Brooch found under Roman fort’s bakery

A chicken-shaped brooch has been found at a 2,000-year-old fort, under what would have been the bakery.

Excavators were digging ruins in Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort just south of Hadrian’s Wall.

The Roman fibula brooch, in the form of a chicken, was found on June 10 right next to what would have been an oven, in a section the Vindolanda Trust believe was formerly a bakery.

Specialists then determined that the find was a copper alloy brooch, although missing its pin. “It’s likely it is an heirloom piece from the third century,” a trust spokesman said.