STRAP END

A cast copper alloy strap end or harness pendant. The artefact has two integral components, and incomplete body and a split arm. The body is a sub-trapezoid with a broken lower edge. The upper narrowed edge of the body is slightly off-set at the sides and has rounded corners. The none broken edges to the body are rounded. The body is decorated with seven sub-circular perforations which appear to be purely decoratevie than functional. The upper surface of the body is also cast with a high-relief curvaceous inter lacing design. The reverse is flat. Protruding from the upper edge of the body and integral to it is the split arm. This is the component where the strap would be fitted. In plan the arm forms an elongated 'U' shape and therefore the surfaces are perpendicular to be body. The arm is sub-rectangular in plan with rounded edges. At the upper terminal each plate of the arm has a rivet hole which is filled with a copper alloy rivet. One plate terminal is incomplete. The breaks of this plate and the body are possibly recent. The surface of the artefact has a matte brown colour and is slightly abraded. It measures 57.25mm long, 28.81mm wide and 17.36mm thick. It weighs 10.85g.

The artefact may be a strap-end (as argued by Thomas 2004, his type B6) or a harness pendant (as argued by Williams, in the entry for SUR-D38E82. David Williams has identified the decoration as Urnes-style, giving a date of c. 1040 - c. 1100.

This object is referred to in Naylor & Geake (2011, 290).