harness loop
Description
HARNESS STRAP JUNCTION.
This fine bronze has two projecting rectangular loops attached to the back, one of which survives. The front is beautifully decorated with a debased S-scroll and two domed mounts, forming a leaf-like pattern. There are two projecting panels to mask the loops at top and bottom, each with smaller domed mounts; the whole has been cast and later tooled with panels incised in the rectangular projections. The mount was a decorative junction for two strap or trace terminals which were attached to the loops. Alternatively, a single trace could have run through the loops and another could have passed at right angles between the mount and the first trace and, in this case, the function would have been to hold the two crossing traces in their relative positions. Another possibility is that the lunate openings could have held trace terminals, but this would have obscured the decoration and there appears to be no indication of wear on the metal; this would not be considered except for the later development of these parts of the mount as rings (as in the Fremington Hagg and Carlisle examples, see below).
These decorative pieces often exhibit fine Celtic craftsmanship, but Roman taste transformed the freedom of the Celtic scroll motif into a debased and standardised symmetry. This tendency is already visible in the Kinneil object and more obviously in other examples. The mounts from Garden Hill, Sussex (Money 1977, fig 5) and the Seven Sisters hoard (Davies & Spratling 1976) have the S motif, although the latter is a highly decorated piece, rich in enamel inlay. There are other examples which show a total absence of any Celtic influence, two of them from Fremington Hagg (Webster 1971, no 78) and Carlisle (MacGregor 1976, no 19), which as above stated, have plain ring-loops. Much smaller and more simplified versions come from Newstead (Curle 1911; MacGregor 1976, nos 24 & 25), Traprain Law (MacGregor 1976, nos 26-29), Middlebie (ibid, nos 22 & 23) and Corbridge (ibid, no 21).
None of these objects has been found in closely dated contexts, but the majority come from northern Britain and so could not be earlier than the Flavian period. The earliest piece is that from the Seven Sisters hoard which, it has been argued, was deposited at the time of Ostorius Scapula, c AD 52 (Webster 1982, 135). This is an exceptionally well decorated example and it is evident that many of the others have become debased and much simpler in design, but this could have occurred over a considerable period. Whether, however, these pieces of harness continued in use into the Antonine period was doubtful, since by then, as Jurgen Oldenstein (1976) has demonstrated, totally different forms were in existence. Such is the general uniformity of military equipment in the Roman army, that it would be necessary to argue that development in Britain was exceptional. Odd pieces of valued equipment could have remained in use as family possessions, but this does not explain the number of finds from the north. The Kinneil piece was found in the demolished rampart debris in the north-east corner of the fortlet in a context which suggests that it comes from the end of the Roman occupation of Scotland c AD 165. The pieces from sites in southern Scotland, such as Newstead, Traprain Law and Dumfriesshire, may also be late.
[Taken from Bailey & Cannel 1996, 318-320]
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Object detail
Dimensions:0 - Whole:W 5.9cm (W 2 5/16")
fortlet
Antonine Wall
coin; Roman
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