a border. Continental parallels to this latter can be cited. An example from Novaesium[1] is furnished on the back with four bronze studs for attaching it to wood or leather. As many as seven specimens are preserved in the Römisch-Germanisch Central Museum in Mainz.
Figs. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 in Plate LXXXIV. are of interest from being found in Pit LVIII in association with articles undoubtedly Celtic in character, like the sword of Plate XXXIV. (Fig. 8) and the embossed plate of brass of Plate LXXV. (Fig. 5). It is difficult to determine their use. Fig. 2 recalls certain objects which have been found in Late Celtic burials, and which have been interpreted as linch pins. The present specimen measures 2¾ inches in length, and consists of an iron rod, obviously imperfect, the end of which has been inserted into a hollow mounting of brass, 17⁄16 inches in length and 13⁄8 inches in diameter. The Celtic linch pin, as far as we know it, was more decorative than the heavy pegs illustrated in Plate LXX. and already discussed. A highly ornamental example was in the Stanwick hoard. There the pin itself was of iron, but its upper end was inserted into a heavy dome-like piece of bronze, which was surmounted by a ring showing the characteristic Late Celtic expansions. The lower end was also inserted into a bronze mounting, terminating in a flattened disc-like projection ornamented with concentric circles.
In the King's Barrow at Arras, Yorkshire, there was found a simpler form of linch pin, the upper part of which much more closely resembles the Newstead specimen. A dead man had been laid in the barrow with his chariot, for on either side of the skeleton was the iron tire of a wheel, some pieces of the wooden parts of which still remained attached to the metal.[2] Lying partly under each wheel was the skeleton of a horse, while on the west side of the grave were two articles which were identified with certainty as linch pins. 'They are 5 inches long, and made of a round iron bar 7⁄8 inches wide with a bronze termination at either end. That at the larger end is 11⁄8 inches long, and has a flat circular top 1¼ inches in diameter, with a neck beneath it which swells into a round flat-bottomed bulb with a bevelled band where it unites with the iron bar. The other end terminates in a curved form somewhat in shape like the hoof of a horse.' Although this lower terminal, with its distinctive features, is awanting at Newstead, the similarity of the upper mountings suggests a common purpose.
1 Bonner Jahrbücher, Heft 111–112, Taf. xxxv. Fig. 3.
2 Archaeologia, vol. lx p. 279, fig. 21.
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