Belt buckle - Cu Alloy - Medieval times - France

Belt buckle - Cu Alloy - Medieval times - France

Belt buckle

TOUZEAU. Julie (Laboratoire MATERIA VIVA, Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France)

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Credit Materia Viva, J.Touzeau.

Fig. 1: Belt buckle before restoration with brown and green corrosion products, from Saint-Jean cemetery, Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France,

Credit Materia Viva, J.Touzeau.

Fig. 2: Part of the belt buckle after restoration, from Saint-Jean cemetery, Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France,

Credit Materia Viva, C.Gargam.

Fig. 3: X-ray radiography of the belt buckle showing different densities between the buckle (massive), the plate (sheet) and two massives rivets,

Complete belt buckle covered with green and brown/reddish corrosion products.

clothing element

Saint-Jean cemetery, Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France

Excavation 2003

Medieval times

Soil

Musée Saint-Raymond, Toulouse

Musée Saint-Raymond, Toulouse

ISO 1864, SEP 1243

Mechanical removal of the corrosion products and protection with resin paraloid B72 in acetone.

Complementary information

None.

Credit Materia Viva, J.Touzeau.

Fig. 4: The red square indicates the location of the analysed area by binocular observation. Picture showing restoration in progress,

The schematic representation below gives an overview of the corrosion structure encountered on the buckle from a first visual macroscopic observation.

 

Strata Type of stratum Principal characteristics
S1 Sediment light brown sediment with inclusions of silica grains
CP1 Corrosion product powdery, porous medium green corrosion product
CP2 Corrosion product discontinuous, cohesive, brown corrosion product
M1 Metal discontinuous fine layer of gold
CP3 Corrosion product continuous layer of compact red corrosion product
M2 Metal

compact metal


Table 1: Description of the principal characteristics of the strata as observed under binocular and described according to Bertholon's method. Gilded incisions are between CP2 and CP3.

Credit Materia Viva, J.Touzeau.

Fig. 5: Stratigraphic representation of the corrosion structure of the belt buckle by macroscopic and binocular observation with indication of the corrosion structure used to buils the MiCorr stratigraphy of Fig. 6 (blue rectangle),

Fig. 6: Stratigraphic representation of the corrosion structure of the belt buckle observed macroscopically under binocular microscope using the MiCorr application with reference to Fig. 5. The characteristics of the strata are only accessible by clicking on the drawing that redirects you to the search tool by stratigraphy representation, credit Materia Viva J.Touzeau.

None.

Cu Alloy

Unknown

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Complementary information

None.

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None.

The metal is a copper-based alloy.

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Cu

Complementary information

None.

The metal is covered with thick brown and green corrosion products.

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Complementary information

None.

None.

Usually, belt buckles were made of a copper-based alloy whose surface was entirely covered with gold, but wear due to burial and the development of corrosion led to partial preservation of the gold, only in the incised areas and under the rivet (as it was protected from abrasion). Binocular observation therefore shows these areas where the gold has been preserved and demonstrates that the original surface must have been between CP2 and M1 or between CP3 and CP2 when the gold disappeared.

Reference on objet and sample

1. Barrère, M. and Rey-Delqué, M., Archéologie et vie quotidienne au XIIIe-XIVe siècles en Midi-Pyrénées, exhibition catalogue, Toulouse, Musée des Augustins, 1990, p. 208-215.