NMGW-9210B8: Late Roman copper alloy zoomorphic buckle, probably 4th to early 5th century.

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BUCKLE

Unique ID: NMGW-9210B8

Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow status: Published Find published

Late Roman to early Medieval copper alloy buckle of Hawkes and Dunning Type IB (1961) of late 4th to early 5th century AD date. The buckle is missing the pin, but is otherwise complete and has an overall length of 17.2mm and a width of 13.1mm. The buckle is D-shaped with protruding zoomorphic decoration, comprising back-to-back horse head decoration positioned on the outside edge of the frame. The features of the horse are defined by incised lines representing the mane and mouth and punched ring-and-dot for the eye. The outside edge of the frame has moulded decoration and two punched ring-and dot motifs, probably representing a slightly devolved face-to-face dolphin design. The sides of the frame are decorated with repeated U-shaped punched motif. The bar is of circular section with a 2mm diameter. The rear of the buckle is flat and plain. The buckle weighs 3.1g and has a maximum thickness at the outside edge of the frame of 3.1mm. The buckle has a pale green patina with good surface preservation. The buckle can be paralleled with examples recorded by Hawkes & Dunning (1961) as type 1B and illustrated as examples a-m (p46-47, Fig. 15).

Class: Zoomorphic
Sub class: Hawkes and Dunning Type IB

Subsequent actions

Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology

Broad period: ROMAN
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: ROMAN
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 350
Date to: Circa AD 450

Dimensions and weight

Quantity: 1
Length: 17.2 mm
Width: 13.1 mm
Thickness: 3.1 mm
Weight: 3.1 g

Discovery dates

Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 1st February 2005

Personal details

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Other reference numbers

Other reference: NMGWPA 2005.69.2

Materials and construction

Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete

Spatial metadata

Region: South East (European Region)
County or Unitary authority: Buckinghamshire (County)
District: Aylesbury Vale (District)
Parish or ward: Whitchurch (Civil Parish)

References cited

Author Publication Year Title Publication Place Publisher Pages Reference
Hawkes, S.C. and Dunning, G.C. 1961 Soldiers and Settlers, fourth to fifth century: with a catalogue of animal-ornamented buckles and related belt-fittings, Medieval Archaeology 5 London The Society for Medieval Archaeology 1-71

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Timeline of associated dates

Audit data

Recording Institution: NMGW
Created: 18 years ago
Updated: 11 years ago

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