BOX

Copper-alloy object, perhaps a mount from a box. The mount is long and thin and terminates with an open-mouthed animal with an upturned snout, probably representing a dragon. When viewed from above, the head of the beast is triangular, tapering towards the snout. The only facial feature represented is the dragon's ears, depicted by two small moulded humps. The beast's neck appears to be undecorated, but the body is covered with moulded diagonal grooves descending to the tail area, probably representing the beasts' folded wings. From the photographs the neck appears to be circular or oval in cross-section. The body of the beast appears to be D-shaped in cross-section, and is wider than the head when viewed from above. The tail is missing. There are two attachment features along the main section of the beast's body. On the underside nearest the neck there is a downward-pointing right-angled blunt-ended projection. Next to this is a vertically drilled rivet hole. To date there are five close parallels. Two, from Suffolk ( SF-8E6271) and Lincolnshire ( LIN-D6F2C2), have been published together with this example in Medieval Archaeology for 2005, p. 345-6, figs. 7c and 7d. Three further examples on the Portable Antiquities Database come from North Yorkshire (NLM5639 and SWYOR-761334) and Norfolk (NMS-249246). All six have an integral right-angled blunt-ended spike or peg on the underside towards the front of the body (two in the case of the Suffolk example), plus a hole in the centre of the object, which on SWYOR-761334 holds a separate three-dimensional figurine of a bird. One or two separate rivets towards the tail were presumably used to attach these objects to a base, perhaps the lid of a box. A seventh example, NMS-265275, found in Norfolk, is simpler in design with the remains of the spike or peg only. An object with a similar animal head has been found in Nottinghamshire and recorded on the Portable Antiquities Database as DENO-47F426. The attachment features of this object are, however, somewhat different. The Nottinghamshire example has no drilled holes or integral studs; instead, it has a split and riveted terminal as typically found on Anglo-Saxon and Medieval strap ends. Although a stratified parallel has not yet been found, it is likely considering the style of the group that they all belong to the earlier part of the Medieval period.