Description

Summary: 1 Early Saxon cast bronze button brooch, assigned to Avent and Evison class F, mercury gilded to front with stylized, helmeted human face decoration, reverse has a mass of corroded textile, from the pagan Saxon cemetery called 'Black Patch' at Blacknall Field, Pewsey, Wiltshire, excavated by Ken Annable and the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1969-1976.

Research results

A Early Medieval gilded copper alloy button brooch, from grave 38 of the Blacknall Field cemetery, Pewsey, excavated by Ken Annable and the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1969-1976. The brooch is decorated in Salin's style I, a decorative scheme which originated in Southern Scandinavia and often incorperated complex arrangements of stylised humans and animals. This brooch depicts a helmeted and moustachio'd human face. It was buried with a child of about 5.

This object was examined by Leah Moradi of the University of Exeter as part of her study investigating shamanistic and totemic practices and beliefs in fifth to seventh century Wessex and East Anglia through depictions of humans and animals on contemporary grave goods. Her study found that anthropo- and zoomorphic decoration was most often found with mature women between the ages of around 25 and 40, suggesting that some members of this group may have held a special status. She also notes that anthropomorphic depictions and the use of gold or gilding was more common in the wessex region, whilst depictions of certain animals, especially horses and birds, were far rarer; this may imply regional variation in belief structures, or the traditions of display through which they were presented.