Suspender Buckles? Need help in dating a cemetery!

[Psymplemind]

Hi All,


I know its a little out of the norm for the community but I need help in identifying/dating an artifact for the purposes of dating a burial we excavated in NC. Don't worry, not grave-robbing (nothing is being sold/everything is being repatriated). We were contacted by the descendants of a lost family cemetery (recently recovered but in ruin) to analyze the internments.


I had originally thought the graves were late 18th to early 19th century because there was no coffin hardware (just plain wood) except cut nails and the only personal artifacts were bone buttons. All these feature indicate burial prior to the Civil War because it precedes the beautification of death that comes about mid to late 1800s. However, in one of the graves we found two metal artifacts on either side of the lower spine. After some cleaning they look like fasteners, possibly suspender or waist adjusters based on location.





The artifacts are heavily corroded and obscure any stamps. Corrosion indicates its iron or an iron alloy if it helps. Having the worst time figuring this out on my own so thought I'd ask around. If anyone has any insights or reference links I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

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[jewelerguy]

they don't look like suspender buckles to me. If the burial was pre-civil war, such as the 1820's to 1840's for example, I would suspect they are from a waist coat, especially if the deceased is known to be a male

 

[Psymplemind]

Thanks for the reply! He was a male, early 20s based on skeletal analysis, from a wealthy plantation family. However, all burials were unmarked so no idea when actual death occured. We have the tentative date based on the other stuff but its subjective and could very well be civil war era.

Any idea where i could look for similar buckles/waist coat artifacts?

 

[grasshopper]

I didn't look through thoroughly but you may want to check this out for some reference:

http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Whitehead.pdf

A lot of these pre-date your suspected time range but you might get some idea as to what was used for.

 

[DCMatt]

My first thought was "clog clasp". This one is early 19th C.

 

[Carolina Tom]

If you use electrolysis on the objects, you might be able to better ID them. I agree that they aren't suspender buckles.

Good luck!

 

[grasshopper]

The fact they were found on either side of the lower spine must mean something...could the stuff inside the coffin have moved around after he was buried?

 

[Psymplemind]

Burial did not look disturbed so unlikely. I put one into electrolysis so hopefully get some details