File:Early Medieval Small Square-headed Brooch Fragments (FindID 707481).jpg

English: Two fragments of an Early Medieval copper alloy small square-headed brooch dating to the 6^th Century AD. One fragment consists of the head-plate, bow and a fragment of the foot plate, while the other consists of a larger fragment of the foot plate (together they would form one complete fragment). The foot terminal is missing, as is the pin. All breaks are old and worn except the one between the two fragments which is recent.

The head-plate is rectangular with the peripheral border almost entirely missing and with one wing folded back to the reverse. If anything remains of the lug it is obscured by the folded head-plate. The head-plate has raised rectangular moulding, within which a raised line follows the outline and encloses a single horizontal line. From this extends the gently arched bow, carinated in front and flat to the reverse, which then flattens and widens again to form the foot plate. A single decorative scheme unites all these elements: the raised rectangular moulding on the head-plate narrows to form a border on the bow and foot plate, while a thick central rib runs vertically from the head plate down the bow to the foot where it forms a cruciform pattern with a central lozenge. More vertical ribs decorate the bow which then turn into decorative patterns in the upper angles of the foot plate. On what remains of the lower angles of the foot plate there appear to be circular mouldings and motifs of raised dots. It is possible that the foot incorporates Salin's Style I zoomorphic forms or elements of face-masks, but the condition of the brooch makes this difficult to determine. There is a fragment of the catchplate to the reverse of the foot-plate.

Together the fragments are c.31mm long (22.23mm and 11.33mm). It is 11.7mm wide at the head, 7.82mm wide at the bow and 16.7mm wide at the foot. The brooch is 8.44mm thick and weighs 3.77g. The metal has a dark grey patina with a small patch of bright-green corrosion on the foot plate. The whole brooch would probably have been gilded.

Similar small square-headed brooches are published in MacGregor and Bolick (1993) pp.120-4. This one in particular bears a resemblance to nos. 14.6-14.8.