Witham Shield

The Witham Shield is an example of the style of Celtic art known as La Tène. The bronze facings show evidence of having been reworked. The most noticeable feature is the central dome which would have been required for functional reasons as it allowed the owner to hold the shield close to its centre of gravity. Originally a leather silhouette of a long legged wild boar would have been riveted to the shield around the central dome, as indicated by small rivet holes and staining of the shield. The shield also has a number of birds and animals incorporated into the design. The roundels at each end are inspired by the heads of birds, which are supported by horses with wings for ears. Birds similar to crested grebes are engraved on the central spine and this completes the engraving work elsewhere.

The shield was made principally from wood, now perished, to a design later known as a "Gaulish Shield" that originated in the seventh century BC.

The shield has been described as a "tour de force" of beaten bronze work. There are no other complete bronze facings that survive in Europe. This is partially due to their rarity, as Celtic shields were normally constructed from unsheathed wood. The idea of covering a shield with bronze may indicate Greek and Etruscan influence. The shield was purchased by Augustus Franks, an independently wealthy antiquarian who worked for the British Museum. In 1872 Franks presented the shield to the British Museum, one of over 20,000 objects that he donated to the museum during his lifetime or by bequest at his death. [Witham Shield BM registration number 1872,1213.1]

An unusual triple headed dress pin was also found in 1826. This pin set was also found in the River Witham near Fiskerton. This is described as the only surviving set of triple dress pins and has been dated as 8th century and Anglo Saxon. The pin set is also held in the British Museum. In the 20th century a series of posts were found together with an early to mid Iron Age sword when a dyke was being cleaned near Fiskerton, near where the Witham Shield had been found. Excavations in 1981 revealed the posts to be a wooden causeway which dendrochronologists dated to a period between 457 and 300 BC. It appeared to have been repaired and added to every eighteen years or so during that period, even though the construction and maintenance of a walkway on such a scale at that time would have been a major feat of engineering. Hundreds of artifacts were also found around the causeway, including eleven spears, six swords, woodworking and metalworking tools, as well as part of a human skull which had a crescent shaped chop mark, probably inflicted by a sword; this injury is unlikely to have killed the man. Twenty years later, during further excavations at the site, more sections of the causeway were dug out, some of them containing posts several metres long, plus a complete spear, a currency bar, a sword, a dagger and some bronze fittings, all of which appeared to have been deliberately damaged before their burial. The most important discovery was two Iron Age votive boats. One of these boats, as well as other artifacts from the site, can be seen at The Collection in Lincoln. The area around the site of the causeway was opened as a nature reserve managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust in 2006.