How To.. wear the Pugio and Gladius (belts, fasteners)

[caiusbeerquitius]

I was just talking on the phone to Prof. Ubl, who first published the Idrija pri Baci findings. He said that from the position in the grave it is absolutely clear that the button-loop fasteners were used to attach the sword to the belt. He also said that it was unquestionable to him that this group of objects were just this: sword fasteners. Apparently they are quite common in La Tène contexts together with swords, and he said that there are also Late Roman and early medieval parallels. He´s going to send me a copy of his excavation notes in the next weeks (the copy shop in his hometown closed down, and he needs to go somewhere else to make them), as well as his sketches of the helmet.

*edit* we should also call it the Ubl-method, not the Miks-method, for it happened quite often that people read some of the hard-to get Prof.-Ubl publications (Austria) and re-sold the idea again in Germany. IMO the man owns some credit. I don´t want to say that C. Miks did that, but other archaeologists definitely did so several times.

Very nice pieces, Brian!