Casgliadau Arlein

1CuA sheet, handle plate and solder fragment from a handled bowl. A fragmentary plate is welded onto a small sheet fragment, the prominent and untidy welding being on both interior and exterior surfaces as a concave and convex lump respectively. The sheet appears to be curved in two planes, making orientation of the plate fragment difficult to define. The most plausible orientation, would be to view the strap as a horizontal side extension of a handle-plate, with a bifurcation of the plate at the break representing a torn rivet-hole, the solder being an additional lateral weld of the plate to the vessel wall. The marked sheet curvature in the vertical plane would thus indicate a globular profile, with the handle –plate attached to the vertical wall, rather than a brim. The sheet curvature in the horizontal plane would tend to indicate a vessel of reasonable size (over 140mm diameter). (The alternative orientation, with the plate as a vertical strap or handle plate, would give the sheet curvature in the horizontal plane an implausible diameter of approximately 80mm). Handled bowl of Iron Age date