DOI Artikel:
Lemke, Martin: Jewlery for the dead: a few thoughts on finds from the medieval cemetery at Novae, sector IV
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41863#0011
Martin Lemke
Warszawa
JEWELRY FOR THE DEAD.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON FINDS FROM THE MEDIEVAL
CEMETERY AT NOVAE, SECTOR IV
The early medieval cemetery at Novae has drawn little attention so far, not
much energy has been invested into its documentation or publication. The graves
that were excavated (and documented) from 1981 on were hardly eąuipped with
grave goods, thus making it impossible to place them culturally. However, as the
excavations proceeded, a considerable amount of finds was unearthed from these
graves.
In 2003, 33 burials were documented, of which 32 were explored during the
fieldwork campaign while one had been looted earlier, but still had remained
intact enough to be located. 7 of the total 33 were małe, 7 female and 11 infant
burials. The remaining 8 were too badly preserved to be classified. Most graves
were devoid of any artifacts, some had been eąuipped with single items, 4 with
two and 3 burials with 3 objects. The ąuality of those grave goods varies from
simple bonę earrings or bead collars through smali bronze earrings to some finely
worked pieces of jewelry.
In the following, I will present two of the latter as well as some arguments
regarding their imbued cultural evidence.
Burial no. 17 (fig. 1), consisting only of a broken skuli and few other bones
that were the remnants of a child’s skeleton, did not seem particularly interesting
in its early stages of excavation, but turned out to contain a signet ring of
considerable size, madę of a bronze core coated with silver (fig. 2), a bronze
earring (fig. 3) and a beautiful glass bead necklace (fig. 4).
The ring circle has a diameter of 1.9 cm, with a broadness of 0.5-1,1 cm, and
a thickness of 0.2-0.3 cm. The ring shield, an oval of 1.6 x 1.4 cm with two smali
bumps on either of the longer sides, has been decorated; the engravings were
madę with a sharp tool after the silver coating had cooled. In the center, a bird is
depicted (fig. 5) in a very schematic fashion. It appears to be some kind of
domestic poultry, possibly a duck, goose or chicken, eating from a troth on the
ground. It is difficult to say, whether the ladder-like object above is some part
Warszawa
JEWELRY FOR THE DEAD.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON FINDS FROM THE MEDIEVAL
CEMETERY AT NOVAE, SECTOR IV
The early medieval cemetery at Novae has drawn little attention so far, not
much energy has been invested into its documentation or publication. The graves
that were excavated (and documented) from 1981 on were hardly eąuipped with
grave goods, thus making it impossible to place them culturally. However, as the
excavations proceeded, a considerable amount of finds was unearthed from these
graves.
In 2003, 33 burials were documented, of which 32 were explored during the
fieldwork campaign while one had been looted earlier, but still had remained
intact enough to be located. 7 of the total 33 were małe, 7 female and 11 infant
burials. The remaining 8 were too badly preserved to be classified. Most graves
were devoid of any artifacts, some had been eąuipped with single items, 4 with
two and 3 burials with 3 objects. The ąuality of those grave goods varies from
simple bonę earrings or bead collars through smali bronze earrings to some finely
worked pieces of jewelry.
In the following, I will present two of the latter as well as some arguments
regarding their imbued cultural evidence.
Burial no. 17 (fig. 1), consisting only of a broken skuli and few other bones
that were the remnants of a child’s skeleton, did not seem particularly interesting
in its early stages of excavation, but turned out to contain a signet ring of
considerable size, madę of a bronze core coated with silver (fig. 2), a bronze
earring (fig. 3) and a beautiful glass bead necklace (fig. 4).
The ring circle has a diameter of 1.9 cm, with a broadness of 0.5-1,1 cm, and
a thickness of 0.2-0.3 cm. The ring shield, an oval of 1.6 x 1.4 cm with two smali
bumps on either of the longer sides, has been decorated; the engravings were
madę with a sharp tool after the silver coating had cooled. In the center, a bird is
depicted (fig. 5) in a very schematic fashion. It appears to be some kind of
domestic poultry, possibly a duck, goose or chicken, eating from a troth on the
ground. It is difficult to say, whether the ladder-like object above is some part