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A Fragment of a Gilt-Bronze Buckle Frame from Soham, Cambridgeshire, and the Dune Hoard Belt Buckle in Stockholm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2013

T A Heslop
Affiliation:
T A Heslop, FSA, Wood Farm, Palgrave Road, Great Dunham, King's Lynn PE32 2LN, UK. Email: [email protected]
Steven Ashley
Affiliation:
Steven Ashley, FSA, Historic Environment Service, Norfolk County Council, Union House, Gressenhall, East Dereham NR20 4DR, UK. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

A gilt-bronze belt buckle fragment recently found in Cambridgeshire has its closest parallel in a well-known and better-preserved example now in Stockholm, discovered among the Dune hoard on Gotland. This fourteenth-century deposition contains a wide range of metalwork of mixed date and origin. Scholars have long debated the attributions of many of its constituent pieces, including the belt buckle. The discovery at Soham reinforces the suggestion made sixty years ago by Hanns Swarzenski that the Dune buckle might have come from England rather than Continental Europe. This paper reviews the implications of the recent find for the date and subject matter of the Dune buckle and another buckle from the same period, now in New York.

Résumé

Un fragment de boucle de ceinture en bronze doré trouvé récemment dans le Cambridgeshire se rapproche fortement d'un exemple bien connu et bien conservé qui se trouve actuellement à Stockholm, découvert dans le trésor de Dune, dans le Gotland. Ce dépôt du xive siècle contient une grande diversité d'objets en métal de dates et d'origines variées. Les universitaires débattent depuis longtemps des attributions de beaucoup de ses pièces, notamment de cette boucle de ceinture. La découverte de Soham renforce la suggestion émise il y a soixante ans par Hanns Swarzenski, selon laquelle la boucle de Dune pourrait provenir d'Angleterre et non pas de l'Europe continentale. Cet article examine les implications de cette découverte récente concernant la date et le sujet de la boucle de Dune et d'une autre boucle de la même période, actuellement à New York.

Zusammenfassung

Das jüngst in Cambridgeshire aufgefundene Fragment einer vergoldeten Bronzeschnalle hat sein ähnlichstes Gegenstück in einem gut bekannten und besser erhaltenen Beispiel, das sich jetzt in Stockholm befindet und aus dem Dünenschatz von Gotland stammt. Dieser Hort aus dem 14. Jahrhundert umfasst die verschiedensten Metallarbeiten unterschiedlichen Datums und Ursprungs. Wissenschaftler haben schon lange die Zuordnung der einzelnen Stücke, und darunter auch die der Gürtelschnalle, besprochen. Die Entdeckung in Soham bestärkt das vor sechzig Jahren von Hanns Swarzenski vertretene Argument, dass die Schnalle im Dünenschatz vielleicht aus England und nicht vom europäischen Festland gekommen sein könnte. Diese Abhandlung prüft die Bedeutung, die der jüngste Fund in Bezug auf Datum und Materie der Dünenschnalle und einer anderen, jetzt in New York befindlichen Schnalle aus derselben Zeit, hat.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2013 

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