Brooches and Britannia

Regional and temporal patterns in brooch use in Britannia are studied, confirming and challenging 'received wisdoms' about 'regionality'. The complexity of the 'Fibula Event Horizon' is brought into sharp focus; a similarly complex and unexplained 'Fibula Abandonment Horizon' is also clearly demonstrated. Conclusions are insensitive to assumptions about use-life. Detailed analysis for the family of trumpet brooches casts light on hitherto unappreciated features of 'regionality'. Comparison with continental data suggests the British temporal patterns may be reflecting a wider north-western province pattern. Under-studied aspects of bias in metal-detected finds and their implications for studies of this kind are noted. The Supplementary Material available online (http://journals.cambridge.org/bri) contains tabular information on the data used in the study and additional analyses that support some of the assertions made in the main text.