Temporal rings of the Vyatichi people. Old Russian jewelry - their meaning. Temporal ring "month and star"

The Slavs had amulets, but not like now, which are offered by ignoramuses like Khinevich. 90% of the amulets on the market are not amulets. The title and description are intended for sale. There are also invented designs. It's all speculation I just feel sorry for people who spend their hard-earned money and trust these shameless traders.

If you need amulets, then you need to do it yourself, and not have someone else do it for you. And even now, amulets are placed in different places, but this is just decoration, rattles - even if you hang everything on yourself, it won’t get any better.

There were amulets only for clothes which some of them were applied below, and others above. There were also amulets only for wood, for utensils, for the home, etc., but not like now. Now what the hell, there’s a bow on the side. The names of the amulets were: spider, nauz, earth, bunny, rooster, serpentine, swan, etc. For traders, such names are not more attractive than any other names of amulets, for example: amulets of different Gods (Mary, Veles...), Valkyrie, the seal of Veles recently appeared, diy, diy , Ladinets etc.

Original archaeological finds

Authentic women's jewelry from the early 9th century. Romny culture. Kozelsky district of Kaluga region. Some of these decorations were worn by a young Slavic girl who was killed (shot) by the Russians in 839. From left to right: bronze spiral necklace, 2 silver bracelets with a Lizard's head, silver temple ring. Shown further on the right are silver heart shaped overlays. These are fragments of horse harness decoration (Russian Kaganate). Below are jewelry worn by another murdered woman: a silver Romen temple ring, bronze trapezoidal pendants and a fragment of a billon bracelet with the head of a Lizard.

Lattice ring, found near the settlement of Podgorichi. Kaluga region. It is a typical Vyatichi ring, XI-XIV centuries. Such rings were used not only as jewelry, but also as a means of payment.

Golodskaya belt plate made of bronze. Found in a plowed golodsky zhalnik (mound) in the lower reaches of the river. Vyrki. Presumably an imported product of the 3rd-4th centuries. from the Roman Empire. The overlay was melted by the funeral pyre. Apparently, there was a very rich burial (of a leader?), since in addition to the overlays on the field, a huge silver fibula (20 cm long), bent by a plow, was found. Unfortunately, we do not have a photograph.

Swastika ring

Ring with Kolovrat, girlish. Bronze. Vyatichi. XI - XIV centuries, original size less than No. 15. Such rings with a Kolovrat (swastika) were worn by girls for magical purposes - fertility, happiness and prosperity in the future. Neighborhoods of Vorotynsk, Kaluga region.

Celt

Bronze hatchet - “Celt”. The end of the Bronze Age, the beginning of the Iron Age. R. Ugra, Kaluga region.

Decorations of the Golds (Golyadi), the Baltic population of the Ugra. At the top is a round pendant from the Izver River. Next comes jewelry from one small settlement of the Pochep culture on the Ugra, unknown to archaeologists: a fragment of a silver ring, which contained a white stone, a bronze “horse” pendant, then, from left to right: a temple ring similar to a turtle, a “bell,” a pendant “ mouth”, at the very bottom there is a fragment of a bronze fibula.

This is what you can find in an ordinary Vyatichi village. Bank of the Vyssa River, Kaluga region. The village was repeatedly burned and destroyed. In the very center of the village (even before the Great Patriotic War), a treasure of silver Arab coins - dirhams - was once found. Then, in 2003, the treasure site was again explored by one black digger. He dug up an area measuring 50 x 100 meters by hand. Result: more than six hundred whole dirhams of the 11th century, and more than 3,000 fragments (cuts and half-shells). The main part of the finds is from the time of the Vyatichi (XI-XIII centuries). But there are also objects from a later period, up to the 15th century. , such as, for example, a small silver coin (Moscow imitation of the Golden Horde dirham).

Above: buttons, a Radimich cuff for a cloak, a temple ring for a girl, a lunnitsa, belt overlays, fragments of temple rings, pendants and objects of unknown purpose. In addition, the arrowhead is similar to the Polovtsian one.

A treasure trove of ancient Baltic women's jewelry. Bronze. Early Iron Age. Verkhneokskaya culture. Found on April 17, 2010 on the bank of an unnamed stream flowing into the Oka. Kaluga region.

