Manufacture of Eastern European decorative tin–bronze discs from twelfth century BC. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 5/4, 299-309. DOI 10.1007/s12520-012-0111-6 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Manufacture of Eastern European decorative tin–bronze discs from twelfth century BC
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2012
During the European Bronze Age, flat discs with a variety of decorative elements were produced to be used most likely as either decoration attached to clothing or as parts of horse harnesses. The size and decoration differ according to region and period. The discs discussed here were all found in hoards deposited in a rather short period around 1200-1100BC in Croatia, Bosnia and Austria. They were analysed to obtain information about their composition and manufacture, both of which may have changed in relation to increasing distance from the centre of distribution or supposed production as a result of copying, or might not have changed significantly if the discs were imported.
Investigation on Metal Adornments From Ancient Eastern Europe
Frontiers in Materials, 2020
This study focuses on the investigation of certain bronze adornment objects from the First Iron Age (the so-called middle Hallstatt period), dating to the ninth–eighth c. BC. These objects are part of a bronze and iron hoard (labeled Cx 116) discovered in the present Romanian territory, at Tărtăria–Podu Tărtăriei vest archaeological site, in Alba County. Along with a second hoard of bronze and iron objects, this represents a unique discovery for the present Romanian territory, namely, for the inner Carpathian area and the Lower and Middle Danube Basin, where no such votive discovery had been made by archaeological excavations. The objects, approximately 450 bronze and iron objects—weapons, tools, adornments, and harnesses—were found in the two hoards, in the Southern ditch, which outlines the archaeological site. Digital radiography has been used to assess the physical state of the objects and to identify potential specific craftsmanship details. It showed a fairly good preservation...
Starinar LXVIII, 2018
A part from the huge contribution to the knowledge of the topic of the Early Iron Age in the territory of the Balkans and Serbia, R. Vasi} also made huge contributions to studying the Bronze Age in the Balkans. In the volume Die Nadeln im Zentralbalkan (Vojvodina, Serbien, Kosovo und Make-donien) from the series Prähistorische Bronzefunde, he published decorative pins from the Velebit necropolis, on the periphery of the village of Velebit, in the vicinity ofKanjìa (northern Ba~ka). 1 On this occasion, we present jewellery made of bronze sheets. Besides the highest production techniques being applied, it also represents rare, but not unique, bronze products of the Kozsider horizon of the Middle Bronze Age in the territory of Serbia. Hügelgräber culture, or The Tumulus Culture, extended over a wide area from the Rhine in the west to the Carpathian basin in the east, Czechia in the north and Ba~ka and western Serbia in the South of Europe. 2 If we presume that the northwestern parts of Pannonia represented the core of this cultural manifestation, other regions show local features in such numbers that they resemble different cultures. This depended on the power of newly arriving communities that mixed with local populations. 3 Numerous metal finds that possess characteristics of the Kozsider horizon during the Bronze Age in the Carpathian basin show superiority made through the trade and exchange of high quality bronze weapons Abstract-In 1970, a Bronze Age necropolis in the village of Velebit to the north of Vojvodina was fully explored, but has remained unpublished until today. Apart from possessing all of the features of a Hügelgräber culture complex, some finds indicate connections to the Belegi{-Cruceni culture, developed at the very south of the Carpathian basin. In this paper, we shall present only some of the most attractive finds from the necropolis, including jewellery made of bronze sheets. They include spiral greaves, a belt and finger-rings. The remaining finds shall be presented in a monograph that is being planned. The paper represents the results of the projects Archaeology of Serbia: cultural identity, integration factors, technological processes and the role of central Balkans in development of European prehistory (OI 177020) and Cultural changes and population migrations in early prehistory of the central Balkans (OI 177023) financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.
K. Leshtakov, M. Andonova (eds.), Galabovo in Southeast Europe and Beyond. Cultural Interactions during the 3rd-2nd Millennium BC, Sofia., 2021
The present paper discusses 19 artefacts from Romania and Bulgaria with at least 1% tin in their composition. These artefacts were dated mainly to the first three quarters of the 3rd millennium BC. Fourteen of them cluster in a distinct compact group, well anchored in time (ca. 2700-2400 BC). The most numerous are shaft-hole axes (12 artefacts) and half of them contain tin between 4% and 15%. To the same period were attributed a flanged axe and a massive dagger with a wide midrib, containing 5% and 6.3% Sn, respectively. The use of bronze for the manufacture of these items is in complete accord with the situation in the Near East and the Aegean area where various types of bronze items existed from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, with an increase in their number starting with 2700 BC. Most likely, the copper-tin alloy was initially employed for objects with a high social value which differentiated by their yellowish, gold-like colour from similar artefacts manufactured from copper and arsenical copper.
