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Caption

  • Close-up on the face of a carved wooden human figure.
  • A carved wooden human figure viewed from the front.
  • A carved wooden human figure viewed from the back.

Kingsteignton figure

420–350 BC

Wood

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Description

Quarrymen discovered the Kingsteignton figure by chance in 1867. They were digging for clay near Kingsteignton and discovered this small carved figure. It is only due to the conditions of the clay that the figure survived.

The age of the object was originally unknown. Following radiocarbon dating in the 1980s, the figure was dated to between 420 and 350 BC. It is an Iron Age object around 2,400 years old.

Not a lot is known about Iron Age woodworking, which makes this an incredibly rare and important object. There are only six other finds of this type known in Britain.

While we do not know exactly what it was used for, it may have been a religious idol, a gift to the gods or even a child’s toy.

Visual description: The figure is a wooden sculpture in the shape of a human. It is narrow with a long torso and a long neck. The legs are disproportionately short and there are no arms. The face has eye and nose details carved into it. The wood is worn and cracked, showing the object’s age.

RAMM Treasures Trail - Object 15 - Kingsteignton Figure

Learn about the 15th object in our RAMM Treasures of the Museum trail, the Kingsteignton figure.

Treasures of the Museum: Kingsteignton Figure

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Transcript

Julien Parsons: My name is Julien Parsons. I'm Head of Collections at RAMM.

In the Prehistory collection at RAMM, there's one special item that I particularly love, and it's the Kingsteignton figure.

There are only a handful of these wooden figures known from the whole of Britain, so to find one in Devon, where there aren't any similar objects, was a truly fantastic discovery. And I think it's the story of the discovery which is almost as exciting and interesting as the object itself.

The Kingsteignton figure was discovered in 1867, but not by archaeologists. It was actually discovered by quarrymen. They were digging for clay near to Kingsteignton and they came across this small carved figure. It's because of the wet conditions of the clay that this object has survived.

We weren't exactly sure how old the Kingsteignton figure was, and it was only through radiocarbon dating in the 1980s that we got a precise date for it. So we know it was made between 420 and 350 BC, which makes it an Iron Age object about 2,400 years old. So it's a truly incredible find.

It stands as a kind of testimony to a whole wealth of prehistoric life that we know nothing about. We don't know anything, really, about their woodworking skills, their basketry, their leatherwork. We know that wooden figures like this, or objects, are often deposited as ritual offerings, you know. So was this a ritual offering in the Iron Age?

There are some things that we do know about the Kingsteignton figure, but there's so much that we don't know and possibly we'll never know about the figure. I think that's what makes it really attractive and something that people should see.

Credits

Watch RAMM staff and volunteers tell us why they love each of the 16 objects, and hear the fascinating stories that make these items so special.

Additional Information

Dimensions
60 x 60 x 300 mm
Accession Number
L94

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