BROOCH

An Iron Age bow brooch fragment. It is the bow only, and is worn and corroded. The bow is hollowed at the back, giving a domed, oval shape. It tapers to both its terminals, which are incomplete due to old breaks. One of these is flat and is likely to have held the catchplate. The opposite end has a stepped profile, at right angles to the bow, and its broken tip suggests the beginning of the coil of the pin now missing. There is the possibility of bands of linear decoration on the bow surface, but this may be a trick of the corrosion. The fragment measures 29.79mm in surviving length, 11.33mm in width and weighs 6.21g. No immediate parallels have been found from Hattatt, but the bow resembles that from no.721 dating from the late Hallstatt period, the fifth century BC. Hull and Hawkes 1987 illustrate two brooches, nos 3521 and 3521 bis, both Suffolk discoveries, which are appear to be similar to the Bedingfield example.