Fibula?

[le Cavalier Invisible]

Ok, my Roman misc. objects knowledge is a bit rusty.. :oops:

The object in the attachment was described to me as fibula, but after some cleaning, I think it might be something else. (I included one "before" pic, and one really bad X-ray pic, the other ones are the object as it is right now.)
It might be in B&C's RME, but I can't really remember.. :roll:
I´m treating this object for school, it was dug up in Tongeren (BE) a few years ago.

Could somebody please enlighten me?
Sources would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance guys!

[jvrjenivs]

Could be a strap connector from a Cavalry harnass, I would say.

http://www.rmo.nl/collectie/zoeken?object=e+1931/2.276
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12892006/Caval...Century-AD

[Simplex]

...even more pics here .... if you scroll down a bit there, that is .....
http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/3456/1/Si...istina.pdf
BTW: They do refer to one certain M. Bishop here. So it must be good. :mrgreen:

Greez

Simplex

[caiusbeerquitius]

Is there any provenance for the object?

[markusaurelius]

Looks to me like a Dolphin shaped 4th Century Sword Scabbard slide, slightly bent. The two pegs to hold it to the wood, and the one extended end to loops the Baldric around.

The one below on the right seems to be a pretty close variation.

[le Cavalier Invisible]

Great input, keep it coming!

The scabbard slide might be a good option indeed.

I'll look into the options provided so far.

[Peroni]

Looks to me like a scabbard slide as well. If it is a Dolphin it's likely to be 3rd Century onwards.

Like this perhaps...

[PhilusEstilius]

It looks very much like the hinged portion of half a sword baldric fastener, where the two pins would have gone through the leather.
The hole near the hinge has an elongated opening to it where the lower half of the baldric hook would have been put through at a 90% angle, the two side pins of the hook would have prevented the fastener from coming loose.

[Crispvs]

I agree that it looks most likely to be a scabbard slide. Width-wise it does resemble a cavalry harness fastener (please note that, as has been known for many years now, these items are NOT baldric fasteners) but I don't see evidence of the hinge which we would expect to see on such a fastener.
Do we know anything about the context of the find?

Crispvs

[le Cavalier Invisible]

Thanks so far! More documentaion is always appreciated!

I'm not sure how much information I can provide, I just got the file from the dig. I'll see if I can give any more information. But from what I saw so far it wasn't much..

Other metal objects: decoration from a chest, a bronze bell, rings, keys, medical/cosmetical tools, a hairpin(?), and some fibulae.

Hope that helps..

[Medicus matt]

I don't think that it's a scabbard slide. Look at the angle of the pins; if you imagine trying to recreate the sort of curvature you'd need for a slide (reversing the current curvature that was presumably caused by compression whilst it was in the ground), the pins would be angled in at least 45 degrees and neither the head or tail would lie flush with the surface of the scabbard. Don't know what it is, but it doesn't really look like any slider I've seen. Looks like the whole thing was designed to lie flat against something. Could be more furniture/chest decoration.

[PhilusEstilius]

Matt.

I think I must agree with what you have to say about the pins, in fact those pins look as if they were meant to go thro' leather and where the whole thing was being held by Bellcaps on the underside of a baldric strap.

[le Cavalier Invisible]

Ok guys, I finally got some better X-rays!

As you can see, there actually is a hinge, hidden in the corrosion crusts!

That points more in the direction of a cavalry harness, right?

[PhilusEstilius]

It could be from cavalry harness however I still consider it might well be a baldric type fastener or half of one, for those who would think scabbard slider they would have to convince me of just how those pins at the under side were fixed.

[Medicus matt]

I think the fact that it's hinged means we can safely put the 'scabbard slide' theory to bed.