English: A complete copper alloy cosmetic pestle in very good condition. Measuring 51.6mm in length, c6.5 in width and c6.5mm thick at its thickest point. The shaft of this pestle has a swollen centre, one terminal tapers to a point and the other terminates in an end loop. This loop measures 15mm externally and 8mm internally and terminates with a small scroll-like knop which touches the underside of the shaft. The pestle has a central longitudinal ridge running from its tip to the scroll-like terminal of the end loop. Along the loop the ridge is further decorated with small transverse grooves which may originally have occurred along the total length of the shaft but have now worn away.

This pestle would have been used with a crescent-shaped mortar with a central longitudinal groove to grind up small quantities of powder or cosmetics. These cosmetic sets are only found in Britain during the late Iron Age and early Roman period. They have clear associations with fertility owing to their shape and the occurrence of animals' heads, often a bull and a cow, at the terminals of some mortars. Pestles with end loops like this example have been found at Thorndon, Suffolk (see SF-B36C81) Willingale, Essesx (see SF-73D380).