During archaeological research carried out from 2009 to 2016 in the Church of St. Nicholas in Gniew, a set of three metal buckles was found. Then, in 2017, excavations were conducted in crypts of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Piaseczno, in the Gniew District. Two other pairs of buckles were uncovered at this site. All the buckles found differ considerably. Thanks to this, one can get an impression that apart from holding the shoe on the foot, they also served decorative purposes. One can distinguish two main types of buckles: those made of iron and those made of a copper alloy. The latter, considering ornaments, could be more valuable than their iron counterparts. Regardless of the alloy used, manufacturing techniques differed, some of which were those used in the case of buckles from Gniew and Piaseczno: wire forging, cutting out of thick metal sheet, and folding thin metal sheet.
On account of their jewellery-like character, this small collection of buckles discussed could be bequeathed, while most grave shoes were only fastened with tailor’s pins or put on the feet of the dead without fastening. This practice particularly concerned shoes with textile uppers, which mostly meant women’s shoes. It may suggest that the items in question were rather owned by men. The buckles described could be thus elements of the everyday attire.
Issues connected with a formal and typological interpretation of the buckles found indicate interpretive problems faced by archaeologists dealing with these aspects of costume studies. Modern shoes, due to the scarcity of artefacts in archaeological collections, remain mysterious and puzzling objects.
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