Unidentified object - possibly a bow-puller or amulet

Collection type: Object
Description: Unidentified object - possibly a bow-puller or amulet
Geographical reference: Italy
Europe > Southern Europe > Italy; Unknown
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Archaeological period: Iron Age Etruscan
Date collected: By 1884
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Bronze Metal, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Process Moulded
Dimensions: Depth 23 mm, Width 44 mm, Length: max 61 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.119.447
Research and responses: These 'bow pullers' were examined by Lucy Shipley as part of the Fell funded project Characterizing the World Archaeology collections. She noted that McDaniel (1918) suggested that rather than performing a practical function as their name suggests, these small objects, consisting of two holes with a small plate between them from which protrudes three spikes, varying in length and sharpness, were used as charms to protect the wearer and more particularly their horses. While no further research has investigated these enigmatic objects further, their use as amulets would appear to be supported somewhat by the animal faces inscribed upon the opposing side of the plate to the spikes. See McDaniel, W.B. 1918: The so-called bow-puller of antiquity. American Journal of Archaeology 22(1), 35–43. [AS 04/11/2010]