Бележки за една група късноантични калъпи за производство на оловни изделия с недобре определено предназначение

Notes on a group of Late Аntique moulds for producing lead objects of undefined purpose

Abstract

In the article an attempt is made at determining the date and the nature of a group of numerous but insufficiently known objects – bronze moulds for casting lead spherical objects with diameters most often from 13 to 15 mm. For this purpose, reviewed are a dozen published similar moulds, which their researchers defined as belonging to the Roman period, to the Middle Ages and to the Ottoman period. Attention is
also paid to the vague purpose of the objects, which, according to the individual researchers, were intended for lead buttons, bullets, sling-bullets or for some other vague but military purposes. Based on the data collected about these specific objects and their production, a conclusion is made that they should in general be attributed to the Late Antiquity in the relatively broad boundaries of the 3^rd-4^th centuries and the purpose of their production – spherical shapes weighing around 15-20 grams, could be defined with a great deal of conditionality as sling-bullets. Therefore, it is suggested that, until reliable data is available to confirm this, these objects should be considered „molds for casting lead spherical shapes dating from Late Antiquity“.