Silver ring

Finger-ring discovered in the town of Brzesko, Pyrzyce district. The ring was made of a flat and convex silver piece of metal with varying width. A visible thicker piece can be seen at the point where the ends of the ring are joined. In the central part of the ring, the piece of metal is flattened and formed into three rectangles, with an ornament in the form of smaller, convex, interconnected squares. Early medieval finger-rings were worn as decoration by men, women and children alike. They were made in various ways, out of different materials. The simplest include ornaments made of wires with oval or round cross-sections – so-called open rings, with ends that are not connected with each other, cut either straight or diagonally, as well as rings forming a closed circle. The only way these rings were decorated were notches imitating the twist of a wire. Some early-medieval finger-rings were made of several (at least two) wires, twisted and braided in different ways. Finger-rings made of metal bands were the most popular early-medieval hand decorations, usually open with straight cut or tapered ends. Most of them were adorned with ritual ornamentation. Rings made of wire or narrow pieces of metal were sometimes widened in the central part into oval, round or polygonal shield, which was adorned with ornaments, usually straight or diagonally crossed lines and various geometric motifs engraved onto the ring. There are also rings with more elaborate ornamentation, sometimes covering the entire piece.

Ewa Górkiewicz-Bucka