Neue Studien zum spätkaiserzeitlichen Prachtschildbuckel von Herpály (Ungarn)

Abstract

New studies concerning the Late Imperial shield boss from Herpály (Hungary)

This article presents a reassessment of a Late Imperial shield boss with long spike (Stangenschildbuckel) from Herpály in Hungary. It was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century in a Sarmatian-context tumulus burial on the Great Hungarian Plain. Its rich decoration, which combines geometric and figural elements, and its golden appearance have sparked over the past century and a half the formulation of numerous opinions, often with ethnic connotations, about its origin and users. Attention was drawn to the heterogeneous cultural aspects reflected in the style and form of the shield boss, which suggest links with northern and central European Germanic finds as well as with provincial Roman and eastern Pontic influences.
The current study had three goals: to reassess the circumstances of discovery, to examine for the first time the materials and techniques used to produce it, and to analyse the artefact in the context of Late Imperial prestige shields. The results show that burial containing the Herpály shield boss can be set alongside several other second- and third-century AD burials in the north-eastern Carpathian Basin, whose grave good (shield bosses, swords, spurs) attest to strong contacts with Northern Europe. The body of the Herpály boss was entirely covered with gilded silver sheets. The X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRFA) indicates that the gilding was by diffusion bonding, a technique that was widespread in Germanic fine metalworking of the Late Roman Empire. The shield boss was gilded in its entirety without any discreet polychrome effects (achieved by a combination of silver or stone insets) known among several parallels (e. g. Thorsberg, Lilla Harg). The technical and stylistic aspects allow the Herpály shield boss to be dated to a timespan bracketed by older exemplars of the third century AD composed of several pieces (e. g. Illerup, Thorsberg Gommern) and more recent examples of the fifth century AD (e. g. Lilla Harg, Vermand, Kerč and Berlin). The Herpály boss is seen as an impressive testimony to the wide-ranging contacts nurtured by the Late Imperial elites of the north-eastern Carpathian Basin.