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Late Iron Age copper alloy sword hilt
The copper alloy hilt is cast on an iron blade, of which only the tang remains in the grip, broken off at the base of the hilt, which has a high central moulding, flanked by evenly-spaced groups of encircling grooves and zig-zag mouldings. The pommel is a separate casting fitted over the tang and is decorated with raised leaves and central bosses with a conical recess for opaque glass inlay at the base of the narrow face on each side, and a terminal button from which decorative ribs descend over the narrow faces of the pommel.
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Site Name: Caerleon, Newport: Gwent
Notes: There is no specific reference to the provenance of this item in the catalogue of contents of the former Museum of the Monmouthshire and Caerleon Antiquarian Association. The hilt is not mentioned by J.E.Lee in 'Isca Silurum' (1862) and must hence have been a later acquisition; but the catalogue of 1909, the only other known to have been made, is not specific in its description of miscellaneous bronze objects. Nevertheless, the catchment area of the society was small and concentrated in south-east Monmouthshire; furthermore, pieces not of Caerleon origin are generally recorded individually. The strong presumption, therefore, is that the hilt came from the site of the legionary fortress or its suburbs.