A detectorist has recently donated a really interesting find to National Museums Liverpool. It was found in the Hale area of Cheshire which is just outside Liverpool. It’s locality makes it more important as north of the River Mersey finds are not abundant- especially finds as nice as this one. This find will hopefully go into the new Museum of Liverpool which is planned to open in 2010

The find is a face mount, from furniture or a vessel. It is Roman in date but has Celtic influences in it’s design. It is recorded on the database as LVPL-1DBDD5. It is a female face, representing Medusa, one of the Gorgons, and the only one who was mortal. Her gaze could turn whoever she looked upon to stone. There is a particular myth in which Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden. She desecrated Athena’s temple by lying there with Poseidon. Outraged, Athena turned Medusa’s hair into living snakes. Medusa is represented as a fierce female nearly always with a frontal rather than a profile head. She was often used as an apotropaic amulet.