Sculpture, carved head

Small head, crudely carved from chalk. The cult of the human head, beginning as early as the Bronze Age, continued through to the Roman period when ceramic vessels with faces indicate the mingling of pre-Roman and classical beliefs.

The head was found lying face up at low tide on the Thames foreshore at Battersea, upstream of Chelsea Bridge, in 1993. It may have been thrown into the river as an offering, reflecting the belief in the power of the head that is still held in many societies today.