Casgliadau Arlein

Small cast handle-strap. Loop has no ribs, grooves or lateral flanges and is high and curved with a flat and regular top surface. The strap has one flat topped and one convex curved attachment plate, both being broken on each side. The flat-topped attachment plate has one complete and one partial rivet hole spaced 11.7mm apart, the complete one being filled by a rivet. The convex curved attachment plate has one complete and two partial rivet holes, spaced 6.4 and 15.0mm apart, the complete one being filled by another rivet. The rivets project on both sides of the plate, neither ends being much wider than the rivet holes, though heads may have broken off the ends. Judging for the surviving spacing of the rivets, it would appear that the flat topped attachment plate may have had a three rivet array, with the central one aligning to the mid-width of the loop. The curved attachment plate may have had a central rivet, flanked on each side by a pair of close set rivets, giving five in total. The strap attachment plates have a slightly curved profile in side view, indicating it was probably once attached to the vertical exterior side of a globular bowl. Following a thorough search through published literature, this handle-strap form appears unparalleled. Its small size and loop without ribs, together with its positioning on the vertical side of a globular vessel precludes its use on any of the known Atlantic A&B cauldrons and buckets of the later Bronze Age in Britain and Ireland. Similarly, its casting in bronze and loop form rules out comparison with the Globular Cauldrons of the Late Iron Age and Romano-British periods. In this regard, it has some similarity with handle-strap 37, in seemingly spanning the gap between the Late Bronze Age and Late Iron Age forms. However, its diminutive size suggests a handled bowl rather than a cauldron more similar to handle-strap 46. The curvature of the plate suggests a diameter of 200mm or greater. In Britain, virtually no bowls or cauldrons are known spanning the Early to Middle Iron Age. However, globular cauldrons of bronze with simple rims are known amongst Halstatt C/D burial groups on the Continent (Kossack 1959; Zürn 1987), though none with the same style of handle plate. The most plausible date for this vessel appears to be Early Iron Age (750-500BC), corresponding with Halstatt C/D, though the handle-strap is unique. This is not inconsistent with the abundance of Llyn Fawr period material on this site (750-600BC), but could extend occupation into the sixth century BC.