Gallery Title
Gallery Title
cast copper alloy mount
Accession Number NWHCM : 2008.483
Description
Cast copper-alloy mount, possibly a drinking horn terminal, of Iron Age date. The mount consists of a curved hollow shaft or socket with a flaring open terminal, the other end curving up to form a bovine head cast in the round, with a hole through the nose, lentoid eyes, and two horns, one slightly broken, the other terminating in a rounded ball. Part of the open socket is broken, and there is a fragment missing from the side of the mount, but the overall condition is good, with a fine green patina to the object. Length 78 mm, diameter of open terminal end 15-18.5 mm. A detailed object description is held under its Portable Antiquities Scheme number (SF-882904). Its date is probably 1st century BC - 1st century AD.
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This striking object was discovered at the location of a little-known Romano-British small town at Needham, in south Norfolk. Discoveries of pre-Roman objects there suggest that this may have originally been an important Iron Age settlement. Drinking horns are not common finds from Britain’s Iron Age, although examples are known from mainland Europe. This example is magnificently decorated with the elaborate representation of a bull’s head. Its form serves to emphasise the importance of cattle in everyday life to the people of Iron Age Britain, who were essentially farmers.