- Jewellery and Adornment -
to be most frequently associated with children, who are, however, generally under-
represented in most cemeteries, which makes statistical analysis difficult. Bronze
pendants include such shapes as shoes or boots, figures (frequently ithyphallic), faces,
wheels, birds, baskets, axes, open bronze triangles or squares, etc., the significance of
most of these being currently beyond our comprehension. Amber occurs in the form
of large beads or shaped pieces, and in some graves there are pieces of broken glass
bracelet and fragments of bronze arm-ring, animal teeth (such as bear), naturally
pierced stone (e.g. chalk, sandstone), pieces of stone axe and whole or broken glass
beads. The use of raw branches of coral in the late Hallstatt and early La Tene
periods has been explained as being apotropaic, for there are later classical references
to its use to ward off the evil eye.
Also found in the breast area in some burials are highly ornamented openwork
discs, usually of bronze, which may have been worn as pendants or perhaps have been
sewn to clothing. They are heavy, and are usually two-sided, so the latter is less likely
than the former; but there are rarely signs of suspension or the wear patterns associ-
ated with it, so the real nature of such ornaments is unclear. Gold-decorated iron
plaques and discs with coral and/or amber inlay found in some rich graves are also
difficult to classify in terms of function.
ARM-RINGS/BRACELETSThese are found in bronze, iron, lignite, shale and occasionally gold, as well as (later)
in glass. The gold examples normally come from rich graves, frequently associated
with male burials (and in these cases found singly) but also with female (usually, as
with bronze, paired). In late Hallstatt times these may be similar to the neck-bands,
of beaten gold with linear decoration, but in the fifth century Be there are some with
animals or human heads on them, and others decorated in the early style of La Tene
art. In the latter part of the La Tene period gold arm-rings occur again, often with
parallel decoration to the gold neck-rings of the same period, with flamboyant,
highly plastic decoration.
Bronze arm-rings come in a wide variety of styles throughout the Iron Age, from
hollow and solid rings to bands and bangles, the latter usually closed but many of
the previous types open. Many in the Hallstatt period are open, with expanded
terminals, and they can have heavy cast decoration or be engraved after casting in
geometric style. Similar types continue into the La Tene period, but there are also
twisted and serpentiform types, and closed or open rings with curvilinear decoration
on them. Disc bracelets with attached discs of red opaque glass are found in some
Swiss and south-west German graves. In female graves such arm-rings tend to appear
in pairs, while male graves generally have only one arm-ring, if any. The narrow
bangles with fine engraved decoration were worn in sets. There is a certain amount
of evidence to suggest that sometimes an arm-ring was worn on the upper arm in
both male and female graves.
Very heavy armbands are known from the north of England and southern
Scotland belonging to the end of the Iron Age and the beginning of the Roman
period. These have cast decoration and areas of coloured enamelling at the terminals.