ROMAN MINIATURE OBJECT

43

A copper alloy miniature object; an axe head or mace head which is just 11.7mm long, 7.5mm wide and 5.9mm thick. Miniature axes are found fairly often from Roman contexts and are believed to have some form of symbolic or religious meaning. This example has a “cutting blade” that is wide and then tapers towards the butt. The butt though is very thick and is pierced by a worn circular hole. The top and bottom of the axe are slightly hollow. This object could have been worn as a pendant, like a lucky charm, or have been used as a votive offering. The shape of this example is reminiscent of Bronze Age tools, but was probably made in the Roman period. Similar examples on the database include BH-E4E401, SF-76C204, CPAT-864898 and LIN-B1B742.