“Horse” pendant, collar clasp, pendant, fragment of openwork plate breast decoration, bronze awl.

Bronze pendant with the sign of the autumn Sun on a straight cross. Vyatichi. X-XII centuries Found in the Vorotyn settlement, Vyssa River. Kaluga region. The pendant was worn for good luck, for abundance in the house.

The bronze pendant was found in the Kasli district of the Chelyabinsk region. Belongs to the Molchanov type, early Middle Ages, IIIV-X centuries. Ancient Mansi.

These were all originals

Now I will provide copies.

But before that. We all claim that dragons are from China, snakes are also one of them, and also someone says that Hindus are fans of snakes because... Shiva - Mahadeva has a snake on his neck, but they don’t know how it appeared, and Vishnu also lies on the snake.

If you remember, the Scandinavians have a dragon on the front of their boats. And not only that, all Slavs also had images of dragons, snakes on their amulets, in addition to swans, roosters, etc. So all nationalities had dragons and snakes.

Maw - Hunter's amulet

An exact copy of a bronze decoration found in October 2006 in the ditch of the ancient settlement “Pokrov”, unknown to archaeologists, on the Ugra River. Hunting amulet. Pochep culture II-III centuries.

An exact copy of the Golod bronze female jewelry, found in the ditch of the ancient settlement “Pokrov”, unknown to archaeologists, Ugra River. Worn on the belt. Pochep culture, II-III centuries.

An exact copy of a bronze female jewelry, found near the ancient settlement “Pokrov”, unknown to archaeologists, on the Ugra River. Pochep culture (II-III centuries). The purpose of the amulet is unknown. Reminiscent of the five-lobed temporal ring of the Vyatichi. Probably served as the prototype of the Vyatichi temporal ring. “Five” is the number of Mokoshi, the Goddess of Fate.

Horse

A copy of a bronze pendant from a treasure of ancient Baltic women's jewelry. Early Iron Age. Verkhneokskaya culture.
Found on April 17, 2010 on the bank of an unnamed stream flowing into the Oka. Kaluga region.

Amulet "Snake"

The “Snake” pendant dates back to Curonian and Skalvian antiquities. These Baltic tribes inhabited western Lithuania, western Latvia and southern Prussia. In the 7th-10th centuries, the Curonians waged war with the Scandinavians, who repeatedly captured part of their territory, and in the 11th-13th centuries, the Curonians themselves plundered the coastal regions of Sweden and Denmark on their ships. In the 13th century, the Curonians encountered the Livonian Order and waged a fierce struggle with it for more than half a century, but by 1267 they were finally conquered. Similar pendants also existed among the Baltic (Hunger) population of the Oka.

Amulet "Wolf Hammer"

Thor's hammer in the wolf's mouth. Norway. Reconstruction. Silver, 9.1 g. Thor's hammer, forged by the dwarf Eitri, was conceived by the Gods as the best of weapons. The wolf Fenrir, son of Loki, closed his jaws around the almighty force of the hammer. Consecrated for strength.

Charm "Seahorses"

A talisman in the form of two seahorses intertwined. Norway, XII-XIV centuries. Bronze. Reconstruction.

Merovingian snake pendant, circa 700 AD. A copy of a pendant excavated from a women's burial near Lodingen.

Sometimes on his travels through the Worlds, God Odin put on a mask, which allowed him to avoid unnecessary meetings and not waste his strength. Norway, bronze. Reconstruction. On the back of the mask there is an original eyelet for a cord or chain.

The son of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, the world serpent Jormungandr girded the Sun, biting his tail. At Ragnarok, he and Thor will kill each other. An ancient Scandinavian legend tells that to the east of Midgard - the middle part of the world inhabited by people - an old giantess lives in the Iron Forest. She gave birth to many sons of monsters and it was predicted that they would bring misfortune to the Gods, and the giant wolf Fenrir and the snake monster Jormungandr were especially dangerous. The gods planned to prevent events. They threw the kite into the deep sea that surrounded the earth and decided that they were safe. But no one can escape fate, not even the Gods. Jormungandr soon grew so big that he girded the earth and began to shake the whole world, biting his own tail. And then, as predicted, the day of the end of the world came, the death of the Gods. Jormungandr climbed onto land, spewing out so much poison in giant rage that he saturated both the air and the waters with it. The main defender of Midgard and Asgard (the World of the Gods), the God of thunder and storm Thor, managed to defeat Jormungandr in a fierce battle, but he himself, having only managed to retreat nine steps, fell dead, poisoned by the poison of a giant snake. This plot was often reproduced on the shields of skalds.
Norway, bronze. Reconstruction.

