circular recess, probably once taking coloured enamel insets. The interior circles are joined by a narrow bar, thereby creating two opposing cut away pelta shapes inside the circle, to the left and right. The small circles with enamel recesses are slightly offset from the vertical plane, giving a slight irregularity to the piece. The hoop shows particular wearing on the reverse right hand side, as evidenced by the loss of groove definition on the exterior surface. The artefact is complete, with a grey-green patination and little surface corrosion. Metallurgical Analysis (Mary Davies) Analysis to ascertain the elemental composition of the artefact was carried out using a CamScan MaXim 2040 analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM), plus an Oxford Instruments Link Isis energy dispersive X-Ray spectrometer (EDX). The object was examined as a whole within the specimen chamber and non-destructive surface analysis was undertaken on a minute area of exposed metal. The percentages presented are semi-quantitative only. The artefact is made of an alloy comprising approximately 86% copper, 11% zinc, and 3% tin. The presence of zinc is chronologically and technologically significant, pointing to a date of manufacture no earlier than the 1st century BC. IN addition, remnant tinning was visible on the interior surface of the hoop. Identification This can be identified as a mouth guard for a sword scabbard and the decoration is of the late La Tène art style. It may be dated to the Late Iron Age and the Campaigning period of the Roman Army, during the 1st century AD. It is of native, rather than Roman Military Style. Loose scabbard mouth guards have been found from a range of sites across Northern and Southern Britain (Stead: 2006, 202; MacDonald, 2007, 99, Table 10) and many were probably from organic scabbards, which rarely survive. Two good parallels for this piece are examples from Cadeby in South Yorkshire and Bough Castle in Westmoorland (MacGregor, 1976, Cat 161; Stead 2006, 201-2 Cats. 246 & 266, Fig 108). These have ribbed hoops and openwork front plates though slightly narrower at 63mm and 54mm wide respectively. The Cadeby piece also has recesses for enamel insets. Though structurally similar the decorative front plate on this example from the Oswestry Area appears, upon preliminary research, to be unparalleled. Circles captured within circles and opposing lunate motifs are commonly used at this time (e.g. Pigott 1950, Pl II; Jope, 2000 Pls 232b & 244a; Stead 2006, Cats 88, 90 101-3, 107, 207). It is conceivable that the design on this piece has wider cosmological significance to the maker and user, involving the sun and moon and the passage of time. The arrangement of positive and negative motifs also recalls those used on shields from Wales dating to the forst century AD (e.g. Jope 2000 Pl 95, Savory, 1976 Figs 6&12; Davies and Gwilt in press). Stylistically, the decoration of this mouth guard is identifiable as Stage V to VI (e.g. Stead 2006; MacDonald 2007, 100-101; Davies and Gwilt in press) spanning the period from 200BC to AD 120. The scabbard and sword was of a late type of mixed tradition, termed Group H, with a predominantly first century AD currency (Stead 2006 75-7). Technologically, the combination of gun metal, tinning and enamel (probably polychrome) on this piece supports this, zinc only being introduced to Britain at the very end of the Iron Age. Similar metallurgical composites have been obtained from other Group H scabbards (Stead 2006, 3, Table 1). The combined stylistic, technological, and parallel contextual evidence would tend to point towards a date of manufacture and use during the second half of the first century AD. Recommendations This new discovery merits careful photography, illustration, and publication, so that it may be added to the wider corpus of around 300 known Iron Age swords and scabbards from Britain. In addition to the generation of a web accessible PAS record, it would also be extremely encouraging to see this piece acquired and cared for by a museum, for the wider public benefit. References: Davies, M & Gwilt, A. (in press) Material, style and identity in first century AD metalwork, with particular reference to the Seven Sisters Hoard, in Gosden, C and Garrow, D (eds.) Technologies of Enchantment, Celtic Art in Britain. Jope, E.M. (2000) Early Celtic Art in the British Isles, Oxford, Clarendon Press (2 vols.) Macdonald, P. (2007): Llyn Cerrig Bach; a study of the copper alloy artefacts from the insular La Tène Assemblage. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales. Macgregor, M. (1976) Early Celtic Art in Northern Britain; a study of decorative metalwork form the third century BC to the third century AD., Leicester, Leicester University Press (2 vols.) Piggot, S. (1950) Swords and Scabbards of the British Iron Age, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 16 1-28 Savory, H.N. (1976) Guide Catalogue of the Iron Age Collections, Cardiff, National Musuem of Wales Stead, I.M. (2006) British Iron Age Swords and Scabbards, London: British Museum Press.