PAS Finds

PAS Finds: week ended 17 June 2022

PAS Finds: week ended 17 June 2022

My selection of the detecting finds recorded at the PAS in the week ended 17 June 2022.

Featured Find

Roman cockerel figurine

Photo: The Portable Antiquities Scheme CC By SA2.0
Object type: Figurine
Period: Roman
Primary material: Copper alloy
Date found: 13/06/2022
Location: Winchester, Hampshire

A copper alloy figurine of a cockerel dating to AD43 – 200. It has been designated a Find of Note of Regional Importance. The PAS record suggests that it may have been used in a household or portable shrine. Given the suspension loop, it suggests possible alternative uses as a pendant or steelyard weight (it weighs close to a Roman ounce)

Mercury

The cockerel is closely associated with the roman god Mercury. It was one of his animal companions, the others being the tortoise and the ram or goat. Roman cockerel brooches are often used as votive deposits and placed within graves; one of Mercury’s functions was to escort souls of the dead to the Underworld. In one grave a cockerel brooch had been place on the chest of a newly deceased and, for good measure, a cushion had been made from the head of a sacrificial bird.

Selection of other finds

Photo: Norfolk County Council CC By SA2.0

Seal of Thomas de Ringleton

A scarce design for a seal matrix featuring an eagle, with human head, lion and ox. In the central area are I,M,L,M for the four apostles and in the triangles around the edge S’ THOME DE RĪGELTÅŒ. There is a parish of Ringleton in Kent.
Photo: The Portable Antiquities Scheme CC By SA2.0

Penny of Harold I

A “Jewel Cross” type penny of Harold I. The reverse reads LEOFPINE ON SCROB giving the moneyer as Leofwine and the mint Shrewsbury. An extremely rare coin it has been designated a Find of Note.
Photo: Kent County Council CC By SA2.0

Anglo-Saxon disc brooch

An 11th century disc brooch. The PAS record says “Although incised decoration and the use of ring-and-dot motifs is common on early Anglo-Saxon plate disc broches; the arrangement of radial lines dividing the face into a cross/quadrants and the raised boss is not“. Hence, it is designated a Find of Note
Photo: Birmingham Museums Trust CC By SA2.0

Bronze Age flanged axehead

A complete flanged axehead dating to c. 1800 BC to c. 1500BC. It has been designated a Find of Note of County importance and donated by the detectorist finder to the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
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