Head of a water dragon (Birka, Sweden, VIII-X centuries).
A pendant reproducing in miniature the head of a dragon, which usually adorned the stems of Viking ships. Reconstruction.

Pendant “Midgard Serpent”, province of Nerke, Eketorp, Sweden, 10th century.

Dragon pendant, Sweden, 10th century.

Kikimora

Amulet of the 12th century. Found in the Pskov region. Krivichi.

“This region (Zemaitija - V.K.) is replete with groves and forests, as well as swamps and lakes, in which, as they say, ghosts can sometimes be found. There, in these secluded places, there are still a lot of idolaters, some worshiping fire, others - trees, the sun or the moon; There are also those who feed in their houses [like penates] certain snakes on four [short] legs, reminiscent of lizards, only larger, with a black fat body, no more than three spans in length; they are called Giwoites). On set days, they perform cleansing rites in their houses and, when the snakes crawl out to the food provided, the whole family worships them with fear until they, having had their fill, return to their place. Others call them Jastzuka, others - Szmya. They have a (certain) time when they feed their gods: milk is placed in the middle of the house, and they themselves sit on their knees on benches; then a snake appears and hisses at people like an angry goose - and then people pray and worship it with fear.). If any misfortune befalls them, they attribute it to the poor feeding and reception of the household deity [snake].”

Amulet "Seven Color"

Pendant “Seven Flowers”, bronze. An exact copy of the Vyatichi bronze pendant. Seven petals are a sign of Fire, the Fire God of Semargl. X-XIII centuries

Ground suspension

An exact copy of a bronze decoration found on the Kvanka River (Vyssa River basin), Kaluga Region. X-XI centuries

Temporal ring “Month and star”

An exact copy of a bronze decoration found at the Duna site near the city of Chekalin (formerly Likhvin), Tula region. Temporal rings - bronze, silver, gold women's jewelry woven into the hair at the temples. They were worn one at a time or several pairs at a time. Known since the Bronze Age, they were common among the Eastern Slavs in the Middle Ages. Various unions of Slavic tribes wore temple rings of various shapes: Krivichi - bracelet-shaped, Novgorod Slovenes - diamond-scutelled, Vyatichi - seven-blade (five-blade girls), Radimichi - seven-rayed, northerners - spiral, etc. There are other types of temple rings worn by women of the upper reaches Seima and Psla - bladed and beaded.

Amulet "Rooster"

An exact copy of a bronze women's jewelry. Vyatichi. X-XIII centuries

Swan

20s of the 9th century. Romen culture (Slavic ancestors of the Vyatichi). An exact copy of a bronze pendant found at the Devil's settlement. Silver - 3.74 g. The swan is the sacred bird of Lelya, the Goddess of maiden love, daughter of Lada. Consecrated under the patronage of Lelya. For luck in love.

A copy of the Khanty amulet, Tomsk region. VIII century. The bear is the totem of the clan and protects the human soul.

Of course, not all copies are presented, but even from these copies we can say that the current market for amulets is 90% falsified.

Temporal rings are the most characteristic Slavic decoration. It was by these that women of different tribes could be distinguished. They were made of silver, bronze, copper. All rings can be divided into four groups:

wire, which includes jewelry bent into the form of a simple ring or a more complex figure made of more or less thin wire;

shield - in which the wire is loosened in places into plates;

radial and lobed - cast decorations consisting of a half-ring-arch and a lamellar figured part;

beaded - consisting of a wire ring with beads strung on them.

As excavations have shown, temple rings were worn in Western and Eastern Europe, in the North and South. They have been worn since ancient times - and nevertheless, by the 8th-9th centuries they began to be considered typically Slavic jewelry; they began to enjoy such popularity among the West Slavic tribes.

