Original scientific paper

A contribution to understanding S-shaped clasps

Mato Ilkić
Ivica Ćurković

Abstract

In this article the authors examine ten until-now unknown S-shaped
clasps which were found during various earth works at
several sites in Croatia and neighbouring countries. Since this
is a rare type of artefact - only several dozen are known to exist
- more recent discoveries greatly contribute, among other things,
to knowledge on their typology and distribution. Little is known
about this type of archaeological material. Often precise data on
the sites and circumstances of discovery for this group of artefacts
is missing, making interpretation difficult. Scholars have dated
older artefacts of this type differently, generally attributing them
to the period of the Migration Period. The prevailing view in the
scholarly literature is that this type of archaeological artefact
should be attributed to the Ostrogoths. However, the authors of
this article highlight several facts which indicate that S-shaped
clasps should be attributed to the Roman provincial heritage of
the third and fourth centuries. The portrayal of the serpentine
head with gaping mouth and a crest above it is a frequent figural
decoration often found on such clasps, and it was not unknown
in the Roman world. Moreover, this portrayal of a dragon (draco)
was an integral component of a type of battle standardmilitary of this ancient superpower. Also, this serpentine head
was often used to decorate numerous and widespread buckles
which certainly belong to Late Antiquity. Finally, an exceptionally
important discovery to date S-shaped clasps was made in a certain
lesser known Roman grave discovered in Bosiljevo. Such a clasp
was found together with an anchor-shaped fibula, a type that
dates the entire grave unit to the early third century at the latest.

Keywords

S-shaped clasps; dragon (draco); Roman era; Solin (Salona); Podgrađe (Asseria); Sotin (Cornacum); Popovac; Đakovo; Bosiljevo; Bijeljina; Šid

Hrčak ID:

31108

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/31108

Publication date:

1.12.2008.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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