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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Jonathan Jones

Battlefield chic: the Witham Shield

Witham Shield
This shield, made in 400 to 300BC and now in the collection of the British Museum, was once wielded by a Celtic warrior who must have looked very stylish going into battle. When it was found in 1826 in the river Witham near Lincoln, it had the image of a wild boar on it in leather. This has since rotted away, but the shield still has a wonderful design of lines and swirling hubs running down its length. Its sinuous pattern is archetypally Celtic and resembles the curling decorations of Ireland’s Book of Kells, made many centuries later
Illustration: Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
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