Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 6 - Barbarians of the Roman Age (turn of the millennium-early 5th century A.D.) (Eszter Istvánovits, Valéria Kulcsár)

84. The treasure of a Vandal prince from Osztropataka. 3rd-4th centuries in the 19th century at Herpály is similarly regarded as part of the archaeological heritage of the Vandals (Case 26). The gilt bronze shield boss decorated with mythical creatures in repoussé was fixed onto a wooden shield. One interesting feature of the assemblage is that even though the shield boss itself is a typical piece of Germanic armament, the find context - horse bones and beads were also found in the tumulus grave - is more in line with a Sarmatian burial. While no piece exactly identical to the shield boss is known, the best analogies can be quoted from Scandinavia. This is one of the increasing number of finds indicating that the warrior elites of this period maintained contact with each other from the Don region to Northern Europe (Denmark) and that they shared many cultural elements (reflected in metalwork and artistic style, as well as costume). Signs of the deepening crisis in the Roman Empire became more evident with time. The emperors of the late Roman period had difficulties in organising military supplies and the