What is it? This cage cup, or vas diatretum, dates to the 4th century AD. The intricate, colourless glass bowl is 12.6cm tall and 15cm in diameter and has a flared rim. A Latin inscription in the central part of the vessel reads ‘vivas feliciter’ (‘live in bliss’) in large…
Coins of Harold II Godwinson (r. 1066), killed at the Battle of Hastings, are not common – the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded only 28 such single finds in 24 years. Even rarer are those minted in Harold’s name from Hastings. This coin comes from a hoard found…
Carrying on the ornithological theme from last issue’s ‘Finds Tray’, which profiled an early medieval brooch featuring a bird, this Roman lock component was cheerfully cast in the shape of a duck. The copper-alloy object was found last autumn near Basingstoke in Hampshire, and it is thought to date to…
What is it? This 51,000-year-old engraved toe bone is one of the oldest works of art ever found. The bone, which is the second phalanx of a giant deer, is 56.8mm long, 38.9mm wide, and 30.9mm thick, and weighs 36.1g. The front of the bone is carved with five overlapping…
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.…
Crafted from copper-alloy, this early medieval disc brooch features a bird holding a branch (outlined above by Peter Reavill, Finds Liaison Officer for Shropshire and Hereford). The item is thought to date to between c.AD 800 and c.AD 1000, and it was found on farmland this past summer by a…
The painted sculpture depicting a seated woman was found inside a burial chamber with other rich grave goods.…
Snakes are rarely depicted in rock art in northern Europe, and are known to have had symbolic significance in the later world views of the Finno-Ugric and Sámi peoples…
Probably dating to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD, the holder is formed into a zoomorphic creature.…
This is a 7th-century gesture figurine of a man, made of copper alloy. It was found by a metal-detectorist last December in the parish of Kintbury, West Berkshire.…
The image shown here represents a fire altar with a triple-pointed crown in the flames as a central motif, surrounded by plant scrolls containing stylised leopards and tigers.…
This ring is a significant discovery because it represents the earliest gold object from a clear and well-dated context discovered in this region so far.…
This is a burnt silver seal matrix, dating to the 13th or 14th century, which was found last August by a metal-detectorist near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Despite the damage, clearly seen in the centre of the matrix is a reused oval Roman intaglio – an unusual addition. It is not…
While these types of brooch first appeared in Britain shortly after the Roman conquest in AD 43, they clearly include aspects of Celtic design, and this is reflected in the fact that many have been discovered near the northern frontier of the Roman Empire – the point where Roman and…
What is it? This engraved stone dating to the early Bronze Age (c.1900-1650 BC) is known as the Saint-Bélec Slab. Made of grey-blue coloured schist, the slab is c.2.2m long, 1.53m wide, and 0.16m thick. New research suggests that the patterns engraved on the stone are in fact a map…
This is a Roman mount made of copper alloy and probably dating to between AD 200 and 300. It was discovered by a metal-detectorist near Doulting in Somerset and recently remotely recorded for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The mount is circular and divided into three separate sections by two raised…
This is a Roman ‘horse and rider’ figurine, made of copper alloy and probably dating to between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It was found in 2015 near Penllyn, Wales. While the object is quite corroded, it is largely complete, measuring 77mm in length and 74mm in height. The…
This cigar box, containing several wooden splinters that make up a piece of cedar discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza, was recently found in the University of Aberdeen’s collections.…
This is an Iron Age terminal mount in the shape of a bull’s head. It was found by a metal-detectorist near Scarning, Norfolk, back in 2015, but recent research has suggested it may represent a rare example of the plastic style of La Tène art – which is characterised by…
This is a complete copper-alloy ‘swan’s neck’ pin, a kind of artefact generally dated to the Iron Age. It comprises a circular flathead, which appears sub-rectangular in cross-section with rounded edges. Each flat side of the pinhead is decorated with a central ring-and-dot motif, while one of the rounded sides…
