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EAR RING
Unique ID: DUR-CF07A5
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
Part of a gold, Roman earring dating to the 1st or 2nd centuries AD.
The earring consists of a double boss made up of two convex faces from a single sheet of metal. There are two small, granulated pellets which sit on the waist between the two bosses. There is no form of attachment but it is likely that there would have been gold wire soldered on.
This earring is an Allason-Jones type 13b which normally has three pellets on the waist. It is fairly unusual in Britain however an earring of this type has been found at Caerleon, Gwent (National Museum of Wales Acc. No. 54.389A:F5). Earrings of this type developed during the late 1st century AD and went out of fashion by the middle of the 2nd century.
L. Allason-Jones (1989) Earrings in Roman Britain, British Archaeological Report 201.
Lindsay Allason-Jones comments: this type is unusual in Britain where the single boss type (13a) was more popular. It is particularly similar to one from Caerleon, which has three granulations between the bosses, whereas your has two (A-J 1989, Plate 15, no. 16). My data base suggests that the double boss type was developed in the late 1st century and had spread widely across the Empire by the Flavian period. It went out of fashion in the 2nd century but this just means it stopped being made, not that it stopped being worn - people don't tend to chuck out their gold jewellery just because it's old fashioned.
Subsequent actions
Current location of find: Senhouse Museum
Subsequent action after recording: Part of an extant museum collection
Treasure details
Treasure case tracking number: 2013T475
Chronology
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 50
Date to: Circa AD 175
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 16.24 mm
Width: 8.02 mm
Thickness: 3.35 mm
Weight: 0.8 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 10th July 2013
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Treasure case number: 2013T475
Materials and construction
Spatial metadata
Region: North West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Cumbria (County)
District: Allerdale (District)
Parish or ward: Maryport (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: NY0437
Four figure Latitude: 54.718805
Four figure longitude: -3.491866
1:25K map: NY0437
1:10K map: NY03NW
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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