
Mid-Argyll -
18
Brooch Moulds
Site/Artefact Type Site
Number National Grid
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![]() Bird-headed brooch-mould from Dunadd
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Excavation Details
Not Available
Description
Much evidence of metalworking
has been found at Dunadd, including more than 200
crucibles. Among the evidence of wealth
and high-status goods used and produced at this
power centre is a collection of dozens of fragments
of brooch moulds. Most of these moulds would have
produced modest, but nevertheless luxurious
jewellery, such as seventh century bird-headed
brooches
But a few fragments show that much larger and more magniifcent pieces were produced.
The moulds can be dated, by stratigraphy, to the seventh century - a date rather earlier than that conventionally ascribed to the beginning of the production of large brooches.
The significance of these mould-fragments, not very impressive at first sight, can be better grasped when one sees the kind of ornament that they were designed to produce. With a diameter of nearly 10 cm, the mould would have produced something approximating to the somewhat larger Hunterston Brooch.
Access/Ownership
In National Museum of Scotland
References
- Allan Lane & Ewen Campbell, Dunadd: an Early Dalriadic Capital, 106 - 125
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