Overview

The result of forty years of study, this book offers an overview of the most common find, after coins, on sites in Roman Britain, the brooch. Used basically to hold outer clothing together, it was always on view and was usually decorative. Based on the study of some 15,000 specimens, the second volume illustrates some 2,000, all drawn by the author. The first chapter is a discussion of manufacturing techniques, methods of study and the concept of dating. The bulk of the book consists of nine chapters examining in detail the myriad style of brooches from the second century B.C., when the habit of wearing brooches really took off, to the early fifth century A.D. when newcomers brought their own types of brooch and imposed them on the rest of what was to become England. The final chapter is a synthesis of various strands mentioned in the body of the book and the social implications of the great change in brooch wearing which occurred in the third century.

Full Product Details

Author:   D. F. Mackreth
Publisher:   Oxbow Books
Imprint:   Oxbow Books
Dimensions:   Width: 21.60cm , Height: 4.30cm , Length: 30.50cm
Weight:   2.336kg
ISBN:  

9781842174111

ISBN 10:   1842174118
Pages:   448
Publication Date:   08 August 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction Part 1. The Study Part 2. Dating Part 3. Typologies and Classification Part 4. Selection and Bias Part 5. Materials and Manufacture Part 6. The Illustrations Chapter 2. Late La Tène, Britain and the Continent Part 1. The Stead, Birdlip, Nauheim and Drahtfibel Group, etc. Part 2. The Rosette and Langton Down Group Part 3. The Colchester Part 4. The Aesica Part 5. The South Western La Tène Series Part 6. The Military La Tène II Chapter 3. The Colchester Derivative Part 1. The Harlow, Spring System Part 2. The Rearhook Part 3. The Polden Hill Part 4. The Hinged Pin Part 5. Polden Hill/Hinged Pin Chapter 4. The Headstud and others Part 1. Alternative Headstuds Part 2. The Headstud Part 3. The Wroxeter Part 4. Colchester Derivatives, with Trumpet-style Knops Chapter 5. The Trumpet and its Varieties Part 1. Mainstream Trumpets Part 2. Double-lugged Part 3. The Knop Replaced by Flat Plates Part 4. Hinged Chapter 6. Continent Imports and Their Influence Part 1. Alésia-Aucissa Series Part 2. The Hod Hill Part 3. The Durotrigan Part 4. The Augenfibel and Relatives Part 5. The Pannonian, Norican etc Chapter 7. The Plate and Related, and Dragonesques Introduction Part 1. British Part 2. Continental Part 3. Objects and Animals Part 4. Dragonesque Chapter 8. The Knee, Almgren 101 and Interlopers Part 1. The Knee Part 2. Almgren 101 Part 3. Interlopers from Free Germany etc Chapter 9. The Crossbow Sequence Part 1. The Sprung-pin or Proto Crossbow Brooches Part 2. The Crossbow and its Antecedents Chapter 10. Penannulars Part 1. Coiled Part 2. Folded Over Part 3. Knobbed Part 4. Late-zoömorphic Part 5. Others Chapter 11. Usage, Tribes, Fashions and the Demise of the Bow Brooch Part 1. Who Wore Brooches, Why and How Part 2. The Problem of Military Brooches Part 3. Religion Part 4. Marketing and Money Appendices 1. The Dating of the King Harry Lane Cemetery 2. The Dating of Applied White Metal Trim 3. South Cadbury the South West Gate

Reviews

This is an impressive work ... The book focuses on an artefact that is second only to coins when it comes to quantity in Britain. The result is thorough, well-illustrated and well-scripted, with Mackreth's 40 years of experience studying brooches shining through.' * Current Archaeology * Rarely does an individual temperament shine though a work such as this but M.'s quirky approach to problems and lacunae in the data reflect his tenacity, clarity, flexibility, occasional exasperation,and rising above all his sense of humour. * Britannia *

This is an impressive work... The book focuses on an artefact that is second only to coins when it comes to quantity in Britain. The result is thorough, well-illustrated and well-scripted, with Mackreths 40 years of experience studying brooches shining through.' -- Dr Alex Lang Current Archaeology Nov/Dec 2011

This is an impressive work... The book focuses on an artefact that is second only to coins when it comes to quantity in Britain. The result is thorough, well-illustrated and well-scripted, with Mackreths 40 years of experience studying brooches shining through.' -- Dr Alex Lang Current Archaeology Nov/Dec 2011 Rarely does an individual temperament shine though a work such as this but M.'s quirky approach to problems and lacunae in the data reflect his tenacity, clarity, flexibility, occasional exasperation,and rising above all his sense of humour. -- Nina Crummy Britannia 44 (2013)

Author Information

The late D. F. Mackreth published extensively, contributing numerous chapters to books and authoring archaeological reports. He was also the author of a number of books, including Prehistoric Burial Mounds in Orton Meadows, Peterborough (2021), Monument 97; Orton Longueville, Cambridgeshire: A late Pre-Roman Iron Age and Early Roman Farmstead (2001); Orton Hall Farm: A Roman and Early Saxon Farmstead (1996); Peterborough: History and Guide (1994); and co-author with M. D. & J. R. Perrin of Roman Pottery from the Nene Valley: A Guide (1980).

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