Made of yew wood and bronze, the artifact is richly decorated with representations of a Roman emperor and a hunting scene.

[5][6] The last decades of the Western Roman Empire and relations with newcomers from "barbarian people" led to a new way of thinking about history.

[8] Barbarian kingdoms were groups of different ethnicities who wanted to join the Roman army and take care of their people.

[9] Northern Gaul had fewer troops to maintain the limes because the elite moved closer to Frankish power.

[10] Christianity replaced this last "legacy of Antiquity," moving the deceased's final resting place closer to the living.

They show a "late-antique cultural mix" with Gallo-Roman funerary rites and burial in traditional clothes.

"[32] Women's graves near these burials had lots of material, including fibulae, necklaces, glass, and wooden tableware.

[35] Archaeologists believe a structure existed a few meters from the first group[36] in a complex dated to the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th centuries.

[32] The use of these coins, weighing close to a silique and found in soldiers' graves, constitutes "without doubt an important milestone in Frankish coinage at the beginning of the 6th century.

[39] The presence of nineteen Caen stone sarcophagi, 'looted or reused,' is a testament to the Christianization of the local community.

[27] The funerary enclosure in the Martray area, "the place of the dead," left its mark on the landscape and people's minds.

The decoration, a captivating blend of political and mythological elements, adds a fascinating dimension to the artifact.

It was probably made by mobile craftsmen from northern France, between the Seine and the Oise, following a "late Roman tradition.

"[43] However, the question of fixed or itinerant workshops remains unanswered, even if several craftsmen must have worked on the objects, given the variety of techniques.

[43] Amélie Vallée raises the question of centralized production and possible diffusion by imitation or the role of contacts between Merovingian elites and other peoples.

[33] The handle is engraved,[48] and the upper band shows the right side of a coin, characters, a rider, and a standing figure[33] with horses and deer[37] (plates 10 and 11 in Pilet, 1990).

[33][49] The bucket's pattern represents a coin mounted in a medallion, a common practice in the 3rd century [50] as a pendant or necklace.

[54][55] Multiples were common during the reign of Valentinian and were intended to reward soldiers and dignitaries of the empire[55] according to an ancient tradition.

A male figure is shown standing, wearing a helmet and a short tunic,[56] holding a standard, the labarum, in his left hand.

The pattern is an artistic creation, although it is based on accurate representations circulating in Gallic workshops[49] at the end of the 4th century.

It depicts a hunt with a stag (a dix-cors) surrounded by four vertagus or vertragus breed dogs, "prized for their speed," as described by Arrien,[61] with a rider carrying a spear.

The buckets were placed in male and female graves, at the feet of the deceased near the head or other body parts, and inside or outside the coffin.

The burials included ceramic, glass, copper alloy, and wooden vessels,[43] adding to the richness and complexity of funerary practices.

The function of these buckets remains as much a mystery as their contents: alcoholic beverages, soup, or fragile objects.

[43] The use of yew wood in the early Middle Ages, including for everyday objects, suggests that it was used for aesthetic or practical reasons.

[43] The buckets could also have been used to deposit food, a widespread custom in Late Antiquity, and continued in the early Christian communities despite opposition from the clerical hierarchy.

[32] The bucket, made at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century,[70] could have been a donativum, a gift from an emperor to his soldiers, given the proximity of the Roman camp at Bénouville,[26] only 7 km away, or to civilian dignitaries.

Gifts could also be belts with buckles, sometimes made of gold; the Giberville bucket, by comparison, is "a piece of junk".

[6][36][49] According to Christian Pilet, it could have been offered to a barbarian chieftain who had served in the Roman army, hoarded and repaired by a woman who took it to her grave at the beginning of the century.

[6] The arrival of populations of Germanic origin in the Roman Empire impacted art, even if the ancient culture continued for several centuries.