An x-ray session for archaeological metalwork finds
A church key?
I spent the morning with Dana Goodburn-Brown imaging a variety of items from Bronze Age, Roman and Post-Medieval England. She had some excellent items from the Boughton Malherbe late Bronze Age Hoard, including sword blades. Other items include this heavily encrusted key, thought to be a church key due to its proximity to a church... Well, it makes sense! I've included a collection of photographs and x-rays from the session below, including the sword fragments.
We started with some experimentation to determine the best exposure factors to use during the radiography, then Dana laid out the metalwork to x-ray in larger batches. Of particular interest was a possible Roman age slave collar (photo and x-ray below). We also had an iron lamp (Roman?), an oddly shaped piece of metal that I've not encountered before.
A photo of the key during imaging
Images: All images and x-rays are copyright. Message James Elliott for permission for use.
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