BROOCH

An Iron Age cast copper alloy brooch. The brooch has the remains of side lugs either side of the bow with a pointed
oval decoration of incised lines on the bow. The brooch has a perforated head, diameter 2.26mm, in the centre and small wings either side, with a semi circular curve inwards. At the base of the brooch there is the remains of the catchplate.
The brooch measures 49.71mm in length and 24.44mm across the width of the bow. The small wings at the top of the brooch measure 17.6mm in width and the brooch weighs 15.4g in total.


SOHAM RALLY: 11


Justine Bayley has commented:
A parallel for this brooch is probably Hattatt No 720 on p.287. The foot and perforated head are similar though the bow is far narrower.

Most Iron Age brooches have a one-piece construction with few, large coils between the bow and pin. However, some do have a single lug behind the head that presumably served to attach the pin. On this example the fine relief detail on the bow looks more Roman to me though I agree the way the catchplate is made looks more Iron Age than Roman. The design might be a representation of a vulva?

Sophia Adams has further commented:
Middle Iron Age plate form brooches are becoming a more common find. These tend to have a double lug under the head of the bow (cast as one with the rest of the brooch) through which a narrow rod is inserted and hammered out at each end. The looped head of the brooch pin then pivots on this rod. So the construction would fit an Iron Age date. As Justine says, the catchplate is in keeping with an Iron Age date. The overall shape is a problem. Arched and hollowed bows like this are found on some earlier Iron Age brooches (i.e. the Hallstatt/La Tene I Group L brooches such as SUSS-9A8068). However the way it forms a ridge down both ends and the shape of the head plate are unparalled in known Iron Age examples.

The indented elliptical decoration would not be out of place on an Iron Age brooch. So this brooch has early and middle La Tene features but some unusual features too. Another comparison for this brooch could be this example from Norfolk, NMS-505A53.