BRIDLE BIT 460651

Description: A fragment of copper alloy Late Iron Age/ Early Roman (100 BC - 200 AD) bridle bit, measuring 49.96mm in length and weighing 32.13g. There are (old) breaks to either end of the fragment. The object comprises a roughly circular in cross-section shank (11.73x10.51mm) with moulded bead-and-reel decoration (two beads). One of the beads is rather flatter on two of its opposing faces, and beyond the single-rib reel to one side is an incomplete (about half) loop (24.96x5.30mm), in the same plane as the flattened bead. This loop is decorated on its external surface with two raised rectangular areas of which that which is furthest from the shank is decorated with a single ring-and-dot (the dot is perforated but does not continue to the other side). The two areas are joined at the centre by a narrow stem. Beyond is a transverse groove within a narrower raised rectangular area. Beyond these the loop is broken. To the other side of the flattened bead is a double-rib reel, which flanks a more rounded bead and another double-rib reel. Beyond is the broken base of another loop (14.68mm wide, 6.48mm thick), set at 90degrees to the shank and other loop.

Date: -100 - 200

Object type: BRIDLE BIT

Last import: August 15, 2017