King’s Lynn detectorist unearths warrior’s gold scabbard stud

The boss would have been mounted on to a thick rim of white organic material such as bone, ivory or antler, which has long since vanished.

Dr Geake, who is Norfolk’s finds liaison officer, said there is little evidence of how they would have been used – which is why Mr Mortimer’s research is helpful.

“They are never identical – even the two found on the Sutton Hoo sword are slightly different from each other,” she added.

She speculated it might have been a peace band, which were referenced in the Norse Sagas. The sagas retell stories from the Viking era, but were written hundreds of years after the events, from 1200 onwards, external.

“Unfastening a peace band is something you had to do before taking a sword out of a scabbard… to make someone go through a step before taking out their sword, to stop violence erupting quickly,” Dr Geake said.