Fibulae or brooches were originally used in Ancient Greece and in the Roman Empire for fastening garments, such as cloaks or togae. The fibula designs developed into a variety of shapes, but all were based on the safety-pin principle. Brooches modelled in the shape of animals have been vastly recovered across all the Roman Empire, including Roman Britain. The distribution of archaeological finds suggests that the major production centres for such ornamentation were Britain and Gaul.
This variety of brooch stems from the Aesica variety and combines stylistic elements from the dolphin brooches and rosette brooches. It is dated to circa AD 40 – 55 and has a relatively short usage span.
