Norse belt buckle, Whithorn

D-ringed belt buckle complete with pin and belt-plate. The belt-plate has incised decoration in the form of a central interlace panel, with rope-banded edges. The interlace is the same pattern as that cut on a piece of waste leather from the same site, and is also matched on contemporary stone crosses.  The use of sheet metal for the belt-plate, and the circular marks and rivet remnant indicating the location of a domed boss, now missing, show that ths buckle was made by native craftsmen, as Norse metalworkers tended towards cast objects rather than sheet-working. However the design repertoire is closer to Norse tastes, so it may have been commissioned by a well off Hiberno-Norse man from a local craftsman.