#FindsFriday Roman Brooch

For #FindsFriday I thought I would give a sneak peak of what happens after objects are excavated by the society!

On our site at Lees Court Estate we've had a number of special finds found both by excavators and by metal detectorists. These finds are known as small or registered finds. It doesn't have to do with their size but instead whether they require specialist analysis or treatment. At Lees Court we haven't had much pottery come up during the project (yet) and so all pottery is being treated as a small find because they will all need to be analysed by a specialist. Metalwork is also extremely unusual on a #Prehistoric site so any metalwork from the #BronzeAge, #IronAge or #Roman will be treated as a small find as well, both due to its unusualness on the site, but also because it will need specialist treatment to stabilize the metal.

Back in the office I photograph these special finds and edit them to scale. This is especially important for those finds which need to be recorded on the #PortableAntiquitiesScheme like our Roman Brooch that was found on Wednesday!

The brooch needs to be orientated in a particular way so that its key or diagnostic features can be identified. This brooch is a #Roman, Colchester Derivative, Harlow type brooch dating between 50 - 80 AD. Harlow brooches are identifiable because of the lug pierced by two holes; one upper and one lower which would have held the axial and chord from the spring that's unfortunately missing on our example.

You can see the record for this brooch on the PAS website at - https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1161984

It's really important that these metal detected objects are recorded when they come from non-excavated contexts. They help to tell the story of the landscape in the wider area.

There will be more updates from the site as they happen so do keep an eye on our social media and website, or better yet, come and join us!

#research #kentarchaeologysociety #kentarchaeology #historyinpictures #historymatters #history #recordyourfinds #smallfinds #FindsFriday #archaeologylovers #archaeologylife #archaeologynews #archaeologyart #archaeology #education #archaeologists #Prehistory #pottery #LCE24 #Archaeology #heritage #Romanstudygroup #communityarchaeology #CommunityArchaeology #excavation #Roman