Gradually, the fashion for temple rings spread to the Eastern Slavs, reaching their peak in the 11th-12th centuries.

Slavic women hung temple rings from their headdress (girl's crown, married woman's crown) on ribbons or straps that beautifully framed their faces. Sometimes rings were woven into hair, and in some places they were even inserted into the earlobe like earrings - this was revealed by finds in a 12th-century mound in the Vologda region. There, in the northeast of the Slavic lands, necklaces in the form of chains were sometimes made from small wire rings (scientists call them “ring-shaped”). Sometimes the temporal rings, strung on a strap, formed a crown around the head. And yet, most of them were worn as expected by their name - at the temples.

Temple rings and earrings are two categories of different origins. Earrings initially decorate the ear. Temporal rings are originally a decoration for girls' hair, and in the headdress of a married woman, they are part of designs that imitate hair and usually have a ribbon shape. The ribbon decorated the girl's braid, then, when the hair was removed, the ribbon became the basis for stringing jewelry.

The outfit of a Slavic woman changed, depending on what age group she currently belonged to. This also applied to jewelry, in particular temple rings.

Teenage girls who had not yet reached the age of brides did not wear temple rings at all, or, in extreme cases, wore the simplest ones, bent from wire. Brides and young married women, of course, needed increased protection from evil forces, because they had to protect not only themselves, but also future babies - the hope of the people. Their temple rings are therefore especially elegant and numerous. And older women, who stopped having children, gradually abandoned the richly decorated temple rings, passing them on to their daughters and again exchanging them for very simple ones, almost the same as those worn by little girls.

There are many versions of the appearance of ancient women's temple jewelry. According to one of them, the most ancient women's head decorations were flowers. They were used to make wreaths and braids. When a Slavic woman got married, she tucked her hair under her headdress. Jewelry worn near the ear appeared as an imitation of flowers. Apparently, these jewelry had the ancient name “useryaz” (from the word ear), although they became most famous by their office name - “temporal rings”.

According to external and technological characteristics, temporal rings are divided into groups: wire, beads, in which a subgroup is distinguished pseudobeads, scutes, radiates and lobes.

The size and shape of the wire rings serve as a sign for distinguishing departments in them: ring-shaped, bracelet-shaped, medium-sized rings and curly. Among the first three departments there is a division into types: closed(with soldered ends), tied(options: with one end and two ends), simple open (rice. 1); with overhanging ends(options: cruciform, one and a half to two turns ( rice. 2), with an inflection; curved-ended; S-terminals (rice. 3); flat-eared; hook-ended; loop-ended; sleeved.

The smallest of the wire ring-shaped ones were either sewn onto a headdress or woven into the hair. They were widespread in the X-XIII centuries. throughout the Slavic world and cannot serve as either an ethnic or chronological sign. However, one-and-a-half-turn closed wire rings are characteristic of the southwestern group of Slavic tribes.

Buzhans (Volynians), Drevlyans, Polyans, Dregovichi.

They are characterized by wire ring-shaped temple rings with a diameter of 1 to 4 cm. The most common are rings with open ends that overlap each other and, as a variation of the latter, one-and-a-half-turn rings. Much less common are curved and S-ended rings, as well as polychrome, single-bead and three-bead granular rings.

Northerners.


An ethnographic feature of the northerners are wire figured spiral rings of the 11th-12th centuries, ( rice. 4). Women wore them two to four on each side. This type of ring comes from spiral temple decorations, common on the left bank of the Dnieper in the 6th-7th centuries, ( rice. 5).

The heritage of earlier cultures includes the ray false-grained cast temple rings of the 8th-13th centuries found on the monuments of the northerners, ( rice. 6) They are late copies of expensive jewelry. Rings XI-XIII centuries. characterized by careless manufacturing.

Smolensk-Polotsk Krivichi.


The Smolensk-Polotsk Krivichi had bracelet-shaped wire temple rings. They were attached with leather straps to a headdress made of birch bark or fabric, such as a kichka from two to six at each temple. Basically, these were rings with two tied ends (XI - early XII centuries) and one tied end (XII-XIII centuries). In the upper reaches of the Istra and Klyazma rivers, a significant percentage of the occurrence of S-terminal rings (X-XII centuries) was revealed, while in other regions they are quite rare ( rice. 7).

