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Description: | Early Medieval cast copper-alloy openwork zoomorphic scabbard chape of similar design to Thomas Class A strap end. The chape is cast as one piece, roughly triangular in plan and section, with a hollow slot down the centre. There is a solid zoomorphic terminal at the base with brow ridge, indented eyes and indent on the muzzle. Above the terminal are three transverse incised lines. Above the lines the chape is hollow with plain sides apart from elongated trapezoid cutout slots in the middle of each side. The slots echo the shape of the chape, wider at the top than the bottom. Both have wear on the hole at the base. The front slot is worn on just one edge whilst the base of the slot on the back has worn into an oval shape. The upper edge is plain and just below it on both faces are two circular attachment holes for rivets. It measures 37.3 mm long, 12.1mm wide, 3.3mm thick and weighs 5.96g.This piece is unusual as the hollow shape suggests a chape but the thinness and the position of the two rivets would preclude the tip of a blade going into it. It may be a purely decorative chape on a scabbard to make it look longer. Alternatively it maybe a more robust strap end for a thicker strap than the usual solid plate with split attachment end. It is also not clear what could have caused the wear in the slot. Wear in this position suggests the scabbard or strap ended before this point and something was tied through the slot. It is probably similar in date to Class A strap ends, e.g. 9th century with some late 8th and early 10th century examples. This artefact has been published in Naylor ed. (2013, 276; Fig. 8b). Three other examples of chapes which are also similar in design to Early Medieval strap ends, but like this example are hollow, are known on the database: SUR-4EA842, ESS-6DBA05 and SUR-6D7060. This have been published (ibid., 275-278).
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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