Casgliadau Arlein

Tube cut from the long bone of a large animal. The bone has been trimmed to rectangular section with splayed ends and three transverse ribs giving a fluted effect which serves a practical purpose in providing comfort for the fingers as well as decoration. Both this grip and the pommel (82.22H/5.5) are very similar in appearance and measurements to the ivory grip and pommel already known on a sword from Segontium (Boon 1962, 85-9). On the first Segontium sword handle a thin bronzed band was added under the pommel, probably after the grip had split. There is no trace of such a band on the handle under discussion. Boon compared the first sword with that worn by T. Flavius Bassus on a 1st-century funerary monument. Boon suggests that the Segontium Sword is unlikely to be later than c. AD 140 and there is no reson to suggest that this second handle should be dated differently. Split with a number of chunks missing out of both ends.