Description

Summary: An Iron Age iron bow brooch from Cold Kitchen Hill

Research results

An Iron Age iron bow brooch from Cold Kitchen Hill, Brixton Deverill. Cold Kitchen Hill was excavated by Rev Goddard and Nan Kivell in the 1890s and 1920s respectively, and was the site of a Iron Age settlement and probable Romano-British temple. This brooch is of a middle iron age form, probably produced in the third century and possibly later. Although similar to contemporary continental forms, the flat bow and other features suggest that this style of brooch was a wholly insular development.

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.