File:Copper alloy late Iron Age boar figurine (FindID 161278).jpg

English: Cast copper alloy votive figurine in the form of a standing boar. The boar is quite realistically portrayed with careful attention to anatomical detail. The surface of the boar is slightly worn, but appears to be in a good state of preservation. The boar has a solid body with a life-like head detailing all of the major facial features. The snout is flat-ended and upturned which is a feature perhaps more reminiscent of domesticated pig than wild boar. The tusks are quite worn and incomplete, being short and slightly inward curving. The eyes are represented by two deep concave circular cells, which may once have contained enamel. The ears are large and upright, roughly triangular in shape and concave on the front. There is a moulded crest running down the back of the boar. The crest is slightly convex and is decorated with a row of crescentric motifs representing the dorsal bristles. These bristles slope forwards. The crescent decoration is also seen on the boars back to either side of the crest. The rump of the boar is decorated with a series of gently curved lines, as are the legs and parts of the cheeks and snout. The tail is upturned and coiled; this is a feature that has been regarded as proof of domestication (Bokonyi 1974, 215). The front legs are moulded slightly forward, and the hind legs are angled, displaying a close attention to detail. The underside is smooth and rounded, with no indication of genitalia.

Copper alloy boar figurines belong to the late Iron age and early Roman periods. They are found depicted as sitting, as standing boars, as plaques depicting just the head and the forelegs, and also as standing boars on a flat base. A study of boar figurines by Jennifer Foster published in 1977 listed twenty-two examples (Foster, 1977, Fig. 1, 7ff.), however it is unknown how many more have been discovered since then.

Other examples of standing boar figurines have been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Schemes database. There are a series of hollow lead alloy boar figurines known that are post-medieval in date that look very similar to the copper alloy Iron Age/Roman examples. Other examples include the following:

<a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=001409CDCC5018CA" target="_blank"> BH-CDA5A2</a> <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=0014406DDC801854" target=_blank"> CAM-6D9662</a> <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=001440C6A3601CBE" target="_blank">SUSS-C6A000</a> <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=0014576F8CB014E1" target="_blank">SUSS-6F88D3</a>

Fosters' study indicated that full-boar figurines began in the late Iron Age whereas the 'half-boar' figurines which only portray the the head and forelegs belong to the early Roman period. Individual features on the Rothwell boar can be paralleled to several other boar figurines, both Iron Age and Roman. A strikingly close parallel that probably dates to the second half of the first century AD was discovered at Camerton (Jackson, 1990, p26, plate 1; containing a full discussion and references to comperanda). Unlike the Rothwell boar, the Camerton boar has a flat base. There is no indication that the Rothwell boar had a base.