STRAP FITTING

An incomplete late Iron Age or early Roman (100 BC - AD 100) copper alloy strap union/ junction, perhaps from harness. Both strap bars survive only very fragmentally.
The body is formed by two large crescents that meet their points to form an oval frame. Both crescents are plano-convex in section, being flat to the reverse and c.5.5mm thick. The area between the crescents is circular in shape (17.0mm diameter) and outlined by a deep groove. Within are three raised pointed-ovals (also of plano-convex cross-section and 4.9mm thick) arranged equidistantly around the inner edge, creating a central flat triangle, the corners of which extend to the edge of the frame (between the pointed ovals). The body of the frame is undecorated to the reverse.
Within the frame are two further geometric motifs that join one another to form a band of decoration across the centre. The motif on the left comprises two crescents that join to form a circle; the frame of this tapers at the left side. Offset at this tapered end is a pellet in ring motif; the ring also tapers to the left. A thick crescent extends from the bottom right of this motif to join the motif to the side of the larger frame on the right side. This crescent is angled so that the convex surface faces downwards. The second motif extends from the right side of the crescent, and comprises a vertical crescent with pellet in ring at the bottom right. The area above this is filled with a recessed base layer of copper alloy. A similar base layer is also seen in the middle at the junction between the left and right motifs.
Two sub-oval discs extend turned through 90 degrees from each crescent to either side of the main frame. These are very worn and cap either end of the strap-bars, although only stumps of the bars remain. The strap-bars are of circular cross-section and measure 2.5mm in diameter.
The metal is dark brown in colour, shiny and lightly pitted to the front and centre, but otherwise is quit heavily pitted, revealing a bluey-green corrosion beneath. The object measures 35.4mm in length, 31.2mm in width, 8.9mm in max.thickness (at the strap-bar caps) and weighs 18.99g.