Včelince type trailer
The Včelince type pendant is a special form of jewelry that dates back to around 1500 BC. Was made of bronze in the Bronze Age and worn around the neck. Only four specimens have been found so far. the type is about 26 mm tall and consists of a disc with a cross rib from which two arched appendages protrude. There is a hanging loop in between.
Find history
The eponymous pendant was found in Včelince ( Okres Rimavská Sobota , Central Slovakia ) in 1907 . It was part of a bronze place of the so-called Koszider horizon, which was a transition phase between the Early and Middle Bronze Age around 1500 BC. Belongs to. Subsequent archaeological investigations revealed that a multi-phase, fortified tell settlement had existed here. Due to the uniqueness of the piece of jewelery it became the logo of the 12th World Archaeological Congress in Bratislava in 1991 . Today it is in the Gemersko-malohontsk Museum in Rimavská Sobota . For a long time the only parallel find was the pendant from Nagyhangos (Kom. Tolna, Hungary), which, however, does not have a cross rib but a smooth disk and is also part of a bronze depot at the same time. In 2001, as part of the archaeological excavation of the Bronze Age settlement of Oszlár (north-east Hungary), a pendant of the same design as that of the piece from Včelince was discovered as a single find. The fourth trailer was found in Austria in 1997, as has only been known since 2014. He was in grave 66 - the burial of a woman - in the grave field of Neumarkt an der Ybbs . There are some reflections as to what the trailer might represent. Václav Furmánek saw the resemblance to a Cretan seal from Mochlos , which depicts a horned goblin. István Bóna was of the opinion that it was a representation of a human, in particular a female, figure. Bernhard Hänsel traced the origin of the bird sun bark motif from the Urnfield Period to the shape of the Včelince type trailer. Even with the find from Neumarkt an der Ybbs, no clear statement about the meaning of the motif is possible. However, the findings and the socialization of the finds - i.e. the location of the trailer in the grave and the relationship to the other objects in the grave - provide more information than the previous finds and allow a new perspective on the role of women in the Bronze Age metal trade.
After the archaeological processing, the trailer will be exhibited in the Neumarkt an der Ybbs School and Local History Museum.
The trailer from Neumarkt an der Ybbs
Human remains that had been buried 3500 years ago were found in grave 66. According to an anthropological study of the preserved bones, we can speak of a very robust build of a 30–40 year old woman. It was in the anatomically correct position - probably in situ - in the grave pit. According to the contemporary, gender-differentiated tradition , the dead woman was lying sideways with her head in the south and her face to the east. Since the pendant was under the woman's jaw, it can be assumed that she wore it around her neck. Since not only the two extensions but also the hanging loop had broken off, she could only have hung it around the subsequently drilled hole in the pane. Apparently it was important for them to carry the trailer despite its damage. Due to its color, which was strikingly different from the other bronze objects found, the restored surface was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope and found a tin content of 50%. The tin addition for bronze is usually 5–10%.
Possibly the pendant was a material sample for pewter and identification for a pewter trader. Apart from two bronze robe pins, nothing has been preserved from her costumes. She wore the sickle-shaped needles at shoulder height on the right and left to fasten her clothes. This needle shape is characteristic of the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, represented in this area by the Danubian barrow culture . The core area of the distribution of this needle type is, however, the Carpathian Basin , i. H. in this area it was customary to close clothing with this type of needle. Up to now only a few sickle-shaped needles have been found in Austria, mostly in the Danube region and in women's graves. It is therefore assumed that she left her place of birth in the Carpathian Basin and followed the Danube to Neumarkt an der Ybbs, possibly trading.
literature
- Václav Furmánek, Klára Marková: Tell-type settlement in Včelince. In: Joachim Herrmann (Ed.): Heinrich Schliemann. Foundations and results of modern archeology. 100 years after Schliemann's death . Berlin 1992, pp. 293-303, especially p. 300, fig. 7.
- István Bóna: Middle Bronze Age Hungary and their Southeastern Relations . (= Archaeologia Hungarica. Series Nova 69). 1975, p. 216 plate 22, 4; 270, 4.
- Judit Koós: Long-Distance Relationships at the Time of a Late Bronze Age Community in Northeast Hungary. In: C. Kacsó (Ed.): The North Carpathian Region in the Bronze Age. Symposium Baia Mare 7.-10. October 1998 . Baia Mare 2001, pp. 215-230, esp.p. 229 plate 2, 15.
- Violetta Reiter: The grave with the trailer type Včelince from Neumarkt an der Ybbs. In: Archaeological correspondence sheet . 44/3, 2014, pp. 369-376.
- Bernhard Hänsel: On the appearance of the bird sun bark symbol before the urnfield era. In: Václav Furmánek: a doba bronzová. Archeologický ústav slovenskej akadémie vied Nitra. (= Archaeologica Slovaca monographiae. Tomous XIII). 2012, pp. 109–111, figs. 1 and 3.
- Florian Innerhofer: The needles of the Middle Bronze Age between the Vosges and the Carpathians. Studies on the chronology, typology and regional structure of the barrow culture. (= University research on prehistoric archeology. 71). 2000, map 12.
- Wolfgang David: On the classification of variants, distribution and dating of the sickle needles from the Koszider period. In: The early and middle Bronze Age in the Capathian Basin. Bibliotheca Musei Apulensis VIII, 1998, pp. 281-370, especially p. 281.