ROMAN KNIFE

43

Cast copper-alloy handle from a knife, of unusual narrow form. At one end are the remains of a single-edged iron blade c. 22 mm wide, which was presumably set into a slot in the copper alloy, and at the other end is an animal-head terminal. Testing with a magnet shows that an iron tang runs down inside the copper alloy until about 25 mm from the end. The section throughout is rectangular with rounded bevelled edges, perhaps worn, and it flattens from 7 mm thick at the blade end to 5 mm thick at the terminal. At the start of the handle, the slot for the blade is obscured on the upper edge (the back of the blade) by a tiny projection from the handle. Both upper and lower edges then curve downwards, with two long grooves on either face emphasising the junction between blade and handle. The upper edge then runs at a very slight slope down to the terminal, while the lower edge is cut away to make an unusually narrow handle. There is a moulding running across the junction between the curving and slightly sloping parts of the upper edge, and a tiny moulding across the inner corner of the lower edge; there is a small projection at the lower corner of the rectangular cut-out in the lower edge. This shape holds the forefinger nicely while the thumb can rest on the curved shoulder. The lower edge then runs horizontally so that the handle tapers slightly from 11 mm wide at the start of the cutaway part to 6.5 mm just before the terminal. At the far end the handle turns down again to form an animal-head terminal (perhaps a horse or dragon?) with a moulding across both inner and outer corners. The animal has two nicks across its brow, but no discernible eyes (there is a patch of iron corrosion over where one eye should be, but this is coincidental). The muzzle tapers and ends in an upturned snout with a large projecting lump on the underside. The rectangular cut-out formed by the narrow handle and turned-down terminal is perhaps too small to hold three fingers comfortably, but the turned-up snout provides a purchase for the third finger so that the knife could be used dextrously but without much power. The narrow shape is similar to a knife handle from Sutton, Suffolk (SUT022; sf178/1285). J. D. Hill, Ralph Jackson and Catherine Johns from the Department of Prehistory and Early Europe at the British Museum have seen this knife handle and a drawing of the Sutton parallel, and have identified them as a hitherto unknown type of ?East Anglian Romano-British knife handle.