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Description: | A cast copper-alloy Iron Age linch pin terminal, which is the foot of the pin. The foot has a deep square socket, inside a cylindrical, tapering shaft. There is a collar around the mouth of the socket. The socket measures 11.2mm x 10.8mm at the opening and is 20mm deep. This square aperture would have held the iron pin, which has long since corroded away. The exterior of the shaft tapers down to the opposite terminal, to where it curves around and is attached to a flat circular plate. The curve of the shaft is joined to the plate at the top and the base of the plate is joined to the main body of the shaft. There is therefore a gap between the plate and the curve of the shaft. Running down the spine of the object is a shallow ridge, forming two arises. The surface is pitted but remains in a very good condition, with a dark brownish/jade-green patina. The flat, circular plate is slightly recessed on the front surface. Inside this recess a raised grid pattern has been drawn in and then the fields have been infilled with alternating enamel colours. The enamel is yellow and red, with a red forming a cross with a yellow centre and yellow inside the remaining quarter circles. Linch pin terminals date to the late Iron Age period, circa 100BC to 50AD. Sometimes this shaped terminal of a composite linch pin is known as '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 circa 100BC to circa 100AD. The closest local parallels can be seen in Stead, p44-6. These examples were found in cemetery contexts in East Yorkshire.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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