EARLY MEDIEVAL BROOCH

450

An incomplete cast copper-alloy long brooch of Anglo-Saxon/Early-Medieval date. Only the headplate, part of the bow and pin lug survive intact, the remainder of the brooch now missing due to old breaks. The head is flat, D-shaped in form and with a single central punched ring and dot motif. To one side of the headplate is a single semi-circular knop with single punched ring and dot motif, the opposite side of the plate probably originally having a similar knop that is now missing due to old breaks. At the top of the headplate is a third projecting knop, which is trefoil shaped in form and has a punched ring and dot motif in each of the three lobes. At the base of the headplate projects the top of the integrally cast bow, which is flat, semi-circular in form and terminates in old breaks just below the headplate, its precise form uncertain. On the back face of the headplate is an incomplete double pin lug with circular apertures. At the centre of he lug is an area of corroded iron, probably the remains of a separately cast iron axes bar and perhaps part of the pin. The entire object has a worn green patina with traces of corrosive copper-alloy products on all surfaces and iron staining on the back face. It measures 25.74mm in length, 21.27mm in surviving width at headplate, 9.40mm in width at bow, 1.92mm in thickness and weighs 4.50g.This is the headplate from an incomplete brooch of Anglo-Saxon/Early-Medieval date. Several similar brooches with small D-shaped headplate and three radiating knops have been recorded through the PAS database, mostly from the south and east of England (for brooches of similar form see for example KENT-09C753, KENT4442; KENT3392; HAMP-A1E871; IOW-E94E22; IOW-25CA93; BUC-060D95; for brooches with similar decorative elements on the headplate see for example KENT-99C868 and BH-58CFE4). Two further examples are noted from Suffolk (SF-1A7C75 and West, 1998: no. 19.19). Due to the semi-circular heaplates of these brooches they have been termed miniature radiate-headed brooches. These appear to be a typically south and south-eastern development with an excavated parallel known from Bifrons (Kent) grave 16 (S. Hawkes 2000, 'The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery of Bifrons, in the Parish of Patrixbourne, East Kent' in Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 11, 1-94). However, their precise origin, whether as an insular Anglo-Saxon or continental development requires further study. It is possible that the current example is of a similar form, although this is uncertain due to its state of preservation and it may equally be the hadplate from a small-long or similar brooch. It is likely to date to the 5th or 6th centuries AD.