Rights Holder: Oxfordshire County Council
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BROOCH
Unique ID: BERK-CFC481
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A worn cast copper alloy fragment of the bow of an Anglo-Saxon great square-headed brooch. The bow fragment is has an arched upper section with three raised ribs; beneath this is a worn triangular section that depicts the face of a fantastical creature with pronounced eyebrows, eyes and cheek bones and a curled snout; either side of this beast lines radiate out to the edge. The reverse is worn and pitted with corrosion; there appears to be the remains of two ridges, possibly part of a catchplate or the attachment for the rest of the brooch. This fragment is too small to be able to ascertain what class (or Hines' Type) of great-square headed brooch it belongs to. Dr Kevin Leahy comments that the 'face on this fragment seems to be one of the nicest examples' of this style of decoration which appears on a number of these brooches. Dr Leahy suggests a date of c. AD 520-570.
Class: great square headed
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 520
Date to: Circa AD 570
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 35.37 mm
Width: 28.67 mm
Thickness: 7.29 mm
Weight: 20.8 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 1st September 2013 - Friday 11th October 2013
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: 2013.323
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Fragment
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Oxfordshire (County)
District: South Oxfordshire (District)
Parish or ward: Drayton St. Leonard (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU5997
Four figure Latitude: 51.66868621
Four figure longitude: -1.1482748
1:25K map: SU5997
1:10K map: SU59NE
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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