Късноантични или късносредновековни? За един тип коланни закопчалки с s-овидна форма

Late Antiquity or Late Medieval? About S-Shaped Belt Clasps

Abstract

The article reviews the scholarly literature in which the same type of S-shaped clasps is simultaneously referred as Late antique or Late medieval. The arguments for both hypotheses are analyzed: they were attributed to the Late Antiquity based on stylistic similarities with the S-shaped Roman fibulae, while the Late medieval examples were recorded in archaeological contexts. In conclusion the artefacts should be considered as Late medieval with a large chronological span from the 15^th/16^th to the 17^th/18^th c. It was also discussed that a large range of topics should be examined, such as: their origin, precise chronology, global distribution, completing the thesis of their functionality and the social affiliation of their owners, as well as the need to develop a typology.