BELT BUCKLE
Bone rings have been found in many British graves, often at the waist, and therefore interpreted as belt rings. Each ring is roughly 3-4 cm in diameter, with deep grooves running around the outside and a ‘V’ perforation at one side which, presumably, a thong or part of the belt was threaded.
To fasten my reconstruction, the end of the belt is threaded through the bone ring twice then passed into the hole to hang down. This provides a firm belt fastening. In graves without belt rings, there are sometimes ‘magnifying glass' shaped loops with a handle extension, surely carrying out the same function. For graves with no belt fastening the person’s clothes may have hung loose, or been held by a fabric tie much as the Danish mound graves have shown. I fashioned my belt ring from a beef bone picked up at a pet shop. |