TWO GOLDEN PENDANTS FROM THE 4 TH CENTURY (original) (raw)
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Marisia - Archaeologia, Historia, Patrimonium, 2021
In the research of social archaeology and engendered studies of funerary inventories a group of Bronze Age finds from the Eastern Carpathian Basin was somewhat overlooked in the past decades, albeit they bare important agencies in respect of social stratification and identity negotiation. Crescent-shaped pendants, which are also referred to as lunulae in the study region, are an important means by which standing within a group, and sometimes in wider region, is expressed. The different types have quite a long-lived life, starting to appear in graves from the late Early Bronze Age, present throughout the Middle Bronze Age and having their dusk in the earlier part of the Late Bronze Age. Due to the single contexts of graves, their relative chronological attribution allows for a typological sequencing, which doubled by existing and new radiocarbon dates enables a refined description of their typological change throughout the Bronze Age of the region. Furthermore, the pendants occupy a central position in the contexts in which they are identified in and precisely this contextual information underscores their social importance. Moreover, engendered kits through which individuals negotiate their status are also identifiable. Lastly, the change in time of agencies that these pendants bare is clearly recognisable, hinting at changes in regional social structures and ways in which identities are negotiated. The study employs almost a hundred such finds or fragments thereof from funerary contexts of the Bronze Age Eastern Carpathian Basin and aspires to present an exhaustive, descriptive catalogue of these discoveries, as well.
Gold pendants from Kranj and Koper (Slovenia)
Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu 54, 2021
In this paper I discuss two gold pendants, from the Late Antique or Early Medieval Period, which are somewhat unique finds for Slovenian territory. The first pendant is from the Late Antique site of Kranj-Lajh (Carnium); it is leaf-shaped, and the chronologically older pendant of the two. The child grave in which this pendant was found is interpreted as belonging to an individual of the local Late Antique elite. The grave is notable also because some of the grave goods were made in the middle of the 5th century AD, even though the burial presumably dates to the first half of the 6th century AD. On the basis of a single-sided comb with low handle, I assume that the individual did not belong to the Gothic cultural milieu. The second pendant, a tear-shaped specimen, was found in one of the oldest settlement layers of Early Mediaeval Koper (Iustinopolis), at the site of Kapucinski vrt. I argue that it was worn not as a pendant on a necklace or earring, but rather as an integral part of an earring. This interpretation is based on earrings from another time (the second half of the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD) and place (south-western Crimea), with which the pendant from Koper shares many features.
Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology , 2018
Bucket-shaped pendants were widely spread in various cultural environments from the Roman imperial period, in the area comprised between the north of the Black Sea and Central Europe. This study, without aiming to be exhaustive, attempts to examine pieces of the type found in the Sarmatian environment of the Great Hungarian Plain starting from the iron bucket-shaped pendants discovered in graves 9 and 13 from the cemetery at Hunedoara Timișană, Șagu commune, Arad county. Grave 9 from Hunedoara Timișană, correlated with the remaining grave goods, dates sometime to the chronological time frame comprised between the end of the 2nd century AD and first half of the 3rd century AD, while grave 13, dates sometime to the time span between the end of the 2nd century AD and the third quarter of the 3rd century AD. The author examines the pendants from Hunedoara Timișană beside the other found in the burial features of the Great Hungarian Plain, but also in other cultural environments, in a broader context and notes that in the Sarmatian environment of the Great Hungarian Plain bucket-shaped pendants come mainly from female and infant graves, being found in both richly and poorly furnished graves. Subsequent to the examination of bucket-shaped pendant finds in the Sarmatian environment of the Great Hungarian Plain, it was noted that although they cover the entire geographical area, one may not speak of an intensive use by the Sarmatians, like the case of other pendant types. Also, it was noted that these pendants were used by the Sarmatians from the Great Hungarian Plain, to a larger or smaller extent, over the entire duration of the chronological interval comprised between the end of the 1st century AD and the end of the 4th – early 5th century AD. Last but not least, the author observes that earliest specimens come from the north-Pontic area and originate in features dating to the 2nd – 1st century BC, which suggests that these pendants originated, beside other types of pendants, in the north-Pontic region. In the 1st century BC, such pendants were present with the late Scythians and the Sarmatians from the north and north-west of the Black Sea, but also in the Geto-Dacian and Germanic environments (Poieneşti-Lucășeuca culture). Once with the 1st century AD, bucket-shaped pendants are present in several cultural milieus, the Sarmatian from the Great Hungarian Plain included, where the custom of wearing these pendants was brought in the second half of the 1st century AD by the first groups of Sarmatians that settled the region. In the end, it is concluded that the massive use of the bucket-shaped pendants over the 2nd – 4th century AD in various cultural environments from the area comprised between the north of the Black Sea and Central Europe evidences they became “supranational” artefacts, being produced and used by various populations from this geographical area.
L’anthropologie, 2024
In 2022, a stone pendant was recovered from the Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian I) level of Poiana Cires,ului-Piatra Neamt,, Romania. Dating to 24,096-22992 cal. BP, it is made on an oval-shaped quartz/quartzite pebble of 29 mm maximum dimensions. It bears 11 discrete incisions around its circumference, and a perforation to allow for suspension. Unlike other known Gravettian pendants from the Romanian sites of Mitoc-Malul Galben, the Cioarei-Boros,teni cave and additional items from Poiana Ciresului-Piatra Neamt,, this pendant bears no decoration on either face, and the incisions on its circumference are superficial and hardly visible, adding to the picture of variability of Eastern European personal ornamentation. We present it here, discussing its significance as part of a chronologically and regionally constrained visual symbol in Eastern Europe during the 24th millennium BP.
