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1,800 year old find!

Pete e

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
732
Location
North Wales, UK
I was out detecting on a Club dig a couple of weeks ago and was lucky enough to unearth the bronze item below with the Nox..

I initially thought it was some sort of buckle, and thought it was "old" but dared not think just how old it might be..

When I showed it to the dig organiser, he immediately identified it as a terret ring (reins guide) off either a Roman or Celtic chariot, dating back to around 100 to 200 AD..

Pictures were quickly sent to an archeologist at the county Museum, and he came back saying he thought it was Roman but would need to see it in hand be sure...it's currently at the museum being assessed and recorded and I am awaiting their report back..

I have to confess, I was shaking when I initially found out what it was...In my part of the UK, there was never a large Roman presence, so such finds are quite rare and it's only my third Roman item in three years of detecting...

The pic below doesn't really do it justice as the patina is more intact on the other side...
 

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Thanks folks...it's finds like this that keep me addicted: months and months of nothing but Georgian or Victorian coppers, and then out of the blue something a little bit special...
 
I was out detecting on a Club dig a couple of weeks ago and was lucky enough to unearth the bronze item below with the Nox..

I initially thought it was some sort of buckle, and thought it was "old" but dared not think just how old it might be..

When I showed it to the dig organiser, he immediately identified it as a terret ring (reins guide) off either a Roman or Celtic chariot, dating back to around 100 to 200 AD..

Pictures were quickly sent to an archeologist at the county Museum, and he came back saying he thought it was Roman but would need to see it in hand be sure...it's currently at the museum being assessed and recorded and I am awaiting their report back..

I have to confess, I was shaking when I initially found out what it was...In my part of the UK, there was never a large Roman presence, so such finds are quite rare and it's only my third Roman item in three years of detecting...

The pic below doesn't really do it justice as the patina is more intact on the other side...

Well found Pete.

This link shows a nice selection found in South Wales.

Link:

https://museum.wales/collections/on.../Iron-Age--Roman-copper-alloy-terret/content/
 
Well found Pete.

This link shows a nice selection found in South Wales.

Link:

https://museum.wales/collections/on.../Iron-Age--Roman-copper-alloy-terret/content/

Thanks Doug...the thing is mine is slightly different to the typical design as shown in your link...if you notice, the decorative "lumps" on the rings are just that, lumps on the exterior of the ring..this leaves the interior of the ring smooth as you might expect on a rein guide..

On mine on the other hand, the decorative parts are raised "bands" that circle the ring... I am not really sure what, if anything this means, other than it is a slightly different style...I am hoping the FLO will be able to shed more light on it...
 
I just finished reading 'The Ancient Celts' by Barry Cunliffe - dense reading, but informative. According to the author, the Celtic tribes in Britain were using war chariots when Julius Caesar made is foray into Britain in the 50s B.C., and were still using them 100 years later in the Celtic rebellion led by Boudicca. Rome was not using war chariots. So I'm betting that, if this is a rein ring from a chariot, it is Celtic. And that is WAY cool! Congrats!
 
I just finished reading 'The Ancient Celts' by Barry Cunliffe - dense reading, but informative. According to the author, the Celtic tribes in Britain were using war chariots when Julius Caesar made is foray into Britain in the 50s B.C., and were still using them 100 years later in the Celtic rebellion led by Boudicca. Rome was not using war chariots. So I'm betting that, if this is a rein ring from a chariot, it is Celtic. And that is WAY cool! Congrats!

There is a lot of debate about the Romans use of chariots here in the UK...It's seems that they were largely superceded by the use of cavalry in actual warfare, but we're still used for other transport duties....

At Colchester, the remains of a Roman chariot race track has been found, so it's likely the use of chariots was still previlant in their culture...of course, you then have to consider that both the Britons and Romans used other types of carts and they would likely have similar fittings such as terret rings....

I would love to think my terret ring was Celtic, and I am hoping the slightly different design might allow archaeologists to shed some light on its origins and age...
 
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