VM_365 Day 123 Decorated bone or ivory pin from Iron Age burial at North Foreland, Broadstairs.

Bone pin with incised decoration from Iron Age Burial, North Foreland Broadstairs.
Bone pin with incised decoration from Iron Age Burial, North Foreland Broadstairs.

For Day 123 of VM_365 we have an image of a small decorated pin that was found in association with the Iron Age woman who was buried in the grain storage pit at North Foreland, Broadstairs.

The blue glass beads that were near the neck of the burial have been shown in a previous post for VM_365, along with the complicated story of the pit’s primary use and of the things that had later been used to fill it.

At first glance the pin, which was also found in close association with the skeleton, appears to be a much simpler object than the exotic glass beads, but it has a more complex story to tell.

The pin is carved from a piece of dense bone, or possibly ivory. The shaft has been carved to taper toward a point, which has unfortunately broken off.  Close examination of the surface of the shaft reveals fine facets along the length. The whole surface of the pin was polished to a smooth sheen.  At one end the pin was  flattened to form a head and on the side shown in the image the head was decorated with three incised lines.

This object could possibly have been a dress fitting or even a hair pin, another indicator that the woman buried had some status and was not simply thrown in the pit with other unwanted debris.

 

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