Pskov Krivichi.


In this territory there are bracelet-shaped wire temple rings with cruciform and curved ends. Sometimes bells with a cross-shaped slot (X-XI centuries) or trapezoidal (sometimes subtriangular) pendants with a circular ornament were suspended from the rings on chains ( rice. 8).

For Slovenes of Novgorod characteristic scute temporal rings. The earliest type is a ring with a diameter of 9-11 cm with clearly cut out rhombic shields, inside of which a cross in a rhombus was depicted in a dotted line. The ends of the cross were decorated with three circles. Both ends of the ring were tied or one of them ended with a shield. This type is called classic rhomboscutum. It existed in the 11th - first half of the 12th centuries. For the end of the XI-XII centuries. Characteristic is the design of a cross in a rhombus and four circles on the field. Over time, the scutes become smoothed and then oval. In the ornament, the cross is replaced by circles or bulges. The size of the rings also decreases. Characteristic for the end of the XII-XIII centuries. are socket-ended rings, ornamented with bulges or a longitudinal rib. The method of wearing these rings is similar to wire bracelets.

In the XIII-XV centuries. Earrings in the shape of an inverted question mark are widely used among the Novgorod Slovenians ( rice. 9).

Analyzing the symbolism of these types of temporal rings B.A. Rybakov writes: “The temple rings of the Dregovichi, Krivichi and Slovenians of Novgorod had a round ring-shaped shape, which allows us to talk about solar symbolism. Among the Slovenes, a large wire ring was flattened in 3-4 places into rhombic shields, on which a cross-shaped figure or a square “ideogram of the field” was engraved. In this case, the solar symbol - the circle - was combined with the symbol of earthly fertility."

Vyatichi and Radimichi.


Earliest ray rings, ( rice. 10), belong to the Romenskaya and Borshevskaya cultures of the 8th-10th centuries. . Samples of the XI-XIII centuries. They are distinguished by rough workmanship. The existence of the oldest type of seven-blade rings dates back to the 11th century, ( rice. eleven).

In his work, T.V. Ravdina notes that “the most ancient seven-lobed temporal rings are located, with one exception, outside the range of classical seven-lobed rings.” The same work also states that “a gradual chronological and morphological transition from the most ancient seven-lobed 11th century. to the seven-bladed Moskvoretskys of the 12th-13th centuries. No". However, findings of recent decades show that this is not entirely true. For example, several of the oldest seven-lobed rings were found in the Zvenigorod district of the Moscow region. According to the reliable data I have, fragments of this type of rings are often found along with fragments of what archaeologists call the first type of simple seven-lobed ring, ( rice. 12), in a field near the former (almost completely destroyed by landslides into the river) Duna settlement (Tula region, Suvorovsky district).


According to archaeologists, this type existed at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, and therefore, despite the absence of a transitional form, it could be the next stage in the development of the seven-lobed ring. This type is characterized by small sizes, teardrop-shaped, rounded blades and the absence of lateral rings. In the first half of the 12th century. lateral rings appear on the rings, a hatched ornament extending onto each blade with sharp tips, an ax-shaped blade, ( rice. 13).

In the middle of the century, there were many transitional versions of seven-bladed rings. For example, there are rings: with side rings and teardrop-shaped blades; with ornament and teardrop-shaped blades; with ax-shaped blades, but with an ornament that does not extend onto them, etc. Late rings are characterized by the presence of all three features, ( rice. 14).

Development of the seven-blade ring in the second half of the 12th-13th centuries. follows the path of increasing sizes, as well as complicating patterns and ornaments. There are several types of complex rings from the late 12th - early 13th centuries, but they are all quite rare. The number of blades can also be three or five, ( rice. 15), however their number does not affect either the typology or chronology.

It is impossible not to ignore one discrepancy noted by T.V. Ravdina. The fact is that the area where the largest number of late seven-lobed rings was identified, namely the Moscow region, was not Vyatka according to the chronicles. On the contrary, the chronicle Vyatic upper reaches of the Oka are characterized by a small number of finds of this type of rings. This raises a legitimate question: is it legal to consider the late seven-lobed rings as an attribute of the Vyatichi tribe?


