Recently I posted a picture of the sole Roman crossbow brooch from Berkshire, found in the parish of Welford, on Instagram and asked people “Which way up is correct?” The results of this were about 50/50. The traditional way to show a crossbow brooch on images is with the axis bar, what we call the …more
Category: Finds
Museum Musings – February 2021
This month for Museum Musings I’ll be looking at S-shaped fasteners, also known as ‘snake buckles.’ The one below was declared treasure in 2009 and subsequently acquired by West Berkshire museum. The buckle, or strap fitting as we record them, consists of the heads and necks of two snakes curved and joined together to form an …more
Finds of the Month – December 2020
This new series will detail my Top 10 finds recorded each month. Here are those from December. First up is this Republican Denarius of L Cassius Longinus minted in 78BC (BERK-1037DC). On one side is the head of a young Bacchus or Liber while on the other is the head of Libera (Proserpina) left. It …more
5000 Up For West Berkshire!
Very recently I verified West Berkshire’s 5000 PAS find on the database. Recently I held a poll on Twitter for what should be the 5000th find. As expected, you ask the people who voted for Boaty McBoatface, you get a silly result. The winner was this unidentifiable lead seal/token. However, this makes a wider point …more
Berkshire 2020
With the release of the 2019 PAS Annual Report, here is a couple of special Berkshire ones from the report and a roundup of finds from Berkshire recorded in the past year. PAS 2019 Annual Report First from 2019 is a remarkable find from Bisham, Berkshire, this year was a silver Greek drachm of Alexander …more
Finds Through The Ages – The Post-Medieval Period
This period covers the time from around the beginning of the rule of Henry VIII to the turn of the 20th century. This is generally split into two periods Early = AD1500 – 1650 Late = AD1750/1800 – 1900 We don’t use ‘middle’ as there is debate over what constitutes the late Post Medieval. Of …more
Finds Through The Ages – The Medieval Period
This period covers the time from the Norman Invasion in AD1066 to the beginning of the 16th century. There is no agreed upon date for the end of the Medieval period. AD1500 is generally considered to be the end. Across Europe different events are used such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 …more
