ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIELD BOSSES OF THE TYPE DOBRODZIEN

The shield bosses of the type Dobrodzień possess typical longitudinal flutes or facets on the calotte. These artefacts are well known in the Barbaricum, particularly in the Middle Danube area and to the north of the Carpathians, with a few isolated finds documented to the east of the Carpathians, on the eastern Black Sea coast, and on the Roman Empire’s Danubian frontier. The images of the shield bosses of the type Dobrodzień rarely occur on the Roman pictures (the Monza diptych) and on the metalware discovered in the Barbaricum (horse tack plates from Untersiebenbrunn). The period of existence of the shield bosses of the type Dobrodzień as a whole corresponds to 370s – 430s. The article suggests the Roman origin of this weaponry: most likely, it was manufactured in a workshop in the Middle Danube area. Moreover, it is still possible that there were some Germanic prototypes for faceted shield bosses were known in the Germanic context already in the late 1st and 2nd c.