File:Medieval copper alloy cast zoomorphic square buckle. (FindID 189324).jpg

English: Early Medieval copper-alloy ornate square buckle frame. The upper surface of 3 sides is generally flat, so that these sides are broadly rectangular in section. The pin bar is circular in section and the pin is present.

The buckle is highly decorated, with a zoomorphic head at each corner. The heads are raised and are joined to the sides and extend beyond the frame terminating at the snout of the animal. Each head has deeply recessed eye sockets with central raised narrow ovals to represent closed eyes. behind the eyes each head is decorated with a series of longitudinal grooves and raised ridges.

The lower horizontal part of the frame where the pin reaches is decorated with vertical lines. There is a small recess where the point of the pin sits.

The two vertical sides appear to have had horizontal incised lines on the surface for decoration but this has mostly worn away, and only survives on one edge.

A very similar rectangular buckle has been recorded on the database previously as HAMP-BA9FC0. The type is more common, however, in D-shaped form with three animal heads, and examples of these can be seen on the PAS database at SF7560, SF-9F02E3, SF-79DAF8, SF-76F478, NMS-9B0AC7 and CORN-EC5F13. An example from Old Sarum, although not from a dated context, is in the Ashmolean Museum (Hinton 1974, no. 32). They appear on art-historical grounds to date from the 9th to 11th centuries.