Threads of Metal Beads and Tube Beads in the Middle-Age Finno-Ugrian Costume of the Perm Cis-Urals

Abstract

Metal beads and tube beads became universally popular, in particular within the FinnoUgrian tribes during the Middle Ages. Just like with other varieties of beads, a string or a leather cord was passed through them. These threads were used as part of temple, braid or belt decorations in the women’s attire and only as belt decorations in the men’s attire. A sufficient number of threads, with their initial order intact and some even preserved on cords, have been studied in the course of years of research of the Bayanovsky and Rozhdestvensky burial sites in the Perm Region for initial conclusions to be drawn about the specifics of these combinations. It has been claimed by the authors that there were certain standards for the choice of threads in the 9–11th centuries. Two types of threads have been defined – those on a single cord and on a dual cord. Throughout the period under scrutiny chronological changes in the combinations of threads and beads can be observed. However, these combinations were generally in conformity with the classical tradition.

Keywords

• archaeology
• the perm cis-urals
• the middle ages
• costume elements
• metal beads and tube beads
• threads