|
Date: |
|
Description: | Incomplete cast copper-alloy buckle with integral triangular plate, from a late Roman military belt. The frame is D-shaped but with a concave edge, so is kidney-shaped, and is domed in cross-section. There is a circular pin hole at the junction of frame and plate, forming a pin bar which is flat in cross-section. To either side of the pin hole the plate is slightly expanded to form two corners of the integral triangular plate, each of which is pierced to take the remains of an iron attachment rivet. The plate is openwork and now incomplete, with the apex missing; what survives is a side arm extending from either side. The reverse of the buckle is undecorated.Simpson (1976, 'Belt buckles and strap ends of the Later Roman Empire', in Britannia 7) identifies buckles with concave loops as his Group I, and dates them to the second half of the fourth century (page 204). It is suggested that they form part of the uniform of a regular Roman soldier. However, Simpson's group all have separate hinged plates and the example recorded here has an integral, fixed plate. H. W. Böhme studied buckles with integral triangular plates as part of his survey of late Roman artefacts in Britain, and the settlement of England by the earliest Anglo-Saxons (Böhme 1986, Liste 1, Abb. 5, Abb. 14). He dated them to the middle or second half of the 4th century and his map shows that they are found in small numbers not only in England and South Wales but also along the European frontier of the Roman Empire, along the Rhine and Danube rivers. They are also discussed by Stuart Laycock on the webpage www.lateromanbuckles.org.uk, where he shows a number that have been found in Britain. Among buckles with integral triangular plates, those with kidney-shaped frames seem rarer than those with D-shaped frames, both in England and on the Continent. Two further examples with a concave edge can be seen on the PAS database at ESS-E52552 and SF10430, and there are also two with D-shaped frames at GLO-FA9938 and NARC-C6E5B8. | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
buckle
Incomplete cast copper-alloy buckle with…
-
BUCKLE
Incomplete cast copper-alloy late Roman…
-
BUCKLE
Incomplete cast copper-alloy late Roman…
-
BUCKLE
Copper-alloy cast buckle frame and…
-
Buckle
Incomplete cast copper-alloy late Roman…
-
Buckle
Incomplete cast copper-alloy late Roman…
-
BUCKLE
Cast copper-alloy buckle with D-shaped…
-
BUCKLE
Cast copper-alloy buckle with kidney-shaped…
-
BUCKLE
Copper-alloy cast buckle frame and…
-
BUCKLE
A cast copper-alloy buckle with…
|