| Liminality along the limes |
Figure 3. The excavation drawings of the west profile, and level six and seven. The red dots mark the find spot of the mask( upper left: west profile; upper right: level seven; below: level six). One square is equal to 20 centimetres( After Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken).
all these potentially reusable metal finds would have been discarded or lost.
Description of the Matilo mask The Matilo mask is made of bronze that was hammered and chased into a face with a Hellenistic masculine expression and hairdo( Hazenberg 1997, 38-39). There are holes on the sides of the face beneath the slightly protruding ears, in the eyes, mouth and nose( fig. 2). A hinge is located in the middle of the helmet.
The morphological features of the face and hairdo of the mask point towards the Alexander type and only a few of these masks have been found( Hazenberg 1997, 38-39). Using Robinson’ s typology the mask can be characterized as a type D parade helmet, which dates to the first and second century CE( Robinson 1975, 118).
Lastly, the hinge of the mask was broken( fig. 2), indicating that the mask was broken from its helmet, but it is unclear if this happened before
or after deposition.
Build-up of the Corbulo channel at the findlocation The find spot of the mask in the Corbulo channel is situated between the vicus and castellum, near a revetment and a bridge( fig. 1). The mask was found in the lowest and oldest fill of the channel( in trench three of the 1996 excavation), which was interpreted as‘ stirred’ soil( fig. 3; Van Enckevort and Hazenberg 1997, 38). Based on the ceramic and metal finds the mask layer can be dated between 75 and 150 CE, coinciding with the previously mentioned date of the mask( De Rijk 2015, 41). This mask layer constituted level six and seven in the excavation( fig. 3). It is possible that the mask ended up there as a result of erosion, before the dump layer that
2016 | INTER-SECTION | VOL II | p. 17