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Description: | Copper alloy pin, probably of Middle-Later Early Medieval date, c.8th-9th centuries. The flat head and part of the shaft survives, the rest is lost to a patinated break. The head is flattened and the shape could be described as sub-oval, piriform or sub-triangular with an almost semi-circular top with a slightly straightened top edge and tapering sides which meet at a point where the head joins the shaft. The back of the head is plain and the front decorated with incised lines.The lines are all slightly wavy, formed of many closely spaced curves looking almost like rows of pellets in places, due to the graver tool used. The patten is amost symmetrical with a straight line rising from the point where the head meets the shaft and ending about four fifths of the way up the head. The upper end of this line is flanked by two curved lines which almost create a circle bisected by the line but fail to meet at the top. Below this two straight lines angle out from each side (four in total), they are slightly uneven in length and angle but create almost a saltire cross. Below these are two further angled lines, one each side. These start from different points, one above the other and both angle downwards. The entire design is almost reminiscent of a chi-rho. This central design is flanked by lines running near the edge, these start from the point where the head meets the shaft and follow the sides until the top corners where each line curls inwards and back under itself so the curls almost meet at the centre. Down the sides of the pin head, on the front, are a regularly spaces series of notches with a V-shaped cross section, these run in from the edge to almost meet the side lines of the design.There is a slight raised collar across the front where the head meets the shaft and steps out to the same thickness. The surface is corroded at this point, obscuring any decoration. The shaft is bent forwards at this damaged area and starts to bend back before the break. The shaft is oval in section at the top, tapering slightly to a circular section at the break.The head is 19.4mm long, 12.2mm wide and 1.0mm thick, the shaft is 1.9mm by 1.5mm at the top, 1.2mm in diameter at the break. The entire piece is 34.0mm long and weighs 1.19 grams.Flat headed pins in various shapes are known from 8th-9th century contexts. This example appears to be more decorated than usual, most have just stamped ring and dot (see YORYM-8E4803 and NMS-8432E3 on this database for examples of more plainly decorated flat headed pins). K Leahy suggests this may be a highly simplified attempt at a pinhead like Flixborough Fig. 1.29 No. 678, p. 72-3. The two confronted animals on the Flixborough example being shown as scrolls on this example. The shape of the pin head, collar at the base of the head and thin pin is also more similar to this Flixborough example than those from Hamwic or York. Other examples of flat headed pins with incised designs of confronting animals include Webster and Backhouse (1991:84-85, 96-97 and 226-7) 66e from Suffolk, 69e and 69 f (both also from Flixborough) and 183 from York. All are more elaborate than this example but support the suggested 8th-9th century dating.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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