Buckle frame. Hawkes and Dunning (1961) Type IIa. Cast zoomorphic frame comprising a pair of stylised dolphins of angular form with jaws agape, facing each other and with a human mask, possibly helmeted, between them. In the flat back there is a rounded hollow behind the mask. The oval-ended loop bears a basal spur, probably one of a pair. This falls into a class of belt buckles and fittings associated with the Late Roman military (Hawkes and Dunning 1961; Leahy, K. 2007, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey, Tempus, Stroud, fig. 6, especially no. 9; Leahy1984, 'Late Roman and Early Germanic Metalwork from Lincolnshire', in Field, N. and White. A. (eds), A Prospect of Lincolnshire, F N Field & A J White, Lincoln, pages 23-32, fig. 2 no. 15). An initial interpretation linking them to the settlement of Germanic Foederati has been superseded by a view of such fittings as associated with territorial troops whose units may have been defined by affinity to persistent tribal divisions in Roman Britain. The head motif is enticingly Celtic, while the dolphins are established as a Roman motif, though the proximity of the East Coast is a reminder of its suitability as an emblem of a naval or marine unit. One such is recorded as being withdrawn from Brough on Humber to an inland base at Malton. Suggested date: Late Roman, 350-450.

Length: 46.7mm, Height: 30.5mm, Thickness: 5.8mm, Weight: 4.85gms.