Advances in historical studies, 2024
Discs were made of bronze, bronze/iron or iron, and for centuries, they were used by all the Italic protohistorical cultures. Considered a single class of materials, for a long time, they were misconstrued as a whole, as components of armour; on the contrary, contextual discs with concentric decoration, where gender is recognizable, come from feminine burials. Research explores dynamics related to production, use and management of discs, alongside relations between production centres, local workshops, and technological changes from bronze to iron and vice versa. All 50 discs are sporadic, but the 60% of them indicate Fucino as provenience. This research proposes a diachronic analysis exploring the hypothesis that discs with concentric decoration have both independent origins and different functions from either armour pectorals or figurative samples. Discs with concentric decoration belong to a feminine sphere and, in order to process them in all these aspects, the dress code has been investigated through the study of decorations and suspension systems. About 25% of discs were repaired in the past. Therefore, particular attention was given to chemical compositions and technologies of the various constituent elements or parts of reparation, in order to compare data both inside the same disc or among those showing similar interventions: 1) Methodology and discussion; 2) Quantification of findings and data statistical treatment; 3) Technological and traceological analysis, by stereo Optical Microscope (80×); 4) Chemical characterization, by portable ED-XRF.
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.
Starinar n.s. 73, 2023
The paper presents an extraordinary new find from the site of Velika Humska Čuka near Niš, in Southeastern Serbia. During the 2022 excavation campaign, a set of bronze jewelry was discovered, comprised of a pin, a band, ten salteleons, and ten circular pendants. Of particular importance are finds of circular pendants, which are known throughout the Bronze Age in the territory of Europe. Such pendants are traditionally connected with Central Europe and the Hügelgräber culture, therefore representing an uncommon find for the Central Balkans. The paper provides a stylistic and typological analysis of jewelry, complemented with physical and chemical analyses, and further discusses the scope and effects of interactions between Central Europe and Central Balkans during the Bronze Age.
The past two decades have seen the spread of experimental archaeology in studies on technology and ways of life. However, it is regrettable that the growth of experimental archaeology into an independent discipline has often gone hand-in-hand with a neglect of its original goals. Experimental archaeology should not be an end unto itself, no matter how spectacularly it can be presented to the broader public, and neither should it become a toy in the hands of anachronistic historical live-interpretations, no matter how fashionable the latter have become. The principal goal of experimental archaeology is to provide new impulses to research in fields where traditional archaeological methods can no longer yield fresh results. This discipline has therefore, by necessity, become intertwined with modern archaeometric analyses and techniques, which owe their very existence to modern technology.
Chasing Bronze Age rainbows. Studies on hoards and related phenomena in prehistoric Europe in honour of Wojciech Blajer (ed. M. S. Przybyła, K. Dzięgielewski), Prace Archeologiczne, 2019
During excavations of site 7 in Ludwinowo, a hoard consisting of six bronze objects and a glass bead was found, intentionally deposited in an atypical, elongated pit (feature No. Z55). The assemblage can be counted among hoards of complete (not fragmented) items, composed solely of ornaments belonging to two or three categories (necklaces, small rings, perhaps earrings as well). The bronzes were made using two techniques: by forming from forged sheet metal (necklace No. 1) and by casting (other ornaments). The chronology of the ornaments, which belong to types quite widespread in the Polish Lowlands, decorated with groups of transverse lines (kerbgruppenverzierte Ringe), can be narrowed down to the Ha C2 and Ha D1 periods of the Early Iron Age. What makes the deposit from Ludwinowo of unique value is its discovery in the context of a fairly numerous series of ceramics from the same archaeological feature. The pottery corresponds to materials known from the Ha D period, although with references to both older and younger local and supra-local ceramic styles. Of particular importance are similarities to vessels typical of the so-called Lusatian-Pomeranian cultural transformation in Kuyavia and Greater Poland. Assuming these are not coincidental, the presence of well-dated metals in the same assemblage makes it a very early (Ha D1) indication of this cultural phenomenon.