LONDON, ENGLAND—ZME Science reports that a metal detectorist recovered a four-inch copper-alloy carriage ornament in Essex. The figure, now an oxidized green, shows a panther—a Roman symbol of power, civilization, and Bacchus, the god of wine—with a front paw resting on a severed human head, representing the defeat of local Iron Age Britons. “There’s nothing quite like it in Romano-Britain,” said John Pearce of King’s College London. Researchers think the artifact once adorned the carriage of a wealthy farmer or merchant, and fell off as it traveled over a bumpy road. The object is being conserved and housed at the British Museum. To read about the only four-wheeled chariot that has been discovered in the Roman world, go to "A Ride Through the Countryside."
