File:Roman copper alloy harness ring (FindID 450935).jpg

English: Copper alloy ring or fitting, possibly a harness ring of Roman date, c. late 1st or 2nd century AD
The object comprises a fragmentary outer ring with an integral cross-piece, also fragmentary (with a surviving length of 43.1mm, a surviving width of 36.6mm and has a weight of 14.7g). The outer ring is of consistent rounded D-shaped section (5.6mm wide and 4.1mm thick). The ring is distorted and bent towards the rear at the top of the fragment. The integral cross bar is widest near the ring (with a width of 12.9mm), to accommodate a circular perforation (of 5.5mm diameter) and is also thicker on one side of the perforation (with a maximum thickness of 5.8mm. The central bar narrows to the centre, where it was likely to have had mirrored the surviving piece of the bar and also had two arms connecting to the base of the ring. Protruding upwards from the centre is a rounded knop (6mm high and 6mm diameter) with an incised border and radiating decoration over the apex of the knop.

The fragmentary nature of the artefact makes any confident identification difficult, the fragment does resemble harness mounts from the Roman period, possibly from a derivative three-link bridle bit. This form of derivative three-link bridle bit can be paralleled with two examples from the Seven Sisters (Neath Port Talbot) hoard (Savory, 1976, pp 62-63) and from elsewhere. Megaw (1972, pp 53)3 lists twelve examples from northern Britain. It has been noted that derivative three-link bits often comprise of one of the side rings being more ornate than the other (e.g. Birrenswark in Dumfriesshire , Rise, Holderness in East Riding3 and Seven Sisters in Neath Port Talbot). In the Seven Sisters example, the decorative motifs on the interior of the ring closely mirrored the decoration on an associated strap union.
The type is known to be late in the sequence of Late Iron Age bridle bits and Spratling (1972)1 suggests that Group II bits were not produced before the mid 1st century AD. The style of decoration on this piece may be seen as 'Romanised' and suggests a date of late 1st to 2nd century AD.