Below the oblong panel the whole surface is covered by a design of leaves and stems. The centre of the design is occupied by a diamond-shaped panel formed by the stems of the leaves. At the top of the panel two stems first approach close to one another and then separate, the ends curving outwards. From each side a stem springs upwards, terminating in a leaf which points outwards. At the lowest point the stems, after being brought together, curve outwards and terminate on either side in pointed leaves.
The whole elements of this design are characteristic of provincial Roman art. The same pointed leaves may be seen frequently employed in sculpture, while both leaves and arcading appear in the decoration of an altar from Birrens, dedicated to Mars and Victory by Rhaetians serving in the Second Cohort of Tungrians. An excellent example of the leaf design is also to be noted in an enamelled bronze plate, of unknown provenance, now in the Museum of Carlsruhe.[1]
Of the purpose the article just described was intended to serve it is difficult to put forward a satisfactory explanation. It was not unique. A portion of a similar object was subsequently found in Pit CII, also associated with early pottery. This fragment probably forms about a quarter of the whole piece, but in it we have part of the terminals and of one side. The surface has been covered with decoration, but the brass studs have all disappeared. The leather has been strong and is fully one-eighth of an inch in thickness. In this respect it differs entirely from the many fragments of leather with stitched margins which must have belonged to garments. It does not seem to have formed any part of clothing, and its whole appearance conveys the impression that it was used as a horse trapping. The stitching lines on the margin may indicate that it had been applied to some other material, perhaps a brightly coloured saddle-cloth, but no trace of such material remains. The circular openings may have been filled with thin metal plates. More than one example of thin circular discs of brass was recovered in the course of the excavations. Whatever may have been its use, it speaks plainly enough of the skill of the craftsman, and of the luxury in appointments out on the frontiers of the Empire in the first century of our era.
Over his leather surcoat the soldier wore his armour. This was of three kinds. The so-called lorica segmentata consisted of breast and back plates, with overlapping bands of iron or bronze, protecting the lower part of the body and the shoulders. This is the armour of Trajan's legionaries, and it
1 Alterthümer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit, Band iii. Heft ix. Taf. 4.
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