Short-Footed Villanovan Bronze Sanguisuga Fibula. 9th to 8th century BCE.

Northern Italy, Villanovan culture, ca. 9th to 8th century BCE. A "sanguisuga" brooch - meaning

"leech" - made of tightly-coiled bronze wire with a heavy clasp and pin. The form of this fibula is a thick, arched bow with a closed underside. The spiraled body is heavy and hollow. Fibulae of this type are found almost exclusively in the graves of women from the later Villanovan and Etruscan period, although the Greeks seems to have imitated the Etruscan examples in the 7th century BCE. The form immediately preceded the navicella,

"boat-shaped" fibula. Size: 2.25" Lx 1.25" H