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Iron Age copper alloy bridle bit
Cast copper alloy, rein-ring, two side links, and a centre link. The rein-ring is circular in shape (external diameter 81mm, internal diameter 65-67mm) but slightly oval in cross-section (diameter 7-8mm). There are no stop-studs but serving their function are two buffer-like terminals. In between the terminals is a thinner, differentially worn, bar circular in cross-section (diameter c.6mm), on which the side-link plays. The buffer-like terminals protrude more on one side than the other, this asymmetry echoing that of the stop-studs upon which they are presumably based. There are wear facets on the link sides of the terminals. The two side-links are almost identical (length 70mm, width of terminal bulb socket 18mm). Unusually the perforations at either end of the side-links are in the same plane. Seen from the side the links are streamlined in shape, and only widen around the perforations in one dimension. There are wear facets around all of the perforations. The prominent central roll of the centre-link is rounded and its perforations, which were originally D-shaped, have a lenticular shape due to wear. All of the links in this bridle-bit are shaped so the joints are restricted to lateral movement only
Bronze bridle-bit, 200 BCE-100 CE. It is one of the thirteen bronze and iron bridle-bits that were gifted into the lake at Llyn Cerrig Bach.
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.
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