UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT

Unique ID: SUSS-EE7427

Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow status: Awaiting validation

Notes:

Discussion:

Although similarly-shaped objects are commonly identified as items of toiletry equipment, certain characteristics of this object suggest that this is not the case here. For instance, although the shape of the long strip is very similar to that of a tweezer blade, the lack of a crimped section facilitating tension for the tweezer mechanism, lack of a break suggesting a second blade and the direct application of a suspension loop to the single metal strip, supports the notion that this object is not a tweezer. Furthermore, if the item was a nail scraper, the suspension loop could have been directly connected to the tool as presented here, but the flat edge of this sheet should bear some indication of a break where a grooved tool end would have been; as there is no clear break or fracture at that end, it is not likely that a nail scraper groove was cast, nor the necessary small circular bowl of an ear scoop. Therefore, it seems unlikely that this item was used as a toiletry tool and that the suspension loop was instead used to simply suspend this small item as an item of decoration. For a discussion of similar toiletry equipment during the Roman period see: Eckardt and Crummy 2008, Styling the Body in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain: A Contextual Approach to Toilet Instruments. See also Crummy 1981, pp 57-63. Similar toiletry items are found throughout the late Iron Age to Post Medieval period and ring-and-dot design is common to those periods.

Another option dating to the Roman period is that this is a fragment of a decorated strip bracelet; bracelets with similar decoration and hook loops have been illustrated extensively in Crummy 1981, Colchester Archaeology Report 2: The Roman Small Finds from Excavations in Colchester 1971-9, Figs. 43-45. However, this item could simply have been a hanging pendant used for decoration in various ways throughout a larger span of activity.

At the most general level, object is puzzling in that it is a rather small, simply decorated item with a very thin suspension loop; because the upper portion of the suspension loop is missing perhaps this is a further indication that it was in fact used and that the thinness of the loop caused the item to be vulnerable to breakage from that point.

Subsequent actions

Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology

Broad period: UNKNOWN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 43
Date to: Circa AD 1700

Dimensions and weight

Quantity: 1
Length: 46.83 mm
Width: 4.72 mm
Thickness: 1.44 mm
Weight: 1.94 g

Discovery dates

Date(s) of discovery: Monday 28th February 2011

Personal details

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Materials and construction

Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete