POST MEDIEVAL CARVING

1500

A carved stone head, in a light grey coloured stone, possibly limestone. It is carved only on one face with a near-triangular face, triangular nose, heavy almond-shaped eyes and rather gash-like mouth. The other faces are rough and not carved into, it appears that this stone was made to go into a wall. This head was found under the floorboards of a house with two 19th century medicine jars (LVPL-5587A5) and so it is likely that it dates to around that time. However it is very hard to date these type of finds precisely. This style of carving could be attributed to the 'Celtic head' design. Such stone heads are fairly common finds in Britain, and are often referred to as ‘Celtic heads’ in the belief that they are an Iron Age phenomenon connected with head cults. However, Dr J.D. Hill at the British Museum believes there is no evidence that Iron Age peoples in Britain had a particular cult associated with just this part of the body or a stone carving tradition. Also there is little evidence of human representation in Iron Age art until the Late Iron Age, where it was restricted to images on coins or wooden vessels.