East Riding Museums

Find RF18, an iron sword in a copper alloy scabbard. The scabbard is straight ended, the front plate being decorated with repousse work - a lyre-like motif at the top and a running figure of 8 extending to the lower end. The back plate has a long rib with repousse decoration, which is attached by copper alloy studs. There is a simple rounded chape with two side projections. The hilt guard is made of ivory and the ridged grip is perhaps of bone. Context 1003. Part of the South Cave Weapons Cache of 5 late Iron Age swords/scabbards and 33 iron spearheads, found by metal detectorists in September 2002. The site was subsequently excavated by Humber Field Archaeology and York Archaeological Trust. The cache was buried in a pit, dug into a pre-existing boundary ditch of a late Iron age/early Romano-British settlement. The finds date to about 70AD.