A Visigoth In Kent?

Wessex Archaeology ^ | 2-21-2006-

[blam]

A Visigoth in Kent?

The excavations at Springhead uncovered a large number of brooches. One in particular has turned out to be a very exciting discovery.
X-ray photography showed that the 5th-6th century iron bow brooch was of Visigothic design, of a type known as Estagel.
The Visigoths (West Goths) were one of the German tribes. Settled near the Black Sea in the 3rd century AD, by the 6th century they had migrated west and reached Spain and northern France.

Kent was probably the most cosmopolitan region in the country at this time and Saxons and Jutes have left evidence of their culture here.
In the last 30 years or so, a number of objects of Visigothic design have come to light, mainly in south-east England.
Now this brooch adds to the evidence for connections between the people of Kent and the small number of Visigothic groups known to have lived in northern France at the time.

To discover more about this brooch and its significance, read the full article (PDF, 416Kb) as published in LUCERNA - The Roman Finds Group Newsletter for January 2006.

[blam]

X-Ray And Photograph 5th-6th Century Broach

[blam]

[blam]

[Mike Darancette]

The English probably stole it.

[RegulatorCountry]

There's just something comical about Visigoths wearing brooches. Next thing you know, we'll discover that Vikings carried parasols.

[MineralMan]

Visigoths. Norsemen. Seems like everyone visited England and the other parts of the island. Left their seed, there, too. All those red-headed Irish folks and whatnot.

Maybe the Visigoths are responsible for all the bad teeth in England. [grin]

[Natural Law]

The presence of a Visigoth artifact does not guarantee the presence of Visigoths. A single trading expedition, ship, or caravan could explain a large number of such artifacts.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

[Wallace T.]

I doubt that the Vikings had much to do about redheads in Scotland and Ireland, much less Wales, which was not affected by Norwegian or Danish invaders. The percentage of gingers in the Celtic nations is far higher than in Scandinavia. The other high concentration of red haired people in Europe is in northern Russia, among a group called the Udmurts. Percentages in the three Celtic counties and among the Udmurts are 10-15% gingers, well above the Scandinavian average of 3-5%.