Macalister — On a Hoard of Remarkable Gold Objects. 181 



on the upper surface of this disc. Here there is the following decoration : 

 At about -5- inch inward from the margin is a circle of minute dots, concentric 

 with the disc. Between these dots and the margin of the disc is a row of 

 seventeen impressions of a small punch 4- inch in diameter, which has borne 

 the device of a spiral of two whorls traced from the eye outwards by a point 

 moving clock-wise (counter-clockwise in the impression) and having a free 

 end. The same punch has been impressed inside the circle of dots also ; here 

 there are eight spirals arranged to form an equal-armed cross, the punch being 

 turned so that each pair of impressions join one another after the fashion of 

 the two loops of the letter S. Weight, 1 02. 4 dwt. 16 grs. 



The Smaller Pin. (Plate XIX, 2.) 



This pin has every appearance of being later than the other objects ; it 

 probably has no connexion with the hoard. It is a plain bar of metal, flat- 

 tened into a triangle at the head ; the shaft of the pin is an extension of the 

 apex of the triangle, and the other angles are also prolonged, and are coiled 

 into spirals, reminding one of the antennae of bronze-age swords. On each 

 side of the triangle there is engraved a circle, filled with faint but roughly 

 drawn radial lines and with a dot impressed at the centre and at the ends of 

 the vertical and horizontal diameters. The length of the pin is 4f inches, 

 but it seems to have lost its extreme tip, and to have been originally slightly 

 longer. The weight is 13 dwt. 



The Shield. (Plate XIX, 3.) 



This curious object is a disc roughly cut out of a thin sheet of gold. The 

 gold is of a rather deeper colour than the gold of the other objects, and seems 

 to be slightly alloyed. The disc is slightly concavo-convex. It is 

 2|- inches in diameter. A notch of oval shape has been cut out of the edge 

 of the shield. Four rather irregular holes run in a line across the diameter, 

 and represent the holes by which the handle of the shield was secured. A 

 fifth hole, of smaller size, close beside one of these, might possibly represent 

 the rivet-hole for securing the shoulder-strap. This, however, is doubtful ; 

 we should have a second hole for the other end of the strap, so that the 

 hole existing may be merely accidental. 



Though the object is roughly and carelessly made, there are distinct 

 traces of three different attempts at ornamenting it. 



First, a series of impressions of a circular punch was made on the concave 

 surface. These do not appear to have been arranged in any order or pattern. 

 After having been made, they were all hammered out again. 



