EARLY MEDIEVAL SWORD POMMEL

400

Possible cast copper alloy pommel with iron inclusions. The object has a form resembling a miniature pick with a lozenge-shaped plan when viewed from the top. The top edges of the object have been filed down to an angle, leaving a trapezoidal section, wide at the middle of the head of the object, tapering at the two end points. At the centre of underside of the pick-shaped head is an integrally-cast, square-sectioned protrusion. Facets have been filed onto this; iron corrosion obscures the broken end of this area. A small amount of iron at the centre of the top face of the head imply that an iron bar passes through this object. The protrusion was probably intended for fitting into the body of a pommel or handle, this being the terminal.