Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Roman small finds

worked bone and antler have been found on several of
the sites excavated from 1971-9 in Colchester
(4306-4395).
It would be surprising if there were no evidence of
varying taste and style in bone pins: not only regional
variations but, if some domestic manufacture is
accepted, even between households. It is, therefore, a
disappointment to see only six standard head-types in
Colchester, and to see how these types recur
throughout the province. Given that bone pins fall
into limited head-types despite the potential of bone
as a medium and the probability that some, if not
most, were home-made, we should attempt to find a
non-domestic factor influencing their design. Such a
factor can readily be found in metal and jet pins, many
of whose head-types are the same as those of bone
pins yet whose manufacture must have been
commercial and based in a workshop. Casting bronze
requires specialist tools and equipment and specialist
knowledge. Jet is a rare and expensive material found
in Britain only in the area of Whitby, North Yorkshire,
and there is no positive evidence for its export in the
raw state. Metal and jet pins were therefore objects of
some intrinsic and artistic value, and the recurrence
of their head-types on bone pins suggests that the
latter were copies made locally at comparatively low
cost. Some early bone pins are stained green, and an
early pin stained red has recently been found in
Colchester 10
. The use of these two colours could
indicate attempts at imitating copper-alloy pins.
The weakness of the simple tapering shaft of Types 1
and 2 and some examples of Type 6 is that the shaft is
liable to break under pressure at any point. An
advantage is that a broken pin would still be wellbalanced
and reusable if repointed at any length. The
swollen shaft which occurs on Types 3, 4, 5, and the
majority of Type 6, was probably introduced as an
attempt to strengthen the weakness of the earlier
straight thin shaft. The success of this innovation can
be judged by the percentage of surviving whole
examples (not including repointed ones) of each type:
Type 1 17%; Type 2 6%; Type 3 44.5%; Type
4 43.5%; Type 5 27% (this low figure can be offset by
the high number, 18%, of pins of this type that have
2.0 mm or less of the total length missing); Type 6, of 3
plain tapering shafts none survive intact, of 12
swollen shafts 25% survive. An alternative
explanation for the swollen waist could be that on
pins with a head standing proud of the shaft, a
counterweight was necessary to achieve a wellbalanced
pin. The consequent greater strength of the
shaft would therefore have been an added bonus.
Type 1. Pins with a plain conical head (Fig 17; 104-
155). This pin is simply a plain tapering shaft, the
thicker end of which has been sharpened to a short
point. The shaft is thin, with the maximum width
immediately below the head varying from 2.0 to
6.0mm (two examples meauring respectively 7.5
amd 8.0mm are possibly not pins). Only nine
complete examples survive, varying from 88.0 to
122.5 mm long. Three others have been repointed
20
Fig 17 Bone hairpins: Type 1 (1:1)
after breaking. These measure 79.0, 74.0 and
69.5 mm. Obviously more examples than the three
recognized here could have been repointed and then
broken again. As well as the two very thick examples,
another five which stand apart from the general
group as shorter and proportionally thicker are also
possibly not pins (see bone pegs 4465-4472).
All the examples of Type 1 are well made. Slight knife
and/or rasp marks are sometimes visible on the shaft
which is regular, smooth and often highly polished.
The short conical head is usually comparatively
crude, being the result of a few strokes of a knife,
though some examples are smooth and slightly
rounded, probably from use. Four have been stained
green, probably with a vegetable dye (104, 108, 110,
114). This staining has also been noted on a Type 2
pin at York (MacGregor 1978, 35; also note 1) and on
a "plain", probably Type 1, pin at Rochester, Kent
(Harrison 1972, 155). 11
The practice appears to be
restricted to the two early types of pin.
Type 1 pins are found in deposits ranging in date from
?FIavian to 4th-century. The date of manufacture of
this pin is discussed under Type 2.
113 Fig 17 SF LWC 2945. J738 F180 Road ditch. Period 4.
122.5mm long. Complete. Head worn.
122 Fig 17 SF BKC 3375(C), J142 F13. Large pit. Period 5b.
74.0mm long Probably carefully repointed.