| Title |
Banytė-Rowell, R., 2017. Some Remarks on the Genesis of a Bronze Pendant from Baitai Cemetery, Lithuanian Coastland: a Local Balt Ornament According Germanic Trends?. In: Andrzejowski, J., C. von Carnap-Bornheim, Cieśliński, A., Kontny, B. (eds.), Orbis Barbarorum. Studia ad archaeologiam Germanorum et Baltorum temporibus imperii Romani pertinentia Adalberto Nowakowski dedicata (=Monumenta Archaeologica Barbarica, Series Gemina, tomus VI). Warszawa-Schleswig, 71-79 / |
| Abstract [eng] |
This article is a publication of one bronze pendant from Baitai (in German, Baiten) Cemetery in Western Lithuania. Its main body is shaped like a cube. A decorative notch-ring is an element of ornament above the neck and below the loop. The full height of pendant is 18 mm. This pendant was found in the mixed layer of sand in the upper level of stone construction at a depth of 50 cm in the area near the NW border of grave-pit No. 41 which became more distinctive in the depth of 55 cm. Therefore, it is difficult with full certainty to associate the pendant with the grave-goods of Grave 41. The same doubts arose with the fragment of a bronze spiral finger-ring which was found 35 cm to the East of the pendant at a depth of 0,43 cm. The finger-ring was situated above the northern part of the grave-pit. A hemispherical bronze terminal of the axis of an Armbrustfibel was found at the same depth and area 20 cm to the North-East from the finger-ring. Therefore the pendant, finger-ring and the fragment of a crossbow brooch may be associated with Grave 41 conditionally. Despite the lack of distinctive chronological indicators it seems those finds should be dated to the turn of Phases C2 and C3 – to Phase C3. A cubic-shaped pendant from Baitai may be compared with the amber TM 485b pendant and the bronze bead from Weklice Cemetery recorded by M. Schmiedehelm. Those comparisons are not exact but may be considered to be a common depiction of a box. However, the basket-shaped pendants from Weklice depicted in Schmiedehelm’s drawing also might be types that inspired Balt cylindrical bronze pendants. They probably developed from such examples as the pendants from Rūdaičiai II and Šarkai cemeteries in West Lithuania. Excavations in Baitai cemetery provided various shapes of amber pendants and bronze pendant imitating Germanic capsule pendants. Thus the diversity of pendants from the Late Roman period in Baitai Cemetery reflects the probability that the West Balts adopted some ideas and symbols from Germanic neighbours. It seems that the bronze pendant with a cube-shaped body discussed in this paper may be seen in that light too. |
