File:A copper alloy Iron Age to Roman, end-looped, zoomorphic cosmetic mortar, Type A (Jackson 2010,7) dating to 100 BC-AD 300. (FindID 855904).jpg

English: A copper alloy Iron Age to Roman, end-looped, zoomorphic cosmetic mortar, Type A (Jackson 2010:7) dating to 100 BC-AD 300. This is a bovid-headed mortar with end-loop positioned beneath the terminal. The terminal is zoomorphic in the form of a bovid head with upright horns/ears and tapered, blunt-ended muzzle with grooved mouth. The elliptical bow has an angular keel, steep convex walls, incuse and dot-punched lined decoration, and a U-sectioned groove. The loop lies beneath the end of the bow. It was probably intended to give the appearance of both of the beast's folded tail and of the stylized head of a water bird. No identical cosmetic mortars have been found but similar Type A mortars can be seen in Jackson (2010:29 fig.6 No.318, 236, 495, 558, 380, 325, 88 and 422). The mortar is decorated with four groups of incuse quadruple dot-punched lined decoration. One group running around the body behind the horns/ears and two further groups spaced equidistant along the body. The final group runs horizontal from the tail end. There is also dot-punched decoration running across the junction of the tail and the angular keel. The mortar is broken into two pieces, the main part being the body and the smaller part being the bovid-head. Part of the side wall on the body near the break has been folded over, possibly made by the blow which separated the head. These two parts were found not far from each other two years apart.

Dimensions Head: length: 20.89mm; width: 13.96mm; thickness: 9.80mm; weight 5.18g.

Dimensions Body: length: 51.47mm; width: 10.82mm; thickness: 7.42mm; weight 15.71g.

Cosmetic sets are a particularly British object type and were in use before the Roman invasion. They date from 100 BC - AD 300, but the heyday of their use was the late 1st - 2nd century AD.

Jackson (2010:21) writes "Many of the zoomorphic mortar terminals feature sensitive modelling, acute stylisation, exuberance and ambiguity and they can often be closely paralleled by other metalwork examples from the 'Celtic zoo' of the 1st century BC/ 1st century AD- bulls, cattle, rams, sheep, horses, stags, hinds, boars, dogs, hares, geese, swans, water-birds, crested and uncrested ducks, predatory birds, griffons and monsters. End-looped mortars had only one free terminal available for plastic decoration in the round, although the loop itself was often elaborated into a stylized bird's head (Figs 6-7)."

Jackson (2010:26) writes "The wide diversity in form and almost infinite variety of decoration of cosmetic sets is perhaps to be accounted for by their personal nature - kits associated with self-presentation - and by the possibility that they were used by a broad social group. Significantly, as Nina Crummy has observed (in litt.), a similar diversity and inventiveness is exhibited by two other related types of personalia, British brooches and nail-cleaners. Of course, any attempt at a retrospective gauging of the relative value of cosmetic sets would be invidious, but purely in terms of size, quantity of metal and expenditure of time in manufacture they appear to represent a fairly wide spectrum, from small and rudimentary ('inexpensive') to large and elaborate ('higher status') examples. However, as this examination of the decoration has indicated, the choice of form and decor appears to have gone well beyond purely 'monetary', functional and aesthetic considerations into areas of identity and well-being - characterising, protecting and empowering the individual - and emphasizes the insular and late Iron Age origins and traditions that inspired the makers of cosmetic sets and those who used them."

Reference: Jackson, R., 2010. Cosmetic Sets of the Late Iron Age and Roman Britain: British Museum Research Publications Number 181. British Museum Press.