Fibula

Metal and metal composite clothes pins, consisting of a bow, pin and catch, which were used throughout Europe in the 1st millennium BC. Proto-type fibulae seem to have developed in the late 2nd millennium BC, and during the 1st millennium BC these evolved into such a variety of designs that they have proved a useful adjunct to pottery as chronological indicators.

Latin word for a common type of brooch, usually made of bronze, resembling the modem safety-pin and used in the fastening of such clothes as tunics and cloaks. The fibula essentially comprises a pin bent round (often with a spiral at the angle) with a catch to hold the point. Alternative forms have the pin made separately from the bow (northern Europe) or have a hinge instead of a spiral (introduced by the Romans). The first fibulae appear in prehistoric Europe cl300 bc, with the earliest forms appearing in northern Italy (see Peschiera) and Mycenaean Greece; there is no agreement as to which area first developed these brooches. At approximately the same time there was an apparently independent development in northern Europe of the two-piece variety. An enormous number of different types of fibulae were made and they can often be a useful guide to dating.