SOM-12CF71: Early Medieval decorated pin head

Rights Holder: Somerset County Council
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PIN

Unique ID: SOM-12CF71

Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow status: Awaiting validation Find awaiting validation

A Early Medieval copper alloy pin head, dating to c. AD 720-900. The pin head is of a flattened globular shape, sub-circular in plan and slightly lozenge shaped in profile. It has been decorated by a series of deeply incised lines radiating from the apex and curving round to the right on the lower half. Below the pin head is an oval collar with the shaft breaking at a worn break immediately below, what little of the shaft remains is circular in cross section.

Length: 11.2mm, Diameter of head: 8.8mm, Diameter of shaft: 2.4mm, Thickness of Collar: 2.9mm, Width of collar: 4.0mm, Weight: 2.11g.

Griffiths, Philpott & Egan (2007: 74, nos. 368 & 369) illustrate a pair of comparible examples, which they date to the middle to late Anglo-Saxon period. This dating is based on comparison with examples excavated from Hamwic (Southampton) illustrated by Hinton (1996, 16). They fall into his Type Ab, with 'wrythen-decorated spherical heads'. Due to the presence of the collar they can be further classified as Hinton's Type Ab2, though one cannot take the classification any further due to the absence of the shaft.

Subsequent actions

Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology

Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 720
Date to: Circa AD 900

Dimensions and weight

Quantity: 1
Length: 11.2 mm
Weight: 2.11 g
Diameter: 8.8 mm

Discovery dates

Date(s) of discovery: Thursday 2nd February 2017 - Friday 1st July 2016

Personal details

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Other reference numbers

Other reference: SCC receipt: 017336

Materials and construction

Primary material: Copper alloy
Completeness: Fragment

Spatial metadata

Region: South West (European Region)
County or Unitary authority: Dorset (County)
District: North Dorset (District)
To be known as: Spetisbury CP

Spatial coordinates


Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.

References cited

Author Publication Year Title Publication Place Publisher Pages Reference
Griffiths, D., Philpott. R. and Egan, G. 2007 Meols: The Archaeology of the North West Wirral Coast Oxford Oxford University School of Archaeology
Hinton, D.A. 1996 Southampton Finds: The Gold, Silver and Other Non-Ferrous Alloy Objects From Hamwic, and the Non-Ferrous Metalworking Evidence Stroud Sutton Publishing Ltd 16 Ab2

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Timeline of associated dates

Audit data

Recording Institution: SOM
Created: 7 years ago
Updated: 2 years ago

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