brooch

An unusual Viking Age burial

An intriguing woman’s grave has been discovered in Bjugn, in Trøndelag County, Norway. Researchers were alerted to the burial by a metal-detectorist who came across an oval brooch of a style typical for the Viking Age and the centuries before.…

Finds Tray: Birdlip brooch

This Birdlip brooch was found by a metal-detectorist near Catterton in North Yorkshire this past June, and is believed to date between the late Iron Age and early Roman period. Birdlip, or Beaked Bow, brooches date from between 30 BC…

Finds Tray – Disc brooch

This is a cloissonné disc brooch dating from the late Anglo-Saxon period (c.AD 970-1100) and was recently found by a metal-detectorist on farmland near Winscombe and Sandford in North Somerset. While similar brooches have been found in other parts of…

Finds Tray – Bird brooch

This little bird, found by a metal-detectorist in Corhampton/Meonstoke, Hampshire, was once a brooch. Dating to the 6th century, it measures just 20mm long and 10mm wide, weighing 4.06g. The brooch was cast from copper alloy, after which its surface…

Finds Tray: Fibula brooch

This copper-alloy fibula brooch was found by a metal detectorist in 2019, near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and recently appeared as a star find in the Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report (see here). The brooch features a human face design or…

Finds Tray – Roman brooch 

This is a Roman brooch made of copper alloy and dating to c.AD 60-100. It was recently found by a metal-detectorist on cultivated land near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, and has been designated as a find of county or local importance.…

Finds Tray: Early medieval brooch

This is an early medieval brooch made from a gilded silver penny, which was found over a year ago by a metal-detectorist in Wiltshire. It was recently acquired by the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, after having been declared Treasure. The…

Finds tray – Roman lion brooch

This is a copper-alloy brooch that was discovered in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, in March. It dates to the later Roman period, sometime during the 3rd century AD. The body of the lion is composed of one long, narrow plate with…

Duck-shaped Roman lock component

Carrying on the ornithological theme from last issue’s ‘Finds Tray’, which profiled an early medieval brooch featuring a bird, this Roman lock component was cheerfully cast in the shape of a duck. The copper-alloy object was found last autumn near…

Early medieval disc brooch

Crafted from copper-alloy, this early medieval disc brooch features a bird holding a branch (outlined above by Peter Reavill, Finds Liaison Officer for Shropshire and Hereford). The item is thought to date to between c.AD 800 and c.AD 1000, and…

Finds tray – dragonesque Roman brooch

While these types of brooch first appeared in Britain shortly after the Roman conquest in AD 43, they clearly include aspects of Celtic design, and this is reflected in the fact that many have been discovered near the northern frontier of the Roman Empire – the point where Roman and Celtic cultures converged.

IMAGE: National Museums Liverpool

Finds tray – Roman mount

This is a Roman mount made of copper alloy and probably dating to between AD 200 and 300. It was discovered by a metal-detectorist near Doulting in Somerset and recently remotely recorded for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The mount is…

A wealth of Viking finds

Dated to c.AD 950 on stylistic grounds, the hoard contains three significant pieces of jewellery deposited in a single event, possibly by a wealthy individual.

Above More than 17 roundhouses were uncovered within a defensive enclosure at Cressing, near Braintree in Essex.

Evidence of Roman reprisals in Essex?

A recently revealed Iron Age settlement in Cressing, near Braintree in Essex, appears to have been almost completely destroyed during the second half of the 1st century AD. Dating to around the time of the Boudican uprising of AD 60/61,…

OPPOSITE Testing a reconstructed chariot revealed that the charioteers had to be highly skilled and that the horses had to be intensively trained. Here, Jonathan Waterer drives a pair of Fiord ponies while Mike Loades tests the stability of the ride.

Bring me my chariot: investigating burial practices in Iron Age Yorkshire

What sparked the unusual chariot burials associated with the Arras Culture in East Yorkshire? Migration has been proposed as an explanation, but a new book asks whether there are other ways by which chariot-making knowledge and burial practices could have been transferred. The reality is perhaps more mundane but, at the same time, highly informative about the diversity of lifestyles and burial practices in the British Iron Age and the ways in which people expressed their regional identity. Chris Catling reports.

RIGHT The face of Late Roman Winchester? This skull from a 26 to 35 year old male hints at a multicultural 4th century AD city. A number of features including the low bridged nose, slightly projecting jaw, and small brow ridges are more in keeping with Black and Asian groups than Caucasians.

Lankhills: ethnicity and death in Late Roman Winchester

Lankhills, Winchester, is a landmark site for Roman cemetery studies. Excavations there in the 1960s set new standards and explored the evidence for different ethnic groups. More recent redevelopment provided an opportunity for Oxford Archaeology to test these findings, and make major new discoveries. The final report by Paul Booth, Andrew Simmonds, Angela Boyle, Sharon Clough, Hilary Cool, and Daniel Poore cements Lankhills’ status.