The Kursk Regional Museum of Archaeology houses a rattle pendant from the late 10th — the first half of the 11th centuries. It was part of a set of funerary inventory of a children’s burial, which was found during the excavations of the main area of the Gochevsky burial mound by the outstanding archaeologist Dmitry Yakovlevich Samokvasov in 1909.
The piece is a flat ornamented ring-base with eyelets, into which unclosed rings are threaded. On the rings there are 14 cross-cut bells, decorated with oblique linear ornamentation. There are two more charms on the ornament. The first one is in the form of a crocotta, a creature mentioned in medieval bestiaries, with a mouth up to its ears, capable of imitating human speech; the second charm is wing-shaped and made of white metal.
It is worth noting that throughout the entire period of the archaeological study of the Gochevsky burial mound a pendant of this type was never encountered again. There are no analogues in the research materials of other archaeological monuments on the territory of the modern Kursk region. Thus, the ornament found by Dmitry Samokvasov as far back as 1909 is to this day a unique find for the entire territory of Old Russia. Besides the rattle pendant, the burial inventory contained a beaded necklace with charms and bronze double-sided pendants, similar in form to little bells. They were 114 in total. All of them were found at the neck of the buried child. A massive silver plaque with an embossed image was found below, near the chest. These ornaments also fit into the chronological range of the late 10th — the first half of the 11th century.
The rattle pendant from the collection of the Kursk Museum is dated to the late 10th century — the first half of the 11th century. This conclusion is based on the characteristic jewelry details on the pendant itself: the cross-cut pear-shaped bells with a linear oblique ornament in the lower part. Art historians believe that this type of decoration is the earliest for the territory of Ancient Rus and was produced from the mid-10th century.
The piece is a flat ornamented ring-base with eyelets, into which unclosed rings are threaded. On the rings there are 14 cross-cut bells, decorated with oblique linear ornamentation. There are two more charms on the ornament. The first one is in the form of a crocotta, a creature mentioned in medieval bestiaries, with a mouth up to its ears, capable of imitating human speech; the second charm is wing-shaped and made of white metal.
It is worth noting that throughout the entire period of the archaeological study of the Gochevsky burial mound a pendant of this type was never encountered again. There are no analogues in the research materials of other archaeological monuments on the territory of the modern Kursk region. Thus, the ornament found by Dmitry Samokvasov as far back as 1909 is to this day a unique find for the entire territory of Old Russia. Besides the rattle pendant, the burial inventory contained a beaded necklace with charms and bronze double-sided pendants, similar in form to little bells. They were 114 in total. All of them were found at the neck of the buried child. A massive silver plaque with an embossed image was found below, near the chest. These ornaments also fit into the chronological range of the late 10th — the first half of the 11th century.
The rattle pendant from the collection of the Kursk Museum is dated to the late 10th century — the first half of the 11th century. This conclusion is based on the characteristic jewelry details on the pendant itself: the cross-cut pear-shaped bells with a linear oblique ornament in the lower part. Art historians believe that this type of decoration is the earliest for the territory of Ancient Rus and was produced from the mid-10th century.
