IRON AGE MINIATURE OBJECT

-400

Incomplete copper alloy miniature shield. The shield is flat, oval in plan, and has a raised circular boss in the centre. The shield is decorated with a perimeter of raised pellets that may either be imitating studs or the heads of rivets that attached full-sized bronze shields to a wooden backing.There is a circular hole at the top of the shield which may have allowed the object to have been part of a toilet set.The shield is in a fair state of preservation despite being in two pieces. Both ends are folded over and the perimeter of the sides is badly damaged.Miniature shields are difficult to date however they are thought to range from circa 400BC to the mid-late 1st century AD.