A woman has discovered an ancient silver Roman #pnis pendant, on a farm in Kent, UK.
Wendy Thompson, a metal detectorist discovered the phallic amulet, which is the only second silver amulet to be found in the UK from the Roman era and with a unique design.
The silver #pnis, 1.2 inches long (31mm) and weighing just 0.3 ounces (9.7 grams) is thought to date back to between 43AD and 410AD and after an inquest at County Hall in Maidstone on May 26, it was classified as treasure.
Coroner Roger Hatch described the item, detailing its ‘foreskin, shaft and pubes’, before reading a short report from the British Museum.
The report said it was hard to narrow down an exact date for the pendant but the phallic nature of it ‘points to the Roman era’.
Wendy, 73, a retired estate agent, said:
‘It was only a tiny thing really. We were just as normal, covering a field up and down with a metal detector.
‘I turned over this spade of earth and there it was, about eight inches down, I guess.
‘I thought it was about 2,000 years old and it was.’
Phallic imagery was commonly expressed in Roman art and the #pnis was seen as a sign of power and virility.
Soldiers would often wear fist-and-phallus amulets for luck in battle and parents would wear their children #pnis-shaped pendants to protect them from the evil eye.
