A complete copper-alloy spindle from a pair of Roman dividers in the shape of a bovine head.  <br><br><pre>This spindle consists of a shaft, 21mm in length and 5.5mm in gauge, cast as a square but with the corners of the shaft rounded off, perhaps with a file.  It has a rectangular slit through it and at the top of this shaft is a three-dimensional neatly modelled bull's head projecting from the shaft at right angles, the base of the shaft has a rounded tip and two transverse grooves.  <br><br>

The slit appears 7mm above the base and is 7mm high and 1mm wide, being aligned in the same axis as that in which the bull's snout projects from the rod.  At the top of the shaft, which terminates 7mm above the top of the slot, the casting expands abruptly, forming the neck of the bull, which has two deep grooves on the back face, the shaft is projecting from the centre of this wider neck.  The head is roughly triangular in shape with a tapering snout and a pair of horns, which stand out from the object and curl inward to form points.  The snout is 4mm wide at the tip, the mouth is slightly open and teeth can be seen there are also transverse grooves across the top of the snout and at its tip roughly semi-circular grooves with central circular incisions representing the nostrils.  The expanded rear of the head is 10mm wide and 5mm in thickness just in front of the horn roots and behind the eyes.  The eyes are represented by roughly rounded V-shaped mouldings within which there are two parallel diagonal grooves.  The projecting horns slope backwards and their tip curve inwards above the top of the head towards each other. 

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 It was the finder who pointed out that this object was very similar to a copper-alloy zoomorphic spindle for a pair of Roman dividers found in Norfolk.  The Norfolk divider was dated to the 1st or 2nd century AD (Treasure Hunting Dec 2004, John Weston p28-29).  The drawing of this Suffolk example was subsequently examined by Ralph Jackson of the British Museum and he does indeed confirm that the finder is absolutely correct to relate it to the Norfolk dividers, which are complete and of a slightly different construction.  Ralph explained that some Roman dividers are very simple, with a domed spindle securing two arms, and the Norfolk dividers are an elaborate version of that type, but there is another type that has a distinctive four-part construction: two arms, a spindle, and a small wedge, which allowed the arms to be simply tightened. In the case of the present example the wedge had evidently been removed or had fallen out and the arms lost, but the rectangular slot for the wedge is diagnostic and therefore identification as the spindle from this type of dividers is secure.
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Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service, Faye Minter, 2005-03-09 10:38:29</div>
CC BY-SA 4.0
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/53803">https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/53803</a><br>Catalog: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/53803/recordtype/artefacts">https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/53803/recordtype/artefacts</a> <bdo lang="en" dir="ltr" title="archived on 20 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190120035607/https%3A//finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/53803/recordtype/artefacts">archive copy</a></bdo><br>Artefact: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/72286">https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/72286</a>