Roman Brooch

This copper alloy Roman brooch was found at Stonehenge by William Hawley during his 1920s excavations. It dates from the 2nd–4th century AD. It is one of about 1,500 Roman objects that have been discovered at the monument, including coins, pins, jewellery and fragments of pottery. Although Stonehenge was more than 2,500 years old by the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, these objects show that people continued to visit the monument.
For many years it was thought that these objects were the losses of Roman tourists and the remains of their picnics. However, excavations in 2008 by Professors Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwight within the stone circle uncovered evidence that people were digging deep holes and perhaps even moving stones in the Roman period. This casts new light on the Roman finds from Stonehenge such as this brooch and may suggest that they were deliberately deposited at the site as part of religious activities, the monument being treated as a shrine or temple at that date. Contributor : Susan Greaney