BROOCH

Late Iron Age to Roman copper alloy penannular brooch of Fowler's (1960)[1] Type D1, of 1^st century BC to 4^th century AD date

The brooch is near-complete missing the pin shaft but with the loop (with a weight of 2.9g). The ring oval (26.5mm wide and 23.8mm long) and is of near-circular section (1.9mm - 2.2mm diameter). The ring is not decorated. The terminals are folded (with a return length of 4.3mm and a depth of 4.6mm) and each terminal is decorated with two vertical grooves. The pin loop (4.7mm wide and 3.7mm deep) is of flat section and the loop is closed, overlapping at its top. The pin is able to move along the ring, to each terminal. After the loop, the pin is of D-shaped section for the short length (8.0mm surviving length, 1.7mm wide and 0.8mm thick) before the break. The surface has a very dark-green brown patina with some brown corrosion.

The folded-back terminals, decorated with incised lines define the penannular as of Fowler's Type D1 (Fowler, 1960, p 152). Fowler states that her Type D brooches become current in the late 1^st century BC to early 1^st century AD (Fowler, 1960, p 167) but appear to continue through the Roman period and Crummy (1983, p 19)[2] has suggested that there may have been a resurgence of interest in the form during the late Roman period. The brooch can be closely paralleled in with an example published by Hattatt (1987, no. 1289, pp 298)[3] recovered from Lechlade, also in Gloucestershire. Hattatt states that the type corresponds with Hull's type P.4 and gives the Lechlade brooch a probable 1^st century AD date.

[1] Fowler, E., 1960; The Origins and Development of the Penannular Brooch in Europe; Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society XXVI, pp 149-177

[2] Crummy, N., 1983, The Roman Small Finds from Excavations in Colchester 1971-9; Colchester Archaeological Report 2

[3] Hattatt, R.; 1987; Brooches of Antiquity