File:Post-medieval iron bowl, possibly associated with witch craft, in situ (FindID 121047).jpg

English: A large iron bowl measuring 300mm in diameter with walls of 50mm high, and suffering from corrosion. Embedded within the corrosion are pebbles and rocks, and what appears to be part of a ceramic tile or drainage pipe. Some of these large, post-depositional inclusions maintain the integrity of the bowl's current outline. Within the bowl 11 small copper-alloy pins and pin fragments were found, along with an iron stud, pin, tack and possible nail. X-rays have revealed that at least 10 other pins remain hidden within the corrosion. A bone handle juts out on the bowl's wall at one side, and the X-ray reveals the tanged blade of a tool (probably a knife) attached to the handle. The stones have hampered the penetration of the X-rays, so there may be more small artefacts within the corrosion layer that have yet to be discovered.

The pins retrieved from the bowl are all of a similar type with wound-wire heads. They range in size from 28.5mm long and 0.7mm thick to 17.8mm long and 0.5mm thick. The bowl was discovered in a waterlogged context and as a result many of the pins retain their original brassy colour. On the basis of the pins a post-medieval date can be suggested; closer dating is problematic as such pins were in use from at least the 16th until the 19th centuries.

Interestingly, 8 of the complete extracted copper-alloy pins, the iron nail and iron pin are bent, some to a greater degree than others. The use of bent pins (often alongside human hair and bodily fluids) placed within ceramic 'witch bottles' in the post-medieval period is well attested (see for example www.archaeology.co.uk/ca/timeline/postmed/witch/witch.htm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/3437241.stm). These bottles were used as protection against witches. They are normally found hidden within structures, usually within walls or behind the hearths of houses, whereas this bowl was found within a shallow stream. Furthermore, witch bottles have a tendency to be made from pottery or glass, rather than metal. It is quite possible however that a wide variety of containers were used in the prevention of witchcraft, and it is more likely to have been their contents than their material that were considered important in warding off malign magic. It is equally possible that witchcraft may have been applied in open areas as well as within buildings. This bowl may have been intended to prevent the curses or spells of a witch from crossing to the other side of the stream in which it was found.

With such an artefact, such theories can only be tentative, and there is also the possibility that the bowl was simply being used as a scrap box for odds and ends. However, this does not explain its deposition in the river. For this reason, along with the presence of bent pins and nails, an antidote to witchcraft seems a plausible theory.