ATTEMPT TO ANALYSE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EARLY MEDIEVAL FEMALE SILVER JEWELLERY FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN AREA OF POLAND

Abstract

The article is an attempt to analyze female silver jewellery produces and used during Early Middle Ages in regions of southeastern and southwestern Poland. Those regions correspond to the area of nowadays Poland, respectively southwestern voivodeships: Dolnoslaskie, Slaskie, Opolskie, Malopolskie and southeastern voivodeships: Podkarpackie and Lubuskie.The presented work deals with similarities and differences in quality and types of jewellery from those regions. The analysis focuses on silver items found in settlements, cemeteries and hoards. The recovered female jewellery highlights the divergence between east, under influence of culture from Byzantine Empire, and west.Thanks to described archeological relics, the southern region of present Poland can be easily divided into two distinguishable parts representing different cultures.

Keywords

• silver
• poland
• jewellery
• early middle ages
• archaeology