- Chapter Twenty-Two -
of coral. Coral is also found in the bow, as occasionally is red opaque glass pressed
into an S-shaped or geometric cut-out area. While most graves may only have two
or three or a handful of fibulae, there are others with over a dozen, and these may
represent the contents of the incumbent's 'jewel box' rather than reflect the way in
which the fibulae were worn or displayed in life. Although the vast majority of
these fibulae, at least those which have survived, were made in bronze, they also occur
occasionally in silver and gold, and rather more frequently in iron. In the case of the
latter, they are often single fibulae in male graves with weapons.
A characteristic of many La Tene II fibulae is that the foot reaches back to and is
joined to the bow. Although on the continent these are frequently less decorated than
their predecessors, in Britain they develop into the involuted brooches with an
inwardly curved bow and expanded footplate which carries engraved, plastic or
inlaid decoration. In La Tene III the bow and foot are cast together; the catchplate
may be ornamentally pierced, but the bow of the fibulae has generally little or no
decoration until the eve of the Roman era when a certain amount of polychrome
enamel may be inlaid into discs or cut-out areas.
In Ireland and Britain, and to a lesser extent on the Continent, penannular and
annular brooches develop during the later La Tene period; in Ireland, uninterrupted
development of this style through the early centuries of the first millennium AD leads
to the massive and highly ornate silver quoit brooches of the Early Christian period,
with their long pins and occasional inlays of semi-precious stones.
BELTS AND BELT-HOOKS
Although these items should perhaps be seen less as jewellery than as decorated
functional items of clothing, they clearly served as part of the display of personal
adornment and are justifiably included in this chapter. In the Hallstatt period
most of the belts themselves were of leather, with hooks and sometimes decorative
plates attached. The hooks on male belts were frequently in iron, with minimal or no
decoration, but bronze hooks often have geometric designs engraved on them.
Perhaps the most spectacular belt decorations of this earlier Iron Age phase are the
bronze belt-plates attached to broad leather belts, found mainly in female graves,
with their rows of highly decorative stamped patterns, mostly geometric but some
incorporating bird and flower motifs. These can reach widths of 20 cm, and though
they are generally limited to the front part of the belt, and a length of up to 60 cm,
there are examples which are much longer - one from Hallstatt itself is over a metre
long including the hook. In the late Hallstatt period there are also belts decorated
with rows of bronze studs.
In La Tene I the most common belt ornament is a highly decorative, usually
bronze, belt-hook, frequently openwork with a vegetal or animal design, such as the
opposed animals at Somme-Bionne (Marne). Among belt-hooks from some of the
rich graves in the middle Rhine there are also some extraordinarily ornate pieces with
plastic, openwork and/or engraved designs and sometimes coral inlay, such as that
from Weiskirchen. There also develops a series of belt-chains formed of bars with
loops at either end, joined by link-rings, and less frequently plain chains.