Bronce necklace

A bronze neck-ring discovered in the gravel pit in Złocieniec, Drawsko district, in the early 1890s in an inhumation burial, which dated back to the 10th-11th centuries. It is made of bronze tape of varying width. The ends are shaped into willow leaves – one ends with a hook, and the other has an eyelet. The apparent West Slavic ornaments had primarily aesthetic functions. They were a marker of the wearer’s social position, a manifestation of their wealth, and in the case of some ornaments, also of their attachment to certain ideas or religions – this was the case for cross pendants and miniature hammers, an attribute of the Norse god Thor. Women paid the most attention to decorating their heads and necks, followed by their hands. Men, on the other hand, sometimes wore chains or neck-rings, which signified their status, as well as rings. Among the accessories worn on necks in the early Middle Ages were necklaces made of glass beads, metal beads, amber beads, and semi-precious stones, with various pendants, including lunulas, bell pendants, and kaptorgas. Archaeological surveys have also found beads made of clay and predator teeth with holes drilled through them, which were worn as amulets. Necks were also decorated with neck-rings made of wires twisted or braided in a variety of ways. The simplest neck-rings were made of a single wire or two wires twisted around each other. These types of neck-rings are found across the largest areas. Necklaces made of more wires and with a looser braiding are relatively rare.

Ewa Górkiewicz-Bucka