SPOON

A fragment of a Roman copper alloy spoon dating to c AD 100 - 410. The fragment is comprised of part of the handle, and the 'drop'. The bowl is entirely missing apart from a tiny fragment still extant on the lower part of the drop.

The handle is rectangular in cross section, tapering from 4.52 x 2.58 mm in thickness just below the drop to 2.18 x 2.55mm towards the end with, beyond that, a short section chamfered off to c1.5mm . The drop, the junction between the offset bowl and handle, is shaped so that the lower edge forms a rounded right-angle whilst the upper has a pair of projections perpendicular to each other, flanked by sub-semi-circular indentations at the point of inflection. There is a decoration on the front (upper face) of the handle, behind the elaborated juncture of the handle and bowl, consisting of a cable like pattern created by obliquely angled v-shaped grooves at the edge of that face.There are signs of silvering or tinning, particularly on the handle.

Dimensions: 45.6mm in length; 12.9mm in width; 3.5g in weight.

cf Spoons of similar form excavated in Roman contexts published by Crummy (1983: 70, no. 2014), Bishop (1996: 13, no. 27) and Henig (1993: 125, nos. 72-73).

See WILT-68A83D