brooch

Description
Roman copper alloy brooch found by a metal detectorist at Stenhousemuir.
Report by Fraser Hunter - This is a most unusual item for Scotland – an early Roman copper-alloy brooch of Birdlip type, dating to the early first century AD. It is likely to have come north before the Roman invasion; examples are most common in the south and midlands, but the PAS database includes some examples from Cheshire, so a more northerly find is not out of the question. It adds to the scant evidence for contact with the Roman world before the invasion.
The brooch is in very good condition. Cylindrical head, the ends with slightly raised marginal mouldings; it has a central slot for the lost hinged pin, which was on a copper-alloy axis. From the narrow neck below the head, it expands like a trumpet, with raised margins flanked by a slight channel, to reach the raised lip moulding on the highest point of the bow. The overall profile is concavo-convex. The concave lower bow is set on the convex upper, with a raised lip at the junction topped with a beak-like moulding. The leaf-like lower bow has raised margins with marginal channels and an upturned foot. The catchplate is lost. Single-piece casting, hollowed under the head.
For the type, see Mackreth 2011, 12-13, pl 15 (esp 14509), type 4.1c; compare PAS WAW-83509F.

brooch

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