Towards manufacturing technology: Balteus belt-fittings from the Wielbark culture cemetery in Linowo (Poland)

•The non-noble items of the belt-fittings are not homogeneous in the alloy type.•Some items of the belt-fittings from Linowo were alloyed from re-melted denarii.•Attaching the Au-Ag foils with Sn-Pb solder by the Barbarian metalworkers.•The belt-fittings reflect the Barbarian bricoleur style in the metalworking praxis.

This study characterizes extraordinary Balteus belt-fittings recovered from the Wielbark culture cemetery in Linowo (Chełmno land, Poland). The belt-fittings were cast in Cu-alloys and decorated with embossed applications made of noble metals. Among the belt-fittings, some other grave inventory was also placed with the deceased.The metal inventory was described in terms of its composition and structure. The investigations were performed by means of the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF). In order to fingerprint the Balteus belt-fittings manufacturing technology, the investigations involved the employment of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with the energy dispersive X-ray analysis system (EDS) and optical microscopy (OM).The elemental composition indicates the application of two main types of Cu-alloys, i.e. scrap bronze (Cu-Sn, Cu-Sn-Pb, Cu-Pb-Sn) and scrap leaded gunmetal (Cu-Sn-Pb-Zn). It has been established that the Barbarian metalworkers were familiar with embossing the Au-Ag foils and made themselves capable of attaching them to a metal background with Sn-Pb solder. Based on the metallographic data, the reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire used for manufacturing the belt-fittings was implemented in this study as well.