An incomplete, flask shaped ampulla made of lead dating to the late Medieval period, around AD 1350 to 1500. These objects are believed to have been used to transport holy liquid from pilgrim sites. The ampulla, found in the River Wear, has a rounded body that extends upwards into the neck and diverges outwards towards the top. One handle on the side of the neck is intact and the remains of a second handle is visible on the other side of the neck. The obverse side of the ampulla is rounded and there are no visible decorations remaining. A relief decoration of a small equal-armed cross within a circle is visible under raking light on the reverse, flat side of the body of the object.These are normally associated with Christian cross symbology. An incomplete, flask shaped ampulla made of lead dating to the late Medieval period, around AD 1350 to 1500. These objects are believed to have been used to transport holy liquid from pilgrim sites. The ampulla, found in the River Wear, has a rounded body that extends upwards into the neck and diverges outwards towards the top. One handle on the side of the neck is intact and the remains of a second handle is visible on the other side of the neck. The obverse side of the ampulla is rounded and there are no visible decorations remaining. A relief decoration of a small equal-armed cross within a circle is visible under raking light on the reverse, flat side of the body of the object.These are normally associated with Christian cross symbology. Holy water bottles made of lead were often brought from pilgrimage places as a souvenir. There is some suggestion that they were used in agricultural blessing ceremonies with the contents sprinkled on the ground during prayers and then the ampulla discarded, alternatively they were buried with their contents (Anderson 2010,182-203). The object is being conserved/researched at Durham University as part of the Durham River Wear Assemblage Project A RDF representation of MAS-D100029 2017-02-28T09:58:52+00:00 2018-05-23T14:03:02+01:00 MAS-D100029 MAS-D100029 GB en-GB The Trustees of the British Museum The Trustees of the British Museum 1 The period from for the object http://purl.org/NET/Claros/vocab#Thumbnail Attribute as courtesy of the British Museum A thumbnail image of MAS-D100029 Durham University Lead Alloy Primary material of object Incomplete 22. Width 56. Length 64. Weight By Attribution 3.0 Attribute as courtesy of the British Museum A full resolution image of MAS-D100029 Classification of object