This is a stave-built Iron Age tankard with copper alloy fittings. It form part if the Oakley hoard, a group of objects found on an archaeological site in Oakley, excavated by the Basingstoke Archaeological and Historical Society in 2017.
The body of the tankard comprises three copper alloy bands, which would originally have surrounded a stave-built wooden vessel. Remains of some of the staves survive. The top widths of the sheet metal bands varies between 17-19mm. The three sheet metal bands are less than 1mm in thickness and the upper and lower edges are curved forwards to form a beaded rim. The bands have irregular edges due to corrosion. The bands are apparently undecorated. The tankard handle is a C-shaped loop, affixed on one side between the top and bottom of the middle band. It is relatively plain, with a pair of parallel incised lines running down the length of the outside. Both long edges have a thickened rim. The handle measures 6.9mm wide and 2.8mm thick. Two copper alloy rivets are visible on the interior of the vessel on the opposite side to the handle. Julia Farley commented that this handle is a Horn Type 1 (Horn 2015). Similar examples from dated contexts generally fall around 75-10 BC.
