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Description: | The object is a strap end which has been made from cast copper alloy. In plan it is a sub-lozenge shape with rounded side corners and one terminal not tapering to a point. In length it is a maximum of 37.3mm, its maximum width is 8.8mm. It is at its thicest at the moulded zoomorphic terminal which is 2.3mm thick.
The strap end has a zoomorphic terminal which represents a head of an unknown animal. The terminal has a rounded elongated snout in plan which expands in width until it meets the body of the strap end. The snout, in section is a triangular shape which has an eye on each sie towards the body. The eye is represented by a ring and dot design. The base of this portion of the strap end is decorated with a low-relief 'X' which appears to have been cut. On this face, at the junction of the head and the body there is a step down onto the platform of the body, thereby making the terminal the most thick portion of the strap end. The upper surface between the head and body is flat.
The body of the strap end is sub-lozenge shaped in plan with rounded side corners. The body is undecorated. Towards the opposite terminal from the head the body, in prfile divides into two plates . However the original upper plate is broken and now missing. But another plate has been riveted in place by a single copper alloy rivet which appears on the reverse. Both terminals of the rivet have been flattened. The terminal of the lower and upper plate has the remains of two rivet holes which would have held the leather in place. Only one of these rivets remains. This terminal of the strap end is abraded.
The surface of the strap end has a mid brown/green coloured patina which is smooth and slightly shiny. The replacement plate is a blue/green colour, but is also smooth and slightly shiny. Both rivets are a mid green colour.
The dating of the object is definitely of the Early Medieval, but the strap end does not fit neatly into any of Thomas's classifications. Types B,C,D, and I seem to be elongated varieties with with only B, C, and I having zoomorphic terminals. A similar shaped terminal is found on a mount in Oakley, Suffolk, and this site is dated to the 6th-7th centuries, but due to its simiplicity presumably this design continued. Following Thomas's broad types the strap end could be dated between the late 8th to 12th centuries. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 775
1200 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Angie Bolton | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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