It should be noted that the oldest type of seven-bladed rings is also often found on the land of the Radimichi and is defined as the prototype of the seven-bladed ones, (Fig. 16), XI-XII centuries. . Noticing this fact, B.A. Rybakov concludes that this “type apparently came by the Volga-Don route to the land of the Vyatichi and Radimichi, was well received by the local population and existed, changing, until the 13th century, giving rise to the Radimichi seven-rayed temporal rings of the 10th - 11th centuries. and Vyatic seven-lobed from the 12th century, which survived until the Tatar invasion. It is based on a ring, in the lower part of which several teeth protrude inward, and outwardly there are longer triangular rays, often decorated with grains. The connection with the sun is felt even in their scientific name - “seven-rayed”. Rings of this type that first came to the Eastern Slavs were not anyone’s tribal sign, but over time they became established in the Radimichi-Vyatic lands and became popular in the 10th - 11th centuries. such a sign of these tribes. They wore seven-pointed rings on a vertical ribbon sewn to the headdress.” Such sets of decorations are called ribbon sets.

City decorations.

Ribbon jewelry also includes jewelry with beaded temple rings. From movement, the beads mounted on the ring were secured by winding with thin wire. This winding also created spacing between the rings.


Beaded temple rings have varieties: smooth, have options: rings with beads of the same size, X - beginning. XIII centuries, ( rice. 17), and rings with beads of different sizes, XI - XIV centuries; spoon 11th-12th centuries; smooth with filigree, ( rice. 18); fine-grained ( rice. 19); coarse-grained XII-XIII centuries; openwork filigree, ( rice. 20); grained-filigree 12th century, ( rice. 21); nodular 11th century, ( rice. 22); combined, ( rice. 23); polychrome 10th-11th centuries, with beads made of paste, glass, amber or stone.


Separately, we should highlight the temple rings with beads of complex shapes, decorated with filigree, ( rice. 24). This type, called Kievsky, was widespread in the 12th and first half of the 13th centuries. in the principalities located on the territory of modern Ukraine.


In rural areas, except for the Suzdal Opolye, bead rings are not often found, but they were widespread among wealthy city women. Ribbons with a set of three-bead rings were usually completed with a bunch of two or three similar rings or a weighted beautiful pendant, ( rice. 25).

From the first half of the 12th century. such a pendant was a star-shaped colt with a wide bow and a flattened upper ray, ( rice. 26). In the second half of the century, instead of the upper ray, a lunar part with a narrow arch appears.


Over time, the size of the colts decreases. Scan-grained beam colts were genuine masterpieces of ancient Russian jewelry art. The decoration of the highest nobility were lunar hollow colts, made of gold and decorated on both sides with enamel designs ( rice. 27, 28).


There were similar colts made of silver, ( rice. 29). They were decorated with niello. Favorite motifs were images of mermaids (sirins) on one side and turkish horns with stylized seeds on the other. Similar images can be found on other jewelry described in the article by Vasily Korshun “Old Russian pendants and amulets of the 11th - 13th centuries.” According to B.A. Rybakov, such drawings were symbols of fertility. Lunar kolta were usually worn on a chain attached to the headdress near the temple.

In the second half of the 12th century. Hollow enamel lunar pins made of copper began to appear. They were decorated with gilding and enamel designs. The subjects of the drawings were similar to those on their “noble” counterparts. Copper coins, naturally, were much cheaper than coins made of precious metals, and became more widespread ( rice. 30-32).


Even cheaper were the colts cast in rigid imitation molds from tin-lead alloys ( rice. 33, 34), which existed until the 14th century. . Thus, the era of temple decorations of pre-Mongol Rus' ended with single late cheap transfusions, reminiscent of drops of tears for the lost ancient jewelry art. The Mongol-Tatar invasion dealt an irreparable blow to both existing techniques and traditions. It took more than a decade to recover from it.

