Gürtelgarnituren

Among the Slavic metal-plastic of the 7th century, an important place is occupied by the belt sets of the heraldic style. They acted as one of the most important components of military culture, combining both an aesthetic and a status function. In the Slavic antiquities, most of the finds of silver and bronze details of belts are associated with the  hoard of the Middle Dnepr region.This category of things is a valuable source for studying the culture and military-political development of the Slavic tribes of the early Middle Ages.
The book is intended for archaeologists, historians and all who are interested in the history of Ukraine and its cultural heritage.

Prestigeträchtige Gürtelgarnituren der späten vorrömischen Eisenzeit (Holsteiner Gürtel) sind aus der Jstorfkultur seit langem gut bekannt. Hier wird eine ältere und bislang einzigartige bimetallische Gürtelgarnitur vorgestellt, die in das 4. Jh. v. Chr. datiert wird. Vergleichsstücke weisen bislang eher nach Osten in den Bereich der Odermündungsgruppe der Vorrömischen Eisenzeit.

The paper presents the finds of three decorative belt loops. The artefacts were acquired by chance in the last decade in Rokosowo (Fig. 3: 1), Białogard (Fig. 3: 2) and in the vicinity of Trzebiatów (Fig. 3: 3). All made of a copper alloy, they have a similar shape and dimensions (height 54.2-57.87 mm, width 18.3-19.1 mm, thickness 11.3-13.8 mm, weight 15.6-20.47 g). The front panel shows a man wearing a short, tight fitting garment that covers his torso and upper thighs. The elements of the man’s physiognomy are marked very schematically. On the back, there is a rectangular hoop. On the basis of these features, the artefacts can be identified as the so-called anthropomorphe Gürtelhaken, Figürliche Schlüsselhalter or Schlüsselhaken. These items are believed to have fulfilled the function of decorative belt loops used to attach keys. All three specimens represent group 2 in the classifications of I. Heindel and D. Gräf and can be dated to the fifteenth – first half of the sixteenth centuries. Specimens of similar shape are few (see Fig. 4-5), and the artefacts from the Koszalin collections, along with three other Pomeranian finds (from Wolin, Białogard and Skarchów), stand out from the others because of their farreaching barbarisation, a different design of the costume and the method of attachment to the belt, and perhaps also the composition of the alloy. This allows for a hypothesis that these are examples of a local, Pomeranian variety of belt loops or a product of a Pomeranian workshop in which imitations of the Nuremberg prototypes were produced