BROOCH

A fragment of a copper alloy Roman bow brooch, dating to circa AD 43-75. Only part of the bow survives, the cross bar and lower part of the bow with the foot and catch plate together with the pin are missing.

The surviving part of the bow is broadly triangular in plan. The upper edge has a small oval shaped projection, this is the point where it would have attached to the wings. The bow tapers to a broken and bent lower terminal. The front face is decorated with four vertical ribs in light relief with incised lines in between. The two outer ribs are straight and the two inner ribs are formed from a wavy line. The reverse is undecorated. The brooch fragment has a green coloured patina. The fragment has been bent and distorted presumably in the plough soil. The thin plate, form and decoration suggest that the fragment probably comes from a late 1st century AD type likely to be a Hod Hill or possibly Aucissa.

There are other brooches recorded on the PAS database with similar form and decoration; (DOR-50EB8B) discovered in Dorset and (LVPL-ED29AE) discovered in Lincolnshire. Similar decoration can be seen on Hod Hill examples illustrated by Bayley and Butcher (2004) notably No's 102 and 105 on page 71.

The fragment measures 20.38mm in length, 6.04mm in width, 1.05mm in thickness and weighs 2.3g.

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.