On this day...7th August

Let’s begin with a brilliant photo from the Boneyard excavations of 1999. Gareth and company are obviously discussing something important. They look completely ‘stumped’ don’t they!

Leaping forward 19 years to 2018, Melinda discovered this heavily encrusted object from a burnt layer within Trench 23 on Chalkpit Field. A few hours of careful cleaning revealed it as a copper-alloy strap end. Its convex sided form and split attachment end date it stylistically to the 9th century. Look carefully at the more pointed terminal and you might be able to make out two asymmetrical eyes and a snout. Stylised animal head terminals were also typical of these strap ends. What makes our strap end even more interesting is that it has been repaired in antiquity. One original fixing hole has clearly broken so two smaller holes have been made in an attempt to reattach it. Clearly this lovely object was important to its owner. How would they feel if they knew it was still being admired over a thousand years later?