Lead versions of early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy dress accessories

Suggested period: EARLY MEDIEVAL

John Hines drew attention to a lead model of a great square-headed brooch found in Geneva many years ago (Hines 1997). Since then, the PAS has recorded 26 early Anglo-Saxon lead brooches, in addition to three lead wrist-clasps and a lead girdle-hanger (as of March 2019). Kevin Leahy (Finds Adviser) has pointed out that lead brooches do not appear to have been found in graves. Is their distribution (Anglian areas only at present) meaningful? Do they contain enough information to work out if they are cheap copies of brooches intended as jewellery, or just models for casting copper-alloy versions? Or can they be both?

Audit data

Created by: Helen Geake
Created: 13 years ago
Updated by: Helen Geake
Updated: 5 years ago