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BUCKLE
Unique ID: BERK-AE3600
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
An incomplete cast copper alloy zoomorphic buckle dating to the late Roman period, c. AD 350-450. The buckle would have been D shaped in plan, with moulded decoration on the outer frame in the shape of two crested dolphins with open mouths opposing each other. There is a thin collar seperating the two animals' mouths. A double annulet represents am eye of each animal, and an incised saltire crossed the open mouth. A linear indentation defines the dolphins' crest. Most of the loop of the buckle frame is missing. The reverse is flat, plain and undecorated.
This buckle can be classified as a Hawkes and Dunning Type IIA and is typical of the so-called 'Soldiers and settlers' material of the late 4th to early 5th century (Hawkes and Dunning 1961, page 53). Other examples can be seen in Appels and Lacock 2007, page 168, number 169 and Bishop and Coulston 2006, page 219, number 6.
Class:
Late Roman
Sub class: IIa
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: ROMAN
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Exactly AD 350
Date to: Circa AD 450
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 36.3 mm
Width: 23.7 mm
Thickness: 2.7 mm
Weight: 3.9 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 3rd September 2017
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: 2017.322
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Fragment
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)
District: West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Chieveley (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU4573
Four figure Latitude: 51.45420011
Four figure longitude: -1.35375932
1:25K map: SU4573
1:10K map: SU47SE
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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