Provenance
Discovery: Found in 1947 on the site of a substantial Roman settlement which included a temple or a related religious structure. The findings from the site include high quality Roman metals, Prehistoric flints, a piece of Bronze Age pottery, as well as finds dating from the early medieval to the post-medieval periods (Norfolk Heritage Explorer). The inscribed handle was donated to the Norwich Castle Museum in 1950.
Findspot: Weeting-with-Broomhill, Norfolk, England (National Grid Reference: TL 7540 8970)
Current repository: England Norwich Castle Museum (inv. no. acc no. NWHCM : 1950.24)
Last recorded location(s): Now in Norwich Castle Museum.
Support
Historic Environment Record ID: Norfolk HER: 5587
Object type: Knife handle
Material: Antler
Dimensions: mm
Decoration: The base of the handle is decorated with ‘two rows of right-angled triangles, filled with stippling, set within horizontal incised lines’ (Clarke 1952, 72).
Condition: A handle ‘cut from a tine of red deer antler’ (Clarke 1952, 72) for an iron tool, probably a knife, bearing an ogham inscription of uncertain meaning but ‘which may be part of the owner’s name’ (Norfolk Museums Collections). Clarke (1952, 72) observed that the first part of the ogham text is ‘clear and easily read except at the broad end, where the surface has been worn away…and one or possibly two groups are missing’. The first four scores of the second part of the ogham text are clear as is the latter portion of the inscription. However, the section of the text following the first four scores ‘has suffered great damage’ having ‘been badly abraded and iron-stained, rendering the scores indistinct’ (Clarke 1952, 72). Clarke (1952, 72) enlisted the aid of oblique lighting and a microscope to ‘identify the scores in this area with a fair degree of probability’.
Inscription
Text field: The ogham text is in two lines, one on each side of the handle, commencing from the decorated base and extending to the opposite end. There is no drawn stemline.
Letters: The inscription is chiselled and described by Clarke (1952, 72) as ‘carefully cut nicks placed across or on either side of an imaginary centre line’.
Date: Sixth to eighth century
Edition
Ogham text: ᚓᚃᚒᚈᚒᚄᚒᚇᚒ̣ᚑ̣ ᚌᚓᚇᚓᚃᚔᚋ̣ᚒ̣ᚈ̣ᚑ̣ᚄ
Transcription: EVUTUSUDỤỌ GEDEVIṂỤṬỌS
Critical apparatus:
- There are two possible readings of this inscription depending on the direction in which the script is read. One possibility is to read the inscription upwards beginning from the broad end of one side of the handle and to continue reading downwards to the broad end of the other side of the handle. Alternatively, the inscription could be read upwards commencing from the narrow end on one side of the handle and reading down towards the narrow end of the other side of the handle. Clarke (1952, 72) determined that the latter reading (beginning and ending with the narrow end) is ‘perhaps the more likely of these two readings’. 2. For the most likely interpretation, ‘starting at the narrow end of 1 [side] and ending at the narrow end of [side] 2’, Clarke (1952, 72) read: EVUTUSUD(U) GEDEVI(MUTO)S For the alternative interpretation, ‘starting at the broad end of 1 [side] and ending at the broad end of [side] 2’, Clarke (1952, 72) read:; (U)LUCUVUTE C(OVUM)ITELEG 3. Similarly, Johnson (2020) read: EVUTUSUD(U/O) or (U)LUCUVUTE GEDEVI(MUTO)S or C(OVUM)ITELEG
Commentary
Clarke (1952, 72) determined that neither reading could be ‘identified as any known Celtic language’. However, Wrenn (1959, 40, 42) suggested that the name might be GEDEVI and could indicate Irish influence.
References
- Clarke 1952, 71-73
- Johnson 2020
- Wrenn 1959, 40-42