Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
CC License:
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Unique ID: SOM-BC2F7B
Object type certainty: Certain
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status: Awaiting validation
Roman copper alloy strip bow brooch, of Maiden Castle type, dating to the Late Iron Age (starting in the lasy quarter of the first century BC but mainly AD 25-50); it is missing its pin and part of the catchplate.
The brooch is formed of a single strip of copper alloy with a rolled over head and plain foot. It has a plain, simple head which is angled back at 60 degrees from the bow. The upper edge of the head is rolled backwards underneath the rest of the head, although has now partially unrolled, and has a slot through the centre which extends into the rest of the head. The rolled section is stepped out in width from the rest of the head, 9.9mm wide compared to 8.3mm. This rolled section previously held an axis bar on which the pin hinged in the slot, now both missing.
The bow is broadly flat along its length and 0.9mm thick, narrowing slightly from 7.7mm wide at the top to 5.9mm wide at the foot. There is no separtate foot, the strip simply ends ina semi-circular shape. The bow is decorated with slightly raised ribs running down the entire length from the plain head to the end. There is a pair of narrow ribs in the centre, flanked by broader ribs and then very narrow ribs runnign down the outer edges. The catchplate on the back runs down the centre of the lower third of the bow to the foot end. It appears to have a curved upper edge and straight lower edge but the bent over outer edge which would have held the pin is missing.
The entire brooch is 53.2mm long, 7.9mm thick including the head and weighs 2.77 grams.
Bayley and Butcher (2004, 154) suggest these brooches are of British origin with a distribution concentrated around south central England. This variety, T17, with the very thin bow ending in a plain rounded end rather than a narrowed foot is known as the Maiden Castle type and echos the design of Langton Down brooches. Bayley and Butcher (ibid) suggest this type is usually bronze, in the local rather than the continental tradition of brass, and probably pre-conquest in date.
Class:
Strip bow
Sub class: Maiden castle type
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: IRON AGE
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: IRON AGE
Date from: Circa 25 BC
Date to: Circa AD 50
Quantity: 1
Length: 53.2 mm
Width: 9.9 mm
Thickness: 7.9 mm
Weight: 2.77 g
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Other reference: SCC receipt 16725
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bayley, J. and Butcher, S. | 2004 | Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection | London | The Society of Antiquaries |