Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Roman small finds

CATEGORY 9: BUILDINGS AND SERVICES
The finds belonging to this category will be dealt with
in more detail in the site reports since, as for example
with fragments of architectural stone, these are best
seen in the light of the structure with which they are
associated. Catalogue numbers have been allocated
to these pieces and brief descriptions are given in
note form on microfiche.
CATEGORY 10: TOOLS
TOOL HANDLES
Most of the catalogued handles probably come from
knives. Some may be from razors (2938-9). All but
two of the handles are of bone or antler. The bones
used in most cases can be identified as long bones.
The handles are illustrated with the blade end
downwards.
Three methods of attaching a handle to the tang of a
knife or tool are distinguishable. First, riveting which
was used on two-piece handles (Fig 111, 2933).
Second, driving the tang into the marrow-cavity of the
bone, which was usually packed with wood-
shavings 1
, so that the irregularities of cancellous
tissue and the wood-shavings prevented the tang
from twisting or slipping out (often a collar was also
used with this method). Third, fixing the tang in
tension against the handle by means of an iron clip.
The handle types on which this last method was used
are the subject of a paper by Stephen Greep
(forthcoming a). This paper illustrates not only
complete extant examples, but also a relief (CIL 6,
16166) on which several forms of handle and blade
are shown, including pieces with tension clip fittings.
This method of attachment is described below under
one-piece waisted handles.
BONE AND ANTLER HANDLES
One-piece handles
a) plain (Fig 110; 2915-2920). Handles similar to
these are found throughout the Roman period.
2915 Fig 110 SF LWC 895(C), A292. Period 3b. A polished and
only slightly worked metapodial. One articulated end has
been sawn off, the other has been sawn through to provide a
thickened grip. There is green staining from association with
corroding copper alloy at the narrow end, probably from a
collar. Length 82.5mm, maximum diameter 13.5 mm.
2916 Fig 110 SF LWC 4208, J571. Floor level Period 4. A roughly-
107
Wall veneer and other architectural stonef ragments
(except tesserae): 2546-2821.
Tesserae (other than of tile) not directly associated
with a mosaic: 2822-2866.
Water-pipe junction collars and associated finds:
2867-2914.
made handle of red deer antler, slightly curved, with the
outer surface trimmed. A fragment of an iron tang is visible
in the narrow end of the handle. It does not pierce through to
the broad end. Length 56.0mm, maximum diameter
22.5mm.
b) with a waisted end. These handles appear to be
Claudian-Neronian in date, though they may survive
into the early. Flavian period. In Britain their
distribution covers the area of early military
occupation and civilian settlement. While they clearly
arrived in Britain with the Roman army, there is no
good reason to suppose that they were specifically
military. The relief depicting knives with these
handles in a cutler's shop (ibid) indicates rather that
they had civilian uses. Moreover, the great range in
size of the handles suggests that they were fitted onto
blades of widely varying size and function. 2
These handles were attached to the tang of the knife
blade by a complex method involving the use of a
tension clip. While none of the Colchester examples
has a surviving clip, Stephen Greep's work on the
handle types enables the method to be described. At
each end of the handle a groove was cut across the
transverse section (both slots were parallel). The top
of the blade slotted into the groove at the lower end,
and an iron strip of rectangular section fitted into the
upper groove. The tang, which rose from the centre of
the blade, extended up the handle to pass through a
hole in the iron strip in the upper groove. The end of
the tang was hammered flat to hold both blade and
strip in position. To hold the blade firmly to the handle,
and to stop any lateral movement of the tang, the end
of the handle was waisted and the ends of the strip
coiled into spirals and positioned in this waist so that
the hammered end of the tang was pushed outwards
against the end of the handle. The strip thus acted as
a tension clip rather than simply as a washer, and
was, in addition, decorative. That this method of