Magia ornamentu / Galeria / Cruciform brooch  

Cruciform brooch  
Chronology:
400-550 AD (Migration period) 
Location:
Kvinesdal in Agder 
Object type:
Cruciform brooch 
Material:
Copper-alloy 
Technology:
Photogrammetry  by Letizia Bonelli 
Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway

Hand sized, bronze and unspectacular (especially compared to others from the same period) this brooch is typical of the time we now call the Migration period.
It is cross shaped, hence the name, with stubby little arms at the top that end in thick angular lumps. At the bottom we can spot an animal head. It has a long snout, protruding eyes and sleeked down or maybe braided hair.

We have more than 600 similar pins in Norway alone, and about a thousand in Scandinavia in total. This one was discovered in a grave mound in 1890. It came into the museum from an excavation by Nicolay Nicolaysen, one of the very first Norwegian archaeologists.

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