The Battersea Shield, is a significant pieces of ancient Celtic art found in Britain. It is a sheet bronze covering of a (now vanished) wooden shield, decorated in La Tene style. dated to c.350-50 BC, though later dates up to the early 1st century AD have previously been suggested. Found in the River Thames in London in 1857, during excavations for the predecessor of Chelsea Bridge; it is now thought that the shield was a votive offering, which probably predates the Roman invasion.