EARLY MEDIEVAL PENDANT

50

A cast lead alloy triangular pendant / miniature axe / axe pendant of probable Early Medieval (AD 750-1100) or possible Roman (AD 50-350) . The axe is a stylised model being broadly triangular in plan and rectangular in section across the blade. In profile the upper section of the axe (butt) expands to form a circular loop which is irregular being abraded through wear. The transverse hole has an internal diameter of 5.1mm. Beneath the loop the two axe faces are decorated with raised / high relief geometric designs. The front face has two distinct panels of decoration The upper panel is delineated by vertical and horizontal lines which define the edge, this is divided by a saltire shaped diagonal cross with single pellets in each divided quarter. The lower panel is sub-divided by an inverted V shaped wedge which is infilled with a series of three horizontal bars. The decoration on the reverse face is less well formed although the upper panel is similar to that on the front - being a saltire cross contained within a double (rather than single) border of horizontal and vertical lines. The lower panel is decorated with another saltire cross without a border and this time decorated with three pellets in each divided quarter. The edges of the axe are all abraded and further detail is lost through a combination of plough-roll and corrosion. The axe is a mid grey colour with a white coloured corroded surface. A direct parallel has not been found for this piece; it is similar in many ways to other lead alloy axes recorded from the Irish seaboard (for example XXXX from Gwynedd) and is tentatively dated to the later early medieval period. The form seems to echo but also differ to that known as 'Thor hammer pendants' a good example of this can be seen from an example from 'near Holt, Norfolk (NMS-8E57D8). Other similar lead and lead alloy pendants have been dated to the Roman period for example a more robust miniature object / axe model from Melton, Leicestershire (LEIC-B9F4D1). However, a review of the axe like material recorded by Kiernan (2009) suggests that this form of axe is not represented within his ritual corpus. The miniature axe measures 28.7mm length, width across blade 16.0mm and thickness at the same point 3.3mm, width at top / butt 4.7mm and thickness 10.7mm. Weight 7.89 grams.Sincere thanks are extended to Prof. Nancy Edwards (University of Bangor) who have viewed this artefact and comments:I do think an early medieval date is more likely than Roman. I'm not convinced about the axe shape, and would prefer a simply triangular pendant. The ornamental rectangle pattern looks like a stylised simple interlace / fret pattern (of sorts) more commonly seen on later early medieval objects