IRON AGE LINCH PIN

-100

An Iron Age cast copper-alloy linch pin terminal foot (c. 100 BC-c. AD 100).The exterior of the socket tapers to the terminal, where it curves forward and expands into a flat circular plate. The socketed part has a substantial collar an within the socket part of the iron pin survives. The face of the plate has a raised rim and at the centre is a recessed concave-sided triangle.The terminal has a patchy brown patina and is corroded in places. The iron pin is also corroded.Height: 48.02mm; maximum diameter (of collar): 17.99mm; diameter of circular plate: 17.68mm. Weight: 44.77g.Linch pin terminals date to the late Iron Age period, circa 100 BC to AD 50. Sometimes this type of terminal is known as a 'hoof' type terminal (Hutcheson, N. 2004 Later Iron Age Norfolk: Metalwork, landscape and society B.A.R. 361 p. 109). Hutcheson illustrates similar examples, No. 46, and dates these to c. 100 BC to c. AD 100. Some Yorkshire parallels can be seen in Stead 1991: 44-46. These examples were found in cemetery contexts in East Yorkshire. Similar linch pins have been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. See finds: LANCUM-E78098, NMS-6C94D8; NMS-FEA9C2, YORYM-095350,YORYM-B3FDA2, SF-AC9AD2, SWYOR-820823 and WAW-CEE943.The decoration on the circular plate of this Isle of Wight pin is similar to the decoration on finds: NMS-6C94D8 and NMS-FEA9C2.Linchpins were designed to hold a wheel on to a fixed axle. They have a long history in Iron Age Europe, but are a relatively late development in Britain. Common to late Iron Age metalwork in Britain, linchpins in this country develop their own distinctive decorative characteristics. The majority of linchpins comprise a copper alloy head and tip that are cast onto an iron bar, although a few 'all iron' examples are known.