This beautiful object with it's distinctive head does not have any immediate parallels although similar pins made out of bone are known from the Western Isles. Used to hold a cloak or shawl, it could have been worn by either a man or a woman. It is a good example of the type of high status jewelery worn by the inhabitants of seventh centtury Whithorn.
A masive stick pin with a crescentic or axe-shaped head. The square section shank at the head becomes octagonal below the mid-point.