Поволжская археология (Dec 2016)
Medieval Jewelry Items from Semenovka Settlement
Abstract
The article presents results of studying several jewelry items of the Volga Bulgars, collected as stray finds on destroyed Bulgar non-fortified settlements located on an island on Kuybyshev dam lake. These are two silver bracelets: a braided and a twisted one, six fragments of bronze twisted and braided bracelets and a silver temporal pendant. The authors conducted a number of analytical investigations, including a morphological analysis, as well as an X-ray fluorescence spectrometry of chemical composition of the metal used in these items. The finds are dated within the 10th – second half of the 12th centuries. They include both typical items produced by Bulgar jewelers and imported jewelry of the early Russian origin. The silver artefacts demonstrate typical style of Bulgar jewelry: open-work chaining, use of tiny granules and filigree.
