'Detecting for Veterans' Leasingham Rally Find Acquired by Museum

The History Blog, 'Museum acquires unique Leasingham Horse ...' 13 May 2022 

Some excitement is being generated by a Lincolnshire metal detector find of a single Roman copper alloy fibula, “The brooch is an incredibly rare find in Britain, and the first three-dimensional horse brooch to be recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme finds database" Wow, eh? They had horse and brooches in Roman times... what an "archaeological breakthrough" that is. Again, we see a fuss being made about the object at the expense of its archaeological context. In fact typolo-arkies are so amazed by this little find that they've named a whole type after it: “This style of horse brooch is now identified as the ‘Leasingham type’...", what is so super-exciting for them is that

the object is in the shape of a three-dimensional horse that is unique on the archaeological record, has been acquired by the Collection Museum in Lincoln.

The brooch [...] is complete with the original hinged pin, which is in and of itself very rare. The long, stylized head of the horse is lowered at the end of an arched neck engraved with 14 grooves representing a neatly arranged mane. A saddle or saddle blanket is on the horse’s back. Carved and modelled in the round in a 3D design that has no known cognates. The closest comparable object is a brooch in the British Museum which is a slightly rounded plate brooch mounted on a bar, so really very different in concept and execution.

The brooch was discovered by metal detectorist Jason Price in a field near Leasingham in the summer of 2019. The object was found during a Detecting for Veterans event. He is reported as saying (as one so often hears in news reports like this):

“It was the last field of the weekend and it was heavily ploughed – so I didn’t hold out much hope of finding anything. You can imagine my surprise when my detector started buzzing. About eight inches down I found something caked in mud. At first I thought it was a piece of litter, but as I cleaned it off, my jaw dropped open. There it was – a horse brooch. I was shaking. I’ve found things like coins before, but never anything like this. Absolutely amazing!”

Since it was not Treasure, the find was the property of the landowner and (on the basis of prior agreement in the rally organization) shared with the finder. Price has now "arranged for the Leasingham Horse Brooch to go on loan at the Collection Museum and now that’s where it will stay permanently, thanks to the Friends of Lincoln Museums and Art Gallery who donated the necessary funds to acquire the horse from Price". Ummm, "loan" you say.

PAS Record LIN-09AF6A Lisa Brundle (2020-01-24) went to town on this one, quite a bit of library work gone in here:

"A complete, cast, copper-alloy, Roman brooch in the form of a three-dimensional horse, c.AD200-410."

This object is a hinged zoomorphic bow brooch with its copper-alloy pin still in-tact. The horse is realistically portrayed with a lowered head, an arched neck, a sub-rectangular body and a short, stubby rectangular tail protruding from the rump. While it does not have legs or hooves, below the head and chest of the beast, a forward sub-rectangular projection terminates with a curled upward lip and carries a small circular hole for the pin rest. Below the horse's rump and tail, the surface flares to a rectangular shape and cylindrical wings, still with the axis pin in-tact and the copper-alloy pin. The pin has an ovate head that tapers into a shaft with a blunted point.

The horse's head is fairly realistically rendered with a pair of eyes consisting of a circular groove and a raised annulet, two rounded ears with rounded recesses, a long muzzle, but lacks the distinctive chin groove and broad jowl. At the end of the muzzle are two circular indentations for nostrils and a transverse groove for lips that run halfway along the muzzle on both sides. No bridle fittings are represented. The mane is delineated with 14 short, regular transverse grooves, while a saddle or saddle blanket is depicted through linear grooves running transversely over the back of the horse, each terminating in a double longitudinal line and circular grooved motif in each corner, The double longitudinal line might represent the fringe of the saddle blanket and the circular motif at each corner perhaps a pompon. A curved groove follows the semi-circular arch along the horse's belly. Looking at the reverse, on one side of the pin, there are four ring and dot motifs in a longitudinal row. No other decoration is visible on the front or reverse of the object. Brownish-grey hue with patches of blue patina on the neck and the back of the horse and saddle grooves.

Measurements: Length: 46.48 mm; Width: 34.73 mm; Thickness (body): 6.53mm; Weight: 23.18g

Discussion

It is not unusual to find horse iconography in Roman brooch art. Plate brooches, for instance, carry a single horse or horse-and-rider (e.g. LVPL-0867F4, PUBLIC-9E6B59, WILT-308FE7, SF-D19B27, LVPL-2092E5). This is the first 3-dimension horse brooch recorded on the PAS database. This object joins the gradually increasing repertoire of three-dimensional Roman zoomorphic brooches recorded on the PAS database. Other types of creatures include a unique hare brooch from Navenby, Lincolnshire (PAS no. LIN-9BB6F4), cockerels (WREX-F20705) and birds (BERK-5D8274), sea-creatures, hippocampus or hippocamph (Mackreth 2011 v2, plate 127, p.130, no.7968; vol 1 p. 185 part 5.b). There are, however, no direct stylistic parallels for LIN-09AF6A recorded on the PAS database.

While Hattatt's 2000 corpus of Roman brooches offers no parallel, Mackreth reports at least one, moulded horse brooch (Mackreth 2011,Vol.1 p.185, 7.1). This example, in Mackreth, of a modelled horse is catalogued as an 'Atelier A' with the defining feature as circular spots of enamel. He reports that 'animals are often placed on a bar representing the surface of the ground and may have collars around the neck if these are domesticated'. Other animals in this group include a lion from Richborough (no. 8120) which was dated to the 3rd-4th century AD (Mackreth 2011,v1, p.185, part 7.1). The 'Atelier' examples belong to a Continental group of brooches identified by Feugère as 'Atelier A' Type 29a, (10a), a hinged zoomorphic brooch. While Mackreth gives a broad 3rd-4th century date for the British examples, the Continental ones are dated to the end of 1st century to the beginning of 2nd century (Feugere 1985, p.387, p.394). This type of horse brooch is incredibly rare in Britain. The only recorded example found in Britain is housed at the British Museum and is broadly dated as 'Romano-British' c.AD43-410 and it is typed as a Hull Plate brooch T205, the provenance is unknown (BM acc. no. 1872,0520.8).

While the continental examples and 1872,0520.8 are depicted in the round, they are also decorated with circular, punctuated enamel which defines the Type 29a, 10a 'Atelier A' group. LIN-09AF6A lacks any traces of enamel and recesses for it – therefore it sits outside this group type. LIN-09AF6A, however, closely aligns with other three-dimensional hinged horse brooches that are unfortunately not provenance or recorded and are mainly listed on auction sites. Notably these auctioned examples seem to have provenances of England (e.g. Kent) and Continental Europe. The frequency of this type of horse brooch indicates the need for a new designated group type, proposed here as 'Leasingham' type. This is the first – recorded – horse brooch of its kind in Britain which has been preserved by record for the public.

References cited

Bayley, J. and Butcher, S. 2004. Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study based on the Richborough Collection, London, The Society of Antiquaries of London.

British Museum Department of British and Medieval Antiquities, Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain, London, BMP, 1964

Feugère, M., 1985. Les fibules en Gaule Méridionale de la conquête à la fin du Ve s. ap. J.-C. Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise, 12(1), pp.5-509.

Hattatt, R., 2000. A visual catalogue of Richard Hattatt's ancient brooches. Oxbow Books Ltd.

Mackreth, Donald F. 2011, Brooches in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain vol 1. Oxford, Chapter 7, Part 3, object 4.dx-7.1, p.185, part 7.1.

Mackreth, Donald F. 2011, Brooches in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain vol 2. Oxford, Plate 127 no. 4440 and 8123.