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Late Iron Age copper alloy object
Copper alloy strip fragment with smooth lateral edges. One end is torn but the other, although slightly damaged, is original and rounded with a central fixing hole (diameter 2mm) set c.2mm in from the edge. There is a second fixing hole situated slightly off-centre c.32mm from the rounded end. The area round both pin holes is deformed suggesting that the strip was prised from its backing in antiquity. A linear mark running across the internal side of the rounded end c.9mm from the edge separates a difference in corrosion possibly indicating the strip was overlapped. The torn end contains two noteworthy features. Firstly there are five marks, arranged into two sets, indented into the external surface. The first set are a group of two oval marks c.11mm from the torn end set on opposing edges of the strip. Both contain a dark turquoise residue. The second set is c.79mm from the torn end, these three marks are shallow and no residue can be observed in them. None of these indentations perforated the strip; they are probably ancient damage. Secondly a faint, decorative incised off-centre line extends on the external surface from the edge of the torn end for a distance of c.50-60mm where it terminates adjacent to some angled scratches. This faint decoration does not visibly continue at any other point. There are also a number of patches of striations (length c.10mm) along the external surface of the strip which were caused through use in antiquity rather than a crude attempt at decoration or a by-product of manufacture.
Coiled bronze strip, 1-100 CE. It may be spiral binding from wooden staffs or sceptres. Religious artefacts such as this are known at Iron Age and Roman temple sites in southern Britain.
WA_SC 11.1
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Site Name: Llyn Cerrig Bach, Cae Ifan Farm
Notes: Found during the construction of an airfield at RAF Station Valley. Some certainly, the rest probably, from a wet meadow which formed the margin of Llyn Cerrig Bach. The exact depth below the grassy surface at which the objects were deposited is not known. The bog was excavated to a maximum depth of 20 feet. A few objects were found on the spot, after the peaty deposit had been won from the boggy margin of the lake. The rest, with the exception of 44.32/58, were found on that portion of the adjacent aerodrome on which the peat from this site had been spread. Animal bones were associated with the deposit and many metal objects were stained with vivianite.