Belt buckle, disc design

European Museums, The British Museum

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Belt buckle with solar disc design, transition from pagan to Christian

Beliefs in transition

These objects reflect the Anglo-Saxons' transition from pagan to Christian beliefs during the A.D. 600s. Fish, depicted on the fine buckle and circular mount, were an early Christian symbol but had also been used in pagan times. The gold disc pendant shows four face masks familiar from traditional art, but their cross-shaped arrangement implies a Christian meaning. The crosses represented on the gold and garnet pendants, silver pin, copper alloy buckle and pendants are more overly Christian.

A.D. 600s. Crundale Down, Kent, 1893,0601.204. Hardingstone, Hampshire, on load from  Hunt Museum Ireland Ash, Kent, 1862,0701.16 Wilton, Norfolk, 1859,0521.1. Sittingbourne,

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Belt buckle with solar disc design

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Source:  London, United Kingdom