Description

Summary: 1 iron brooch, much rusted, made of 1 piece of stout iron wire, the bow has been bent down across the pin and the spring coiled on either side of the head has been taken across at the back of the bow, from the early Iron Age settlement at All Cannings Cross Farm, All Cannings Cross, Wiltshire. Excavated by Mr B H Cunnington and Mrs M E Cunnington, 1911-22.

Research results

An incomplete Iron age brooch, excavated by Maud and Howard Cunnignton during their excavations of the early Iron Age settlement at All Cannings Cross Farm, All Cannings, 1911-1922. The brooch is a insular form which first appeared in the Middle Iron Age, in the early 3rd century BC, and continued to be deposited throughout the middle iron age period and possibly beyond.

This brooch was examined by Adams (2013) as part of her PhD with the University of Leicester. This PhD examined an updated corpus of Iron Age Brooches across Britain in order to re-evaluate existing typologies and widely accepted chronology, as well as to investigate potential regional patterns and production. In particular the study highlights that direct dating evidence for most brooches is in fact quite poor, despite them often being used as chronological markers in the period. Reviewing all published radiocarbon dates associated with Iron Age brooches, Adams suggests that brooches were first introduced c. 450 BC, as well as refining the chronology of a number of specific types, although they note that the evidence is scarce.