The fragment of a Roman sword belt tip is the only find of its kind from the chernozem region of Russia. The object was discovered in the Belgorod region during the field collections conducted by the Middle Seym expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2010–2011, under the leadership of Oleg Alexandrovich Radyush. In 2012, the artifact was transferred to the collections of the Kursk Museum of Archaeology. The preserved fragment of the belt tip measures 6.8 by 4.8 centimeters and features a decorative pattern with a vegetal motif.

For the late Roman period and the era of the Migration Period in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, iconographic evidence records two ways of wearing a sword on belt straps — the “Roman” and “Iranian” methods. Based on iconographic material, it is assumed that in the Roman Empire the dominant method was wearing the sword on a belt over the shoulder. Such belts were known already in the early periodand were also well represented in the late Roman times. In the 1st–2nd centuries, Roman soldiers typically hung a sword in its scabbard on their belt on the right side. A dagger was usually worn on the left side, attached to the belt. As the length of the blade increased, the Romans began to hang the scabbard on the left side and lower than before. At the beginning of the 3rd century, the sword belts became much wider and were often decorated with bronze plates.

Two fully preserved sword belts, each with two phalerae, were found in Thorsberg, Denmark. One example measures 1,055 millimeters in length and 91 millimeters in width, with the wide end cut in the shape of a heart and equipped with a pierced bronze plate. A bronze phalera, through which the narrow end of the belt strap was passed and fixed, was located 20 centimeters from the wide edge. For the late Empire, the “Iranian” way of carrying a sword, attached to a belt with belt straps, is more clearly documented than for earlier times. At the same time, porphyry statues of emperors and diptychs of high-ranking officials testify to the spread of “Iranian” sword belts among the ruling Roman elites. It is quite possible that this was one manifestation of a certain “eastern, ” Iranian style, which affected some aspects of wearing military equipment.