Archaeometric investigations of eagle-head buckles from Bulgaria
Abstract
Eagle-head buckles (Adlerkopfschnallen) are among the artefacts from the final stage of the Migration Period. Different types of eagle-head buckles were worn during the 5th–7th centuries AD, mainly by east germanic tribes. The elemental composition of eight buckles has been determined using ED-XRF. The results show that buckles were produced from brass (with 12–25% zinc). Two of the analysed objects are characterized by extremely high silver contents (10–15%). Some aspects of the production technology are elucidated on the basis of results of metallographic investigations.
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References
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Craddock P T 1985, ‘Medieval cooper alloy production and West African bronze analyses’, Archaeometry 27, 17–41.
Craddock P T 2001, ‘Conservative metal alloying traditions in the migration period’, Acta Metallurgica Slovaca 7, 175–181.
Craddock P T and Lambert J 1985, ‘The composition of the trappings’, in I Jenkins, ‘A group of silvered-bronze horse-trappings from Xanten (Castra Vetera)’, Britannia 16, 141–164.
Craddock P T, La Niece S and Hook D 1990, ‘Brass in the medieval Islamic world’, in P T Craddock (ed), 2000 Years of Zinc and Brass (London: British Museum Occasional Paper 50), 73–101.
Criss J W and Birks L S 1968, ‘Calculation methods for fluorescent X-ray spectrometry, empirical coefficients vs. Fundamental parameters’, Anal Chem 40, 1080–1086.
Gegus E 1997, ‘Micro-spectrochemical analysis methods of ancient copper alloys and the organ of Aquincum’, in H Eggebrecht (ed), Proc Symp ‘Organ of Classical Antiquity. The Aquincum Organ AD 228’ (Kleinblittersdorf), 92–98.
Gilmore G R 1980, ‘The alloy of Northumbrian coinage in the mid-ninth century’, in D M Metcalf and W A Oddy (eds), Metallurgy in Numismatics 1 (London), 83–98.
Gilmore G R 1987, ‘Metal analyses of Northumbrian stycas’, in M Metcalf (ed), Coinage in 9th Century Northumbria (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 180), 159–170.
Gilmore G R and Metcalf D M 1998, ‘Neutron activation using a reactor’, in A Oddy and M Cowell (eds), Metallurgy in Numismatics (London), 1–14.
Hook D and Craddock P T 1997, ‘The scientific analysis of the cooper-alloy lamps: Aspects of classical alloying practices’, in D M Bailey, A Catalogue of the Lamps in the British Museum,
IV. Lamps of Metal and Stone, and Lampstands (London), 144–163.
Jackson R P J and Craddock P T 1995, ‘The Ribchester hoard: A descriptive and technical study’, in B Raftery (ed), Sites and Sights of the Iron Age (Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 56), 75–102.
Lutz J and Pernicka E 1996, ‘Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of ancient copper alloys: Empirical values for precision and accuracy’, Archaeometry 38, 312–323.
Moesta H and Franke P R 1995, Antike Metallurgie und Münzprägung (Basel).
Mortimer C 1991, ‘Northern European metalworking traditions in the fifth and sixth centuries AD’, in P Budd, B Chapman, C Jackson, R Janaway and B Ottaway (eds), Archaeological
Sciences 1989 (Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 9), 162–168.
Riederer J 1975, ‘Metallurgische Untersuchung ostgotischen Trachtzubehöres und ihre Auswertung’, in V Bierbrauer (ed), Die ostgotischen Grab- und Schatzfunde in Italien (Spoleto), 231–238.
Tejral J 1988, ‘Zur Chronologie der frühen Völkerwanderungszeit im mittleren Donauraum’, Archäologia Austriaca 72, 223–304.
Vagalinski L, Atanassov G and Dimitrov D 2000, ‘Eagle-Head Buckles from Bulgaria (6th–7th centuries)’, Archaeologia Bulgarica 4(3), 78–91.
Werner J 1956, Beiträge zur Archaeologie des Attila-Reiches (München).
Werner O 1977, ‘Analysen mittelalterlicher Bronzen und Messinge, Teil I. Werkstoffe und Analysen’, Archäologie und Naturwissenschaften 1, 144–220.
How to Cite
Archaeometric investigations of eagle-head buckles from Bulgaria. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 36(2), 77-83. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/264
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How to Cite
Archaeometric investigations of eagle-head buckles from Bulgaria. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 36(2), 77-83. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/264