SEAL

A lead sealing dating to the second or third century AD. It is oval in shape and hemispherical in section. The obverse of the sealing is stamped 'snake/CQD' in relief within a rectangular die. The lower surface of the sealing is plain with a central circular knop from which four ribs radiate. Within the knop, there is a groove filled with a white material, presumably the remnants of a textile chord. The sealing measures 14mm in length, 17mm in width and 4mm in thickness.

It is one of two similar sealings from the site.See also: NCL-2B0BF5. Before both sealings were impressed, the metal was run into a little uninscribed box to which four grooves led, presumably to accommodate the binding-cords. (Compare 35.) The same die was used for both sealings, but its left-hand edge did not register. Its other three edges are well preserved in this example.

This example was first published as Britannia 20 (1989), 337, No. 33, reading: V(or N)N|CQD. But by collating it with NCL-2B0BF5, it is clear that the 'zigzag' above is continuous; and although it could be interpreted as some combination of N, M and V ligatured together, it is better seen as a snake advancing right. Its head is quite clear in this example. For this motif compare RIB III, 3257, a building stone from Piercebridge, on which the initials of tria nomina are accompanied by a similar zigzag figure representing a snake; as noted there, this was 'a good symbol associated with a man's genius'