#FindsFriday: double snake finger ring

21 Feb

This lovely little double snake was found during excavations by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit (KARU) at Harrietsham Roman Villa located near the Parish church. Excavations there were carried out between 1984 - 1997. C. 2000 artefacts were recovered with the pottery, bone and tesserae reported on (Discoveries Across Kent, 1970 - 2014; Dr., Brian Philp) but unfortunately this lovely find was not included in the report.

Snake finger rings such as this appear to date from the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period onwards continuing all the way to modern times. Guiraud groups all open finger-rings, including penannulars, spirals and those with snake’s-head terminals (PAS-942FE3), together as her type 7 (Guiraud 1989, 195-6). Johns has constructed a typology of snake rings, based on the over 40 examples in the Snettisham hoard (Johns 1997, 34-39). Her type A consists of a single snake, type B having two snake-head terminals and type C two or more complete snakes, making this a type C finger-ring.

The fact that this style of ring has not gone out of fashion shows how connected we are to the people of the past.

The society has a number of volunteer projects ongoing looking at both our archaeological and archival collections. Do get in touch via the website to learn more: www.kentarchaeology.org.uk

#historicjewellery #findsfriday #research #recordyourfinds #smallfinds #snakering #ironage #Roman #Prehistoric #Prehistory #RomanArchaeology #Archaeology #Curator #Museumlife #Archives #BehindstheScenes