Iron shield grip with organic remains

Shield grip, length 15.3cm, but one end damaged. Short grip with divided (fish-tail) terminals, each with large disc-head rivet: hand grip has sides bent-up and incurved to contain a wooden bar. Wood remains with grain running lengthwise inside handle: at ends, remains of wood running transversely across grip, i.e. the wooden board of shield itself. Traces on handle part of cloth or leather thongs bound round and round, lying transversely on flanges.Textile analysed by Coatsworth & Fitzgerald 2001 as 'A length of Z-piled [anticlockwise] strip wrapped around on end of a shield grip. The textile is visible on either side of the grip' – D.H.