Phallus fingernail cleaner found in Gloucestershire

Of the many, many, MANY Roman phallus finds I’ve written about over the years, this is a first: a Roman nail cleaner on one end and a phallus on the other. It was discovered near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, during a preventative archaeology excavation ahead of improvements to the M5 highway junction.

The fingernail cleaner has a flat blade, rectangular in cross-section, with a groove running down the center of its full length that opens to a double-pronged terminal. The forked end was used to clean under fingernails. The top of the blade is mounted to the base of the phallus, welcomed by a pair of spherical testicles. The shaft the phallus tapers in slightly from the wider base, then widens again at the glans. A hanging loop is mounted on the top side of the phallus about midway down the shaft.

This type of cleaner dates to around 300-400 A.D. and examples of them have been found in Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. None of them had a phallus attached however, which makes this tool perform a double function. It’s both a fingernail cleaner and a talisman that protects the wearer. In Roman culture, phalluses were believed to hold apotropaic powers: the power to ward off evil, curses and bad luck.

A second notable late Roman artifact was unearthed near the phallic manicure tool: a copper alloy belt buckle. A long rectangular plate of sheet metal was bent around the flat part of a D-shaped buckle and riveted together at the ends with two rivets. This design allows the buckle to rotate in the looped plate and move comfortably when worn.

The plate is decorated with a border of overlapping dots to create what looks like a straight line. Open circles with dots in the center are stamped all along the border lines. The center of the plate is stamped with the same circle and dot motif, but this time they’re placed in rows of two and three and connected with straight lines. This gives it a foliate, vine-line look. The apex of the curved side of the D is also stamped with circle and dots and a lozenge shape.

* This article was originally published here