ESS-57E516: Unidentified Early Medieval object

Rights Holder: Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service
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SPUR

Unique ID: ESS-57E516

Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow status: Published

Copper-alloy goad from a prick spur, of late early-medieval date (11th century). The item is sub-cylindrical and hollow, with a flat underside. The entire length of the cylindrical shaft contains iron, suggesting the item had an iron core with an copper-alloy outer surface. One end is broken, with only a small fragment of edge surviving. The rest of the iron spur is missing.

The other end has moulded relief decoration in the shape of an Urnes-style animal. Corrosion has made it hard to read, but on clearer examples (notably WILT-E1CDD0) the motif is clearly a beast's head with bulging elongated eyes set close together on the top of the head. From behind the eyes, long thin tendrils or lappets curl down and up again, running obliquely up the sides of the snout to meet on top of the nose. The nose ends in two protruding knops, probably representing nostrils, but possibly merely the curled ends of the tendrils.

Behind the eyes is a raised collar, with two further similar transverse mouldings behind and a hint of another around the fragment of surviving edge. The width of the cylindrical shaft widens slightly toward the broken end.

Dimensions: weight: 5.8g, length: 34.3mm, width: 6.1mm, thickness: 6.7mm.

Subsequent actions

Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology

Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Ascribed Culture: Anglo-Scandinavian style
Date from: Circa AD 950
Date to: Circa AD 1100

Dimensions and weight

Quantity: 1
Length: 34.3 mm
Width: 6.1 mm
Thickness: 6.7 mm
Weight: 5.8 g

Personal details

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Materials and construction

Primary material: Copper alloy
Completeness: Incomplete

Spatial metadata

Region: Eastern (European Region)
County or Unitary authority: Essex (County)
District: Epping Forest (District)
Parish or ward: Magdalen Laver (Civil Parish)

Spatial coordinates

4 Figure: TL5107
Four figure Latitude: 51.74136415
Four figure longitude: 0.18562256
1:25K map: TL5107
1:10K map: TL50NW
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.

Discovery metadata

Method of discovery: Metal detector
General landuse: Cultivated land

References cited

No references cited so far.

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Timeline of associated dates

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Audit data

Recording Institution: ESS
Created: 6 years ago
Updated: 5 years ago

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