The necklace consisting of 15 identical oval medallions was found in the burial of a Sarmatian woman when excavating a burial mound near the StARitsa village of the ChernoYArsky District in the Astrakhan Region in 1961; the team was led by ValentIn ShIlov. In addition to it, a red-lacquered cup and a bronze vessel with the stamps of ancient craftsmen were found in the burial.
Each medallion in the necklace is adorned with convex inlays of garnet, amber and glass. The stone was covered with an oval gold leaf that served as a bottom base for a medallion. A narrow small gold plate-tray was soldered as a rib at the top near the edge of the base. The plate held the garnet in the socket. Each socket is framed with a gold notched wire soldered to the base of each medallion. Side lugs are soldered to the medallions: they were connected like links in a chain, and a gold wire pin was threaded through them. This is how the medallions were fastened.
The end elements are connected with a cord braided from thin gold wires. To put on the necklace, a string was passed through the eyes at the ends of the cord.
Each medallion, with the exception of the outer ones, has a rhomboid flat pendant with an amber insert framed by pseudo-filigree. To use this technique, a craftsman cast a metal item in a special mould that imitated an openwork soldered weaving.
Necklaces of this kind were made in many centers, including Panticapaeum, Olbia, Chersonesos, cities of the Eastern Black Sea region, and were also common in Rome and the Roman provinces. However, several inserts in the necklace were replaced with glass ones: these are traces of a repair by the Sarmatians. The fact is that the Sarmatians believed that if glass looks like a precious stone (similar in its colour and shape), then it also carries the sacred function of this stone. Thus, if required, they easily replaced precious stones with glass.
In 2005, the necklace with pendants and other valuable archaeological finds from the Astrakhan Museum Reserve collection were exhibited at the Astrakhan Steppe Treasures show at the National Museum of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome.
Each medallion in the necklace is adorned with convex inlays of garnet, amber and glass. The stone was covered with an oval gold leaf that served as a bottom base for a medallion. A narrow small gold plate-tray was soldered as a rib at the top near the edge of the base. The plate held the garnet in the socket. Each socket is framed with a gold notched wire soldered to the base of each medallion. Side lugs are soldered to the medallions: they were connected like links in a chain, and a gold wire pin was threaded through them. This is how the medallions were fastened.
The end elements are connected with a cord braided from thin gold wires. To put on the necklace, a string was passed through the eyes at the ends of the cord.
Each medallion, with the exception of the outer ones, has a rhomboid flat pendant with an amber insert framed by pseudo-filigree. To use this technique, a craftsman cast a metal item in a special mould that imitated an openwork soldered weaving.
Necklaces of this kind were made in many centers, including Panticapaeum, Olbia, Chersonesos, cities of the Eastern Black Sea region, and were also common in Rome and the Roman provinces. However, several inserts in the necklace were replaced with glass ones: these are traces of a repair by the Sarmatians. The fact is that the Sarmatians believed that if glass looks like a precious stone (similar in its colour and shape), then it also carries the sacred function of this stone. Thus, if required, they easily replaced precious stones with glass.
In 2005, the necklace with pendants and other valuable archaeological finds from the Astrakhan Museum Reserve collection were exhibited at the Astrakhan Steppe Treasures show at the National Museum of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome.
