UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT

A copper-alloy rounded moustache-shaped object of late Bronze Age or Iron Age date.

Description: The object has been cast in one and is crescentric in shape. It has a uniform vertical groove in the centre of the body, with a rectangular hole beneath.The body tapers down to a point with cast alternating ridges and grooves running up to 14.22mm from the central vertical groove. The alternating pattern is not present on the inside edge of the object and consists of 11 lines on each side. The object is covered in mottled green patena.

Measurements: 42.64mm wide, 23.82mm high. 11.04mm thick. 18.26g

Discussion: 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 NARC-925E14, YORM-1AACC5 and BERK-719DA8. One example was found in the Salisbury Hoard (Stead, 1998, no.117). They are thought to date from the middle Bronze Age to the late Iron Age. 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. Another suggestion has been a Scabbard Chape, in which case the object would be the other way up. 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.