|
Date: |
|
Description: | Copper alloy brooch, crossbow type. Complete except for the pin of which only the top survives; overcleaned. The crossarm is roughly rectangular in section with notching on the projecting front and has areas of gilding. A rivet is visible on the back of the crossarm just to the right of the pin slot, function is unclear. The knobs are onion shaped with a single rib moulding at the base. The bow has a flat centre band with a double row of punched angled trapezoids - perhaps originally niello filled - and some gilding survives on the sides. The long foot has a flat face with small facets along the edges and two grooves along the centre. The catchplate is shallow and nearly as wide as the foot. Width 39.5mm, length 62mm. Type 3/4 crossbow? The decoration is comparable to an eg from Brancaster (EAA 23, 1985, Fig 86, no 10). Crossbows are widely distributed on the Danube-Rhine frontiers and most often found in military and large urban contexts in Britain. Recovery of a completely intact example is unusual - it shares this and a possible Roman military context with several other brooches in this group. If definitely from a field in the suggested area a cemetery might be a possibility. | Subjects: | crossbow | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Plouviez, Judith | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
|