BROOCH

An incomplete copper-alloy one-piece brooch of 'Nauheim derivative' La Tene III type of the Late Iron Age or early Roman period, dating from c. AD 25 - c. AD 100.

Around 75% of the brooch is present,with the spring, bow and catch plate present. The pin is missing, presumed lost in antiquity.

The brooch has a head with an internal chord which passes underneath the incomplete bilateral four-coil spring. One of which forms the pin, now missing. The brooch body is rectangular in plan and square in section, and has a slightly arched profile similar to many brooches of this type. The body tapers into a narrow undecorated foot. It retains its unperforated catchplate, which is incomplete, the curved outer edge which would have held the pin, is partially missing, only the bottom remains. The bow is decorated with a central vertical groove.

It measures 43.3 mm in length and has a maximum width at the head of 8.6 mm, and 12.7 mm thick. It weighs 1.7 g

The brooch is a medium green colour with an even surface patina. Abrasion caused by movement whilst within the plough soil may have resulted in the loss of some of the original surface detail.

Nauheim derivative brooches are common in Britain during the Roman period and were probably manufactured in Britain as well as the Continent. Similar examples have been recorded in Bayley and Butcher (2004), page 54, Fig. 37, and these have been dated to the 1st century AD. Similar examples have also been recorded on the databased including SUSS-A6BD93, SUSS-8BD923, IOW-CCFD5A and WMID-970A76.

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.