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Description: | An incomplete cast copper alloy buckle fragment of Medieval date. It comprises a flat plate in the form of a bird that is missing the majority of the head end and wings due to old breaks. The plate has a triangular shaped tail that flares towards the base. This is decorated on the front face with three incised vertical grooves that extend up into the body of the bird and are separated by two smaller incisions at the base that give the impression of there being five distinct tail feathers. Rows of punched dots are visible on at least three of the ??feathers?? and follow the grooves up to the centre of the plate. The main body of the bird at the centre of the plate is square in shape, but has been bent slightly and lost large areas of its surface due to post-depositional damage. This is decorated with a border on all sides comprised of double rows of punched dots. Within the border two similar double rows of punched dots are arranged in a saltire cross. Above the body of the bird extends its neck and the beginning of the head, where the buckle terminates in old breaks. The neck tapers inwards before curving round on the left hand side as if to extend to a beak or similar appendage, and this is initially mirrored on the right hand side, although this side terminates before the form of the plate is visible. This upper area of the plate is also decorated with double rows of punched dots, one curving round to follow the shape of the left hand side of the plate, the other curving to the right. The top of the plate has a small semi-circular moulded edge that separates the upper portions of the left and right hand sides of the plate. The back face of the object is flat and undecorated, with apparently no trace of any form of pin attachment or catchplate. The entire object measures 31.37mm in length, 11.79mm in width, 1.63mm in thickness, and weighs 2.30g.
This object is a small fragment from a form of buckle plate apparent in the early phases of the Medieval period. When complete the surviving section would have formed the body of the bird, with head and wings extending upwards and to the sides to create an M-shaped buckle plate. Examples are noted ont he PAS database and in the Norfolk HER (NMS-11EF31, NMS-4D08E2, LIN-5FFC92 and NCL-BAB662), and it is suggested that the creation of an M-shaped plate may represent association to the Virgin Mary. These examples are typically dated to the 12th or 13th centuries or c.1100-1300 AD. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Brown, Andrew | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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