ROMAN MINIATURE OBJECT

A copper alloy miniature knife or razor possibly, of Roman date. It is 58.2mm long, 15.3mm wide and 3.2mm thick. It weighs 5.87gm. It is sub D shaped in plan, with one concave and one convex edge. It is pointed at one end, and at the other is a worn through large circular suspension loop, in the same plane as the tool. It looks very like a Roman cosmetic pestle, except that it is thinner and more blade like. The convex edge tapers to a blade edge and the pointed tip is also sharp. The concave edge is much thicker, though it tapers towards the point. This could be a very worn example of a cosmetic pestle, but it is so sharp, that it seems possible that it was intended to be used as a knife or a razor. On the other hand, the ends of the broken suspension loop are also sharp, so it is possible that corrosion has caused the appearance of a sharpened edge. The object has a grey green colour, but most of the patina is missing. For the cosmetic pestle theory, compare DUR-CED698, SUR-3B61B4, NLM-C6EDE2 which are all thicker and more rounded than this example. For the miniature knife or razor theory compare WAW-74B532 and LIN-535BB3 which are a different shape, but with many similarities. It is suggested that the miniature knifes represent sacrificial objects which are found more often in rural shrines rather than urban ones. See Green (1976 A Corpus of Religious Material from the Civilian Areas of Roman Britain B.A.R. No. 24), Plate 25g cited in WAW-74B532.