Copper, copper alloy, pendant, cavalry harness pendant

A copper-alloy pendant with a large, bulbous terminal knob. The suspension hook is in the form of a bird's head and traces of tinning survive on the front face. It is decorated with incised lines around the margins of the 'wings'.

The distribution of bird-headed pendants in Britain shows them to have been almost exclusively pre-Flavian. In this, they differ from 'trifid' pendants and their associated phalerae, as well as in the fact that, where some sort of white metal coating can be demonstrated, it is usually tinning, rather than silvering, that has been employed. Bird-headed pendants are characterized by zoomorphic terminals to their suspension necks which, together with their lobate bodies giving the impression of wings, are reminiscent of a rearing swan, with its head tucked into its breast.