Die Cucuteni-Kultur und ihre südlichen Nachbarn Forschungsgeschichte – Kulturbeziehungen – offene Fragen. Herausgegeben von George Bodi, Blagoje Govedarica, Svend Hansen, Alexander Rubel und Constantin-Emil Ursu, 2020
By the term of treasures, the authors define the assemblages of objects used in ritual purpose and kept together, which proves that the group of artefacts (regardless of the raw material from which they were made) had a special value (material / spiritual) within the community that created and used them. These sets can be found in several forms: • in a storage state (usually in a terracotta container) within a building – ideal situation for interpretation, as it indicates the exact composition in terms of numbers and categories of artefacts; • in a display state, probably during a ceremony, held usually around the fireplace– where there is some uncertainty about the exact composition of the assemblage, due to possible intervention of subsequent factors; • buried, as a foundation offering, usually deposited in a container – also an ideal situation for the archaeological interpretation; • discarded (often with pieces in a fragmentary state), after the ceremony for which it was created – in which case the composition can only be roughly estimated. The paper focuses on two levels: a) the presentation and the analysis of the treasures discovered in the Precucuteni-Cucuteni area from Romania; b) the comparison with other treasures discovered in the southern areas of the cultural complexes Vinča and Gumelniţa-Karanovo V-VI. This particular space coincides with the one of the factors that contributed to the formation and evolution of the Precucuteni-Cucuteni cultural complex, being at the same time the area with which Precucuteni-Cucuteni populations have maintained close ties throughout its existence. The analysis takes into account the evolutionary aspect of the composition of these treasures, which reflect certain changes of the mentality and structures within these communities, throughout their history of about a millennium and a half. The similarities and the differences between these treasures must therefore take into account both the spatial, and the chronological-cultural aspects. A number of recently expressed views bring to the fore the social significance of these assemblages (in terms of gender, kin, hierarchy, agency etc.), often obstinately denying, up to the limit of absurd, any of their spiritual implications. Unlike these approaches, our analysis focuses on the symbolic and magical-religious meaning of the treasures, considering their creation and use as an evidence of the syncretic actions of prehistoric communities. In other words, to reconstruct the life of a Chalcolithic community, the spiritual element cannot be separated / ignored / denied; it is always present and determines decisions about all other aspects – social, economic, artistic. To disregard this fact does not mean to absolve the archaeological interpretation of the so-called cultural-historical sins, but it means instead to diminish it and, moreover, it means underestimating the organic complexity of the actions and the experiences of the prehistoric people.
Jewellery from osseous materials in the Bronze Age in the southern Carpathian Basin
In this paper will be analysed ornaments made from osseous materials from two Middle Bronze Age cemeteries in present-day Vojvodina (northern Serbia), the sites of Mokrin and Ostojićevo. Ornaments consist of pendants made from animal teeth and mollusc shells, applications from diverse materials, beads from long bones, decorative needles made from bones, etc. The deposition into the graves represented the final stage of their life, and their life biographies display interesting patterns and modes of circulations on different levels – on the level of raw materials and finished objects, short-distance and long distance exchanges. Some of the raw materials were obtained locally, within the settlement (such as dog canines or diverse bones), in the vicinity of the settlement (red deer canines, for example) or from long distances (Dentalium, Glycymeris shells, etc.). The objects themselves also display diverse life biographies – while some were heavily worn, even repaired several times, some display very little usewear, and appear almost new. The former may have been inherited, while the latter were almost new at the moment of deposition. These patterns of circulation and exchanges create multiple inter-crossing networks and their place within these communities, importance, later meaning and social significance will be discussed.
The article presents the stone pendants used as adornments in the Coţofeni communities. The context of manufacturing of the artefacts, their typology, the raw materials used for this purpose, workshops and raw materials sources, wearing, chronology etc. are the main aspects approached in this article. Most of the pieces belong to the final phase of the culture (Coţofeni III). Only few of them were recovered from Coţofeni II contexts, some of them only from caves deposits.
HOARDS AND ISOLATED JEWELLERY DISCOVERED OUTSIDE THE CARPATHIAN ARCH
SLOVENSKÁ ARCHEOLÓGIA – SUPPLEMENTUM 3, 2023
In the territory to the south and east of the Carpathian Mountains, including Dobrudja, on the territory of present-day Romania, some hoards and ornaments were discovered by chance. I focused on those from the second half of the 13th c. and the beginning of the 14th c. From the point of view of the history of the population from this area, the zone selected for the study was, in the chosen chronological interval, controlled by the Tatars, obviously with some interruptions. In article were analysed the status of the research, the issue of the discoveries, models of items from hoards and isolated discoveries and their chronology. The hoards, although with many similar artefacts, are quite diverse in terms of composition. The very heterogeneous structure of the artefacts from the treasures, as well as the presence of Tatar coins or of a bracelet with the same origins indicate quite clearly that we are dealing with elites who participated in various campaigns in several areas across eastern and south-eastern Europe. The small hoards containing Balkan pieces, pose another problem. They contain neither artefacts from the environment of the Golden Horde, nor coins, nor ornaments or other pieces of clothing from the Russian space. The small hoards are may rather be connected to the local elites, who have tried to bury their reduced accumulations of pieces due to conflicts. Also, the discovery of some of the pieces in the territory of medieval settlements, in the space between housing complexes, can lead us to the idea of losses, either as a result of external attacks, or various violent disputes between members of a community. It is certain that we are dealing with pieces that were fashionable in the 13th c. and at the beginning of the next one, that circulated including in areas controlled by the Tatars.