SPIRAL PENDANTS OF THE TRZCINIEC CULTURAL CYCLE OF LUBNA—CHORNOGORODKA TYPE

Abstract

The pendants, proposed to be classified as Lubna—Chornogorodka, are made of wire twisted into a dense spiral plate. The outer end of the wire is twisted into a loose loop of about 1—1.5 turns in the plane perpendicular to the plate. Now, in the Northern Pontic and Baltic Sea Regions, in the area of the Trzciniec Cultural Cycle (TCC), 7 similar items are known, such as 5 in the Northern Pontic Region (the Komarov Culture) and 2 in the Warta River basin in Central Poland (the Trzciniec Culture). According to the size of the plate, two options can be distinguished.

Lubna option. A small-size plate, made by 3—7 turns of wire. It is represented by five samples originating from Lubna 7/1 (2 samples), Kordyshiv 8, 3/9 and 3/10, Wojciechiwka I, 11/2 burials.

Chornogorodka option. A relatively large plate, made by 8—11 and more turns of wire. Two pendants were included in the buried treasure discovered in 2012 at the settlement of Chornogorodka 2.

The Lubna complex 7/1, in addition to spiral pendants, also included two pins with looped heads and fragments of vessels of the Trzciniec Cultural of TCC. On an aggregate basis of the features, barrow 7 in Lubna can be dated to the 15^th—14^th centuries BC, with Wojciechiwka barrow 11/2 also dated to the same period. Barrow Kordyshiv 3/10, where along with the Lubna option pendant, a torque and a bracelet with spiral plates, pins with a mushroom- and ring-shaped head were found, in our opinion, should be dated, on an aggregate basis of the features, to the turn of the 15^th—14^th centuries BC.

In Kordyshiv 3/9, a bronze pin was found with a mushroom-shaped head and a thickening in the upper third of the rod with a round transverse hole, along with a Lubna option ear drop. In Lower Saxony, such pins belong to the Mittlere — Jьngere Hьgelgrдberzeit (BrC—BrD; 14^th—13^th centuries BC). The dating of the ceramic burial complex is completely consistent with this date. The hoard from the settlement of Chornogorodka 2 belongs to the Late Classic Horizon of the Komarov TCC and was dated to the 13th century BC on an aggregate basis of the features.

Thus, the period of Lubna—Chornogorodka type pendants can be established within the 15^th—13^th centuries BC. Presumably, such accessories initially appear in the Lubna group of the Trzciniec Cultural Cycle in the basin of the Warta River (the right tributary of the Oder), and later spread in the northern groups of the Komarov Culture of TCC (Volyn, Kyiv and Cherkasy), along the northern branch of the trans-European forest and steppe trade and migration route, up to the Middle Sub-Dnieper River Region. In the materials of the Carpathian and Danubian Region, we could not find any direct analogues of such pendants. Chronologically, this pendant type precedes the Belogrudovka- type pendants in the Northern Pontic Region.

Taking into account the paired Lubna and Chornogorodka pendants, as well as the pendant from Kordyshiv 3/9, found along with the skull, and the one from Kordyshiv 3/10 — on the right temple, we can assume that the Lubna—Chornogorodka type pendants were used as temple pendants attached to a cord, ribbon or other headwear. The accessories under consideration could be one of the prototypes of temple pendants of the Belogrudovka-type.