Literature:
1. Zhilina N.V. “Russian jewelry”, Rodina No. 11-12, M., 2001.
2. Levasheva V.P. “Temporal rings, Essays on the history of the Russian village of the X-XIII centuries,” M., 1967.
3. Nedoshivina N.G. “On the question of the genetic connection between the Radimich and Vyatichi temporal rings,” Proceedings of the State Historical Museum. V. 51. M. 1980.
4. Ravdina T.V. “The most ancient seven-lobed temporal rings”, 1975.CA. No. 3.
5. Ravdina T.V. “Seven-lobed temporal rings”, Problems of Soviet archeology. 1978, M.
6. Ravdina T.V. “Typology and chronology of lobed temporal rings”, Slavs and Rus, M., 1968.
7. Rybakov B.A. “Paganism of Ancient Rus'”, M., 1988.
8. Sedov V.V. “Eastern Slavs in the VI-XIII centuries,” Archeology of the USSR, M., 1982.
9. Sedova M.V. “Jewelry of Ancient Novgorod (X-XV centuries)”, M., 1981.
10. Stanyukovich A.K. and others, Works of the Zvenigorod expedition, JSC 1999, M., 2001.
11. “Jewelry made of precious metals, alloys, glass, Ancient Rus'. Life and culture”, Archeology of the USSR, M., 1997.
12. Korshun V.E. “Dear old man. Finding what was lost", M., 2008.

Scientists write that the Slavs, who settled in the 6th–7th centuries along the forest belt of Eastern Europe, found themselves cut off from the traditional places of extraction of non-ferrous metals. Therefore, until the 8th century, they did not develop any special, unique type of metal jewelry. The Slavs used those that were then in use throughout Europe, from Scandinavia to Byzantium. However, Slavic craftsmen were never content with imitating models adopted from neighbors or brought by merchants and warriors from foreign lands. In their hands, “pan-European” things soon acquired such a “Slavic” individuality that modern archaeologists successfully use them to determine the boundaries of the settlement of the ancient Slavs, and within these boundaries - the areas of individual tribes. But the process of mutual penetration and mutual enrichment of cultures did not stand still, fortunately in those days there were no strictly guarded state borders. And now foreign blacksmiths copied the new Slavic style and also implemented it in their own way, and the Slavs continued to look closely at the trends of “foreign fashion” - Western and Eastern...

1. A woman in a headdress with headphones and temple rings. VI century. Reconstruction.
2. Temporal wire rings with a spiral curl inward. IX–XI centuries.
3. Ring with a spiral curl facing outwards. IX–XI centuries.
4. Spiral ring. X–XI centuries.
5. A bell on a chain, which was often hung from wire rings. X–XI centuries

All this also applies to the peculiar decorations of women’s headdresses, usually fastened near the temples. Because of this way of wearing, archaeologists call them “temporal rings.” Unfortunately, we do not yet know the ancient Slavic word.
As excavations have shown, temple rings were worn in Western and Eastern Europe, in the North and South. They have been worn since ancient times - and nevertheless, by the 8th–9th centuries they began to be considered typically Slavic jewelry; they began to enjoy such popularity among the West Slavic tribes. Gradually, the fashion for temple rings spread to the Eastern Slavs, reaching their peak in the 11th-12th centuries.
Slavic women hung temple rings from their headdress (girl's corolla, married woman's crown) on ribbons or straps that beautifully framed their faces. Sometimes rings were woven into hair, and in some places they were even inserted into the earlobe like earrings - this was revealed by finds in a 12th-century mound in the Vologda region. There, in the northeast of the Slavic lands, necklaces in the form of chains were sometimes made from small wire rings (scientists call them “ring-shaped”). Sometimes the temporal rings, strung on a strap, formed a crown around the head. And yet, most of them were worn as expected by their name - at the temples.
We have already seen how a woman’s outfit changed, depending on what age group she currently belonged to. This also applied to jewelry, in particular temple rings.
Teenage girls, who had not yet reached the age of brides, did not wear temple rings at all, or, in extreme cases, wore the simplest ones, bent from wire. Brides and young married women, of course, needed increased protection from evil forces, because they had to protect not only themselves, but also future babies - the hope of the people. Their temple rings are therefore especially elegant and numerous. And older women, who stopped having children, gradually abandoned the richly decorated temple rings, passing them on to their daughters and again exchanging them for very simple ones, almost the same as those worn by little girls.
Not so long ago, our fashionistas introduced wire earrings the size of a bracelet, which, as usual, was not very popular with the older generation. And yet, once again it turns out that the “new fashion” is already a thousand years old, if not more. Similar rings (only more often not in the ears, but on the temples) were worn by women of the Krivichi tribe (the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina, Volga, between the Dnieper and Oka rivers). One end of such a ring was sometimes bent into a loop for hanging, the other went behind it or was tied. These rings are called “Krivichi” rings. They wore several of them (up to six) on the temple.

