COSMETIC MORTAR

Almost complete cast copper alloy zoomorphic cosmetic mortar of Late Iron Age to Roman date. The mortar is of centre-looped type with a D-Shaped loop which is sub circular in section. The main body, or bow, of the mortar is elliptical in shape with plain walls, a sharp-edged rim and rounded base. The central groove is a splayed U-shape in section to provide the grinding surface. Traces of side-to-side wear in the form of linear scratches are present on the inside and the looped handle also shows signs of wear from use. The terminals of the mortar are cast in the form of a stylised bird, possibly a duck, with the head, with rounded bill at one end. the opposite end may be damaged and therefore may have mirrored the opposing terminal or it may have been intended to be a tail. Has this end has suffered some surface damage it is not possible to be certain and both types of design are known.

Some pestle and mortar sets are known to be a British Phenomenom and were not a type of find found throughout the rest of the Roman Empire. Providing close dating for these objects is difficult as many have been found outside of archaeological contexts as metal detector finds. To quote Ralph Jackson, "Dated contexts range from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD, with re-use of some components in Anglo-Saxon 'bag collections' of the 5th-6th century AD, but the majority of finds indicate a heyday in the 1st to 3rd century AD with a particular intensity of use in the late 1st to 2nd century AD".