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PIN
Unique ID: HESH-639EF4
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A complete worked bone hair pin, of mid Roman dating (43 AD to 410 AD).
The head of the pin is flat. The pin tapers in size from the top down to the point. Due to the degree of working, it is hard to identify what type of animal the bone has originally come from, but probably it was fashioned from a metapodial (lower leg) of a cow or sheep sized animal.
The pin measures 95.74mm in length, head diameter is 6.84mm. It weighs 2.5 grams.
Bone pins, like those made from copper alloy, jet or glass, are commonly thought to have functioned predominately as hair pins during the Roman period, with some female hairstyles requiring multiple pins to hold the hair in place. Other uses for bone pins have included clothing fasteners.
Class: hair
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 43
Date to: Circa AD 410
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 95.74 mm
Weight: 2.5 g
Diameter: 6.84 mm
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Primary material: Animal skeletal material
Manufacture method: Hand made
Completeness: Incomplete
Spatial metadata
Region: West Midlands (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Shropshire (Unitary Authority)
District: Shropshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Wroxeter and Uppington (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SJ5608
Four figure Latitude: 52.667915
Four figure longitude: -2.652075
1:25K map: SJ5608
1:10K map: SJ50NE
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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