What is it? This small sherd of pottery, measuring 6cm wide and 8cm long, comes from the lower part of a Roman amphora once used to hold olive oil. The fragment bears part of an inscription carved into the clay during the amphora’s production, c.1,800 years ago. The words have…
This is a medieval seal matrix found by a metal-detectorist in the parish of Lockerley, Hampshire. It is made of cast copper-alloy and most likely dates to between 1470 and 1520. Measuring a diminutive 6cm by 4cm, it is a pointed oval (or vesica) shape carved with the image of…
For this issue, Dr Campbell Price chooses a beautifully painted object from the Louvre Museum in Paris.…
This is a unique early Bronze Age pin, made from the first phalanx (or toe-bone) of a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). It is the only example ever found in a Bronze Age funerary context in England, with only one other similar find recovered from a child’s burial in Scotland. This…
What is it? This gold pendant, known to specialists as a bracteate, is 5cm in diameter and comes from a Danish hoard dated to the 6th century AD – the object itself dates to the early 5th century. The front of the pendant bears the image of a man in…
This unusual stone tool was recently discovered in a back garden in Hastings, East Sussex. It is a Neolithic polished flint chisel, or possibly axehead, that appears to have been reworked into a cutting or scraping tool. The flint is sub-rectangular in shape, with a lozengiform cross-section (rhombus- or diamond-shaped),…
Dr Campbell Price examines a tiny artefact in the British Museum
that names one of Egypt’s earliest pharaohs.…
This Roman finger ring with an engraved intaglio was discovered by a metal-detectorist near Chelmsford in Essex and was recently declared treasure. This style of intaglio is known as a Henig Type II and dates to c.AD 125-175. The band of the ring is made of silver and is unadorned.…
What is it? This object, thought to be at least 2,000 years old, is believed to be a stringed musical instrument. The artefact is made from a single piece of deer antler and is c.353mm long, with a diameter of 12.96mm, and a maximum breadth of 25.31mm. The antler has…
This is a copper-alloy brooch that was discovered in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, in March. It dates to the later Roman period, sometime during the 3rd century AD. The body of the lion is composed of one long, narrow plate with a short forelimb and elongated hindlimb, giving the impression that…
In this issue, Dr Campbell Price describes an intriguing Predynastic artefact in the Brooklyn Museum.…
This late medieval silver-gilt strap-end was recently featured in the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and Treasure annual reports. It was discovered in October 2021 by a metal-detectorist in the parish of Worldham in East Hampshire. Dating to around the 14th century, the strap-end is elaborately decorated with panels…
What is it? This 2,100-year-old piece of bronze sheet cut into the shape of a life-size right hand has been dubbed the ‘Hand of Irulegi’, after the site in Spain where it was found. The hand is 143mm tall, 128mm wide, and 1.09mm thick, and weighs about 36g. A perforation…
This is a Romano-British figurine of a chubby, naked boy, known as a putto. Although discovered in 2019 in Cox Green in Windsor and Maidenhead, it was recently highlighted in the latest Portable Antiquities Scheme annual report. It is made of copper-alloy and depicts a cherubic boy in a seated…
In each issue of Ancient Egypt magazine, Dr Campbell Price describes a key artefact from Egyptology collections around the world. His choice for AE 135 is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA).…
This pendant, known as a bulla, was found by a metal-detectorist in the Melton district of Leicestershire in November 2021. It is hemispherical in shape and formed of two plain gold sheets, one formed into a hollow dome and the other flat, to serve as the back plate, with a…
Until now, inscriptions found in the Canaanite alphabet have been limited to two or three words; this is the first meaningful Canaanite inscription found in Israel.…
This copper-alloy disc brooch, measuring approximately 27mm in diameter, was found last year by a metal-detectorist in the parish of Thirkleby High and Low with Osgodby, just north of York. It is decorated with a red enamel bird, which is seen standing on three-toed feet, looking back over its shoulder…
The garment comes from the Palmwood Wreck, which was discovered in 2014 off the Texel coastline.…
This is a rare find – at least within Britain – that was recently discovered by archaeologists from Pre-Construct Archaeology at Bermondsey Square in Bermondsey, London. It is a stoneware lion figurine, probably Chinese in origin, but was found in a domestic context. It is depicted in a sejant, or…