Celto-Roman Thistle-Fibula, Silver

Celto-Roman Thistle-Fibula, Bronze

The thistle brooch type emerges around 25 BC in the Gallic Oppida culture and spreads in the following decades westwards to Britain and eastwards to the Rhine provinces, Helvetia and the Danubian provinces. While early thistle brooches are found individually in men's graves (e.g. Goeblingen-Nospelt), in the Gallo-Roman provinces this type develops into a component of the native women's costume. In the cemeteries after the turn of the millennium, paired finds are therefore usually considered to indicate a female burial. In some cases, however, multiple burials of thistle brooches are associated with weapon burials, e.g. in Dobrichov-Pichora (Bohemia), Miesau, Schkopau or Diersheim. Germanic warriors are presumed to be buried here, who, due to their foreign cultural background, did not adopt the gender-specific mode of carrying. Finds of thistle brooches in military camps are also likely to be explained by the presence of Germanic auxiliary troops rather than women.

The piece was 90% completely newly made. It was based on a strongly colour-fragmented piece from the Gallo-Roman cemetery of Wederath / Belginum, which was made available to us. The thistle brooch was reconstructed in bronze with a plastic ornamental wreath and long spiral needle according to original models from the regional museums in Trier and Mainz and the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne. The piece dates to the 1st half of the 1st century AD.

Handmade from solid 925 silver with functional pin made from hard alpaca silver.
Size approx. 86 x 50 mm, delivery in jewellery case with certificate. A really beautiful piece!

Literature:

Emilie Riha, Die römischen Fibeln aus Augst und Kaiseraugst, 1979
Böhme-Schönberger, Astrid - Die Distelfibel und die Germanen. Zwischen Rom und dem Barbaricum : Festschrift für Titus Kolník zum 70. Geburgstag, p. 215-224. Nitra : Archeologicky ustav SAV, 2002.