A prettier find is not always a better find

Among the archaeological finds, metal detectors have been used to discover not only complete artefacts but also their fragments. In rare cases, semi-finished pieces of these objects can also be found. Their occurrence is very important for the study of society and settlement and represents evidence of a specialised craft - metalworking.

We have probably all heard the phrase "This isn't even nice, it's not even worth wearing to an archaeologist". I hear it most often when I find broken clasps, like when someone shows me a broken catcher or the actual coiling of a needle. A broken clasp is still an artifact and a "point" on the map of the region's settlement, just like a whole clasp. It may not be whole, but its shape is usually a clue to what type of clasp it is. And if we know the type of buckle, we can even place it chronologically within the Roman period, for example, at 50-100 years. Long gone are the days of museums as cabinets of curiosities and only the top pieces.

In the first example (FIG. 1) we can see that even a mere clasp catcher will determine the shape of the entire clasp and is therefore almost fully indicative of the whole object. It is therefore possible to classify and evaluate the find even with a fragment.
Zeman, T. 2017. Evidence of surface prospection. Olomouc.

The whole gallery of detector findings of buckles and their fragments by collaborators of archaeological institutions is also available in the Digital Archive of the Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic (you can play with the filter of the findings)

Now to the second, very important group of "unsightly" finds. These are semi-finished objects. Semi-finished objects that have been cast, but have not been finished - e.g. sharp edges are not knocked off, holes are not drilled, the object lacks bending to the final shape. Or they are rejects that were created by a faulty casting process. Although these unfinished and mostly unsightly finds seem unimportant, the opposite is true. In most cases, they may be evidence of local metallurgical activity (hand in hand with the presence of slag or ingots). It should be noted that evidence of such activity is not common in archaeology and the 'catching' of such finds is important. And now to the examples.

At Hradisko u Mušova, two peg-shaped pins were found in the workshop area during archaeological research (FIG. 2). The uncleaned edges, which were created by casting bronze into a two-part caddy, are visible in the picture.

Komoróczy, B. 2008:Burgstall near Musov in the light of excavations in 1994-2007. In: Droberjar, E. - Komoróczy, B. - Vachůtová, D. (eds.): Barbarian settlements. Chronological, economic and historical aspects of their development in the light of new archaeological research (Archaeology of the Barbarians 2007). Proceedings of the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS Brno 37. Brno, 391-438.

Among the detector finds, I mention a semi-product of a Germanic buckle with a high catch (FIG. 3) and a semi-product of a Roman-Provincial peltoid military buckle from a cingulum (FIG. 4). The images are taken from the Virtual Museum of the Centre for Research on the Roman Period and the Migration of Peoples of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, in. v. i. - Archaeology - Mušov and from the Digital Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic:

https://digiarchiv.aiscr.cz/id/M-202101534-N00321
https://www.archeologiemusov.cz/virtualni-muzeum/exponat/387-polotovar-spony/
https://www.archeologiemusov.cz/virtualni-muzeum/exponat/60-prezka/

It's been a year since we discussed the finds of a colleague named "Cucino" - he's here on Hunters with us. We're looking at an article of a Latina woman's belt and I say "See those edges? That's an unpolished blank, this is what comes from casting." Well, looking at the other finds, we've already seen that "this is something interesting". So Honza continues to walk the site and the whole site will be further investigated. A good amount of blanks have already been collected and the first "package" of finds has already been published (FIG. 5). Here we can see several belt links that either have not been finished (bordered), or are missing a hole, or are defective casts. We read in the article that this find supports the theory of the decentralization of some production areas away from the main Latenian centers. Honza's find has pushed the state of research very far forward again.

Goláňová, P. - Hlava, M. 2021: Something went wrong: on the bronze chain-belt rejects from Čejkovice (Hodonín District, CZ). Robak/M. Ruttkay (eds.): Slovenská archeológia - Supplementum 2, Celts - Germans - Slavs. A Tribute Anthology to Karol Pieta. Nitra, 121-127.

Each, albeit inconspicuous, find refines the knowledge of the region and can help in the study of the region. Whether it is a look at the local settlement and craftsmanship, or the economic system of an entire culture in the past.

Zdeněk Omelka
Archeo Moravia z.s.
www.archeomoravia.cz
www.spolupracuji.cz

FIG. 1. Distinctly articulated clasps with trapezoidal feet and their fragments. Zeman 2017. Evidence from surface prospection.

FIG. 2. Semi-finished piece of a cotter pin. Komoróczy 2008: The hillfort (Burgstall) near Musov in the light of excavations in 1994-2007.

FIG. 3. Semi-finished Germanic buckle with high catch. https://digiarchiv.aiscr.cz/id/M-202101534-N00321

FIG. 4. Semi-finished Roman-Provincial military buckle. https://www.archeologiemusov.cz/virtualni-muzeum/exponat/60-prezka/

FIG. 5. Semi-finished and cast bronze waste from the casting of the Latenian belt links. Goláňová - Hlava 2021: Something went wrong: on the bronze chain-belt rejects from Čejkovice (Hodonín District, CZ).