UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT

A copper-alloy 'moustache', so named because of its shape, a sort of comedic, droopy moustache. The object is cast in one piece and measures 21.11 mm in length, 9.91 mm thick and is 20.91 mm in height. It weighs 10.9 grams. The object has a swollen body which tapers towards the pointed terminals. The centre of the body has a uniform vertical groove, 4.7 mm wide, which extends around the object. However, this groove is not apparent on the base, where there is instead a lozenge shaped recess, approximately 4.7 mm in diameter. The sides and top of the object are decorated with horizontal alternating ridges and grooves, running slightly diagonally in the line of the shape of the artefact, to either side of the central vertical groove. There appear to be 17 or 18 ridges on each side. This decoration does not occur on the inside of the base. The object appears to be complete and has a deep dark green patina. It is in good condition.

A number of objects of this type have now been recovered and several are recorded on the PAS database. Examples with a shape very similar to this example include PAS reference numbers YORM-1AACC5 and NMS-6B7128. One example was found in the Salisbury Hoard (Stead, 1998, no.117), and as such, they are thought to date from the middle Bronze Age to the late Iron Age. Dr JD Hill at the British Museum suggests that they are Iron Age rather than Bronze Age, but this is yet to be confirmed by excavation of a stratified example. Their function is uncertain, although the lozenge shaped recess at the bottom of this example (and in many of the others known) suggests that they were mounted on or below something. This was possibly something such as a dagger handle, although the absence of evidence makes this conjectural.