The Iron Age Shield... that's made of bark? The Enderby Shield | Curator's Corner S8 Ep7

In 2015, what we knew about Iron Age shields all changed. And it changed in a field in Leicester...

Iron Age Curator Sophia Adams explains the construction of the first shield made of tree bark ever discovered in the Northern Hemisphere - how it was built, how it was used and how it changes what we know about shields of the time.

It's 2,200 years old. And it's an object you can really get behind.

Content Warning: Contains wholesome depictions of Iron Age woodworking

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:12 Where the shield was discovered
02:02 The Boss shows this was a shield
02:25 Harvesting & working willow bark
04:05 Reinforcing laths
05:07 The basketry boss
05:34 The hazel rim
06:26 Lime bast stitching
07:30 The poplar handle
07:52 Extra features
08:17 Decoration
09:05 Dating the shield
09:30 Looking at the original boss
10:36 Damage to the original
12:25 Original basketry
12:55 What this shield tells us
14:50 Outro

Acknowledgements:
This shield project was made possible by the inspiration and knowledge of Matthew Beamish and the skills and dedication of a team of field archaeologists, experimental archaeologists, independent specialists, conservators and scientists from The British Museum, University of Leicester Archaeological Services https://le.ac.uk/ulas, SUERC and York Archaeological Trust; including Caroline Cartwright and Barbara Wills (BM); Matthew Beamish, Adam Clapton and Roger Kipling (ULAS); Diederik Pomstra, Paul Windridge and Michael Bamforth.

With thanks to Everards of Leicestershire and Mike Winterton and family.

#curatorscorner #ironage