Carving of an animal in jet
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This well-carved fragment was found by Lady Aileen Fox during excavations in Bear Street in 1953. The head, neck and mane of an animal are represented, probably of a tiger or panther. The object from which it comes may have been a knife-handle. The material from which this is carved is almost certainly jet, a material which occurs naturally in Britain only around Whitby on the north Yorkshire coast. The piece illustrates the quite long-distance movement of specialist materials or objects.
Acknowledgments: RAM Museum