UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT

Part of an unidentified copper alloy artefact of unknown date, Iron Age to post-Medieval, 100 BC - AD 1700. It consists of a portion of a hollow shaft, of sub-rectangular section, flaring at the end into a broad, flat terminal. One face of the terminal is slightly curved towards the outer edge; the other face is completely flat. The upper end of the shaft, near the break, is pierced with a circular hole, possibly for a fastening rivet, though no rivet now remains. There is a further, slightly smaller, perforation where the shaft meets the flared end, and a possible third hole across the break. The flat face is decorated with a curved incised line across the place where the hollow tube flattens into the terminal. On the terminal, near the line, is a row of four small punched annulets, grouped into two pairs. Four grooves decorate the terminal, running longitudinally. The second to outmost one is wider and shallower than the others. This broad groove does not reach both edges of the terminal, falling short at one end. .The artefact has a patchy dark green patina and some traces of a black material. It is 31.7mm long, 34.7mm wide and 11.6mm thick. It weighs 13.82gm.

The function and date of this object is not clear. It may be related to linch pin terminals and be Iron Age in date, or it could be the socket of a Medieval ladle or skimmer, with a handle fitting into the hollow tube, and the utensil projecting from the flat terminal. It is not clera which edges of the flat terminal are original and which are breaks.