- Chapter Twenty-Two -
One particular form of arm adornment is the barrel armband, made of bronze
(occasionally gilded) or jet/lignite. Characteristic of the Hallstatt period in eastern
France, south-west Germany and Switzerland, the bronze examples can reach a
height of 20 cm, and are usually heavily decorated with engraved geometric designs.
In some cases it is clear that they cannot have been removed during life, and though
many show signs of repair and therefore wear and tear, it has been suggested that
they would have been almost impossible to work in; does this imply that they were
worn by women who were of such a status that they did not need to work?
Jet or lignite barrel armbands are rarely decorated, but they belong to the same
chronological phase and are found further east into Austria as well as in the area
mentioned above. Shale bracelets of simple rounded cross-section are found in Britain
as well as in continental Europe, where such forms are also manufactured in sapro-
pelite, jet and lignite.
From the very end of La Tene I plain glass arm-rings begin to appear in some
graves in France and Switzerland, but during La Tene II and III they become more
widespread and more diverse in their form and decoration. Whitish or greenish, blue
or yellowish, they may have plastic or at least raised decoration in another colour
- yellow zigzags on blue, or blue lines on a clear or greenish base.
A small number of iron arm-rings is known, though the use of this substance in
general for ornaments is restricted. They are found mainly in male graves.
Bracelets of glass, coral and less frequently amber beads are known from the later
Hallstatt and early La Tene periods in those areas where necklaces of a similar nature
are found.
LEG-RINGS
Where found these are normally plain bronze rings, hollow or solid and always
closed, though other types are found in some areas such as the heavy hinged
Hohlbuckelringe, worn in east-central Europe. They were worn in pairs, and seem to
be an entirely female ornament (though we should remember that graves containing
leg-rings are invariably classified as female graves when no sexing of the bones has
been carried out).FINGER-RINGS
These are rare in the Hallstatt period, but become more numerous during La Tene I.
In gold, silver and bronze, and occasionally in iron, they are found with males and
females: the rich graves at Rodenbach and Horovice have highly decorated gold
examples, while the males in the Marnian chariot burials at Chalons-sur-Marne and
Somme-Bionne both had simple gold rings on their right hands. During La Tene I
and II, particularly in Switzerland, finger-rings occur relatively frequently, and often
in precious metal - one female in the Miinsingen cemetery had a silver ring on
her right thumb, and gold, silver and electrum ones on the third finger of her left
hand. The use of silver is unusual in iron age Europe, though there are fibulae in