Similar ones were also found in the north-west of the territory of the Novgorod Slovenes, only they were worn one at a time, less often two on each side of the face, and the ends of the rings were not tied, but crossed. In the 10th-11th centuries, bells and triangular metal plates, sometimes even in several tiers, were sometimes hung on chains from wire rings. But among the Slovenians who lived in the city of Ladoga, rings with a spiral curl facing outward became fashionable in the middle of the 9th century. It cannot be ruled out that they got there from the southern coast of the Baltic, from Slavic Pomerania, with which the Ladoga residents maintained close ties.
The “Northern” wire temple rings differed from them in that the curl turned into a wide, flat spiral.
The temple rings with beads strung on a wire base looked completely different. Sometimes metal beads were made smooth and separated by wire spirals - such rings were loved not only by Slavs, but also by women of the Finno-Ugric peoples. In the 11th-12th centuries, this was a favorite decoration for female leaders (descendants of the ancient Vod tribe still live near St. Petersburg). Novgorod women of the 11th-12th centuries preferred temple rings with beads decorated with fine grain - metal balls soldered to the base. In the Dregovichi tribe (a region of modern Minsk), large silver grains were attached to a frame of beads woven from copper wire. In Kyiv in the 12th century, beads, on the contrary, were made from delicate filigree...
Of course, no one claims that in each of these places only one type of temple ring was worn - we are only talking about its predominance. For example, rings with beautiful filigree beads have long been considered typically Kyiv. However, then almost the same ones were discovered in the mounds of the Rostov-Suzdal land and other areas of North-Western and North-Eastern Rus'. And it became clear that these were simply products of highly skilled urban artisans, intended for noble and wealthy people, and partly for sale. In the same places, instead of openwork metal beads, more affordable ones were often strung - glass, amber, and less often stone. Archaeologists even came across a drilled cherry pit, which some Slavic beauty put on a wire and wore on her temple, and maybe even in her ear, like an earring...
(In passing, we note that, in general, earrings were not particularly popular among the ancient Slavs, usually appearing as an imitation of a foreign tradition. Prince Svyatoslav probably acquired his famous earring because he spent most of his time in a foreign land, on military campaigns.)
Women of the Novgorod and Smolensk lands preferred temple rings made of thick wire, unfastened in several places, so that they formed shields. Only in Novgorod was a shield installed at one end of the wire, and the other end was wound behind it or (later) inserted into a special hole, and in Smolensk the ends were tied or tightly connected by soldering.

Temple rings with smooth metal beads, beaded beads and openwork fine filigree, as well as rings of rare types.
XI–XII centuries

Over the centuries, both the rings themselves and the pattern on the shields changed. And this, in particular, helped archaeologists more accurately trace the path of settlement of the Slavic tribes. Women's jewelry found in the mounds clearly shows how the Novgorod Slovenes moved to the northeast and how, together with their neighbors - the Smolensk Krivichi - they mastered the Volga region. But merchants carried inexpensive and beautiful rings in completely different directions: to the southwest of Rus', to Finland, to the Swedish island of Gotland...

12th century

It is not without reason that venerable archaeologists argue furiously about what exactly the territory of distribution of certain varieties of temporal rings reflects - the settlement of tribes or, after all, the market for artisans?..
Temporal ring from Moravia with several grain clusters

And here is an example of the unique flavor that any “pan-European” thing acquired in the hands of Slavic masters. One and a half thousand years ago, throughout Western Europe to Scandinavia, the fashion for precious pendants, which were open rings decorated with several clusters of grains, spread from Byzantium. Western Slavs also wore them. The blacksmiths of the Radimichi tribe, who received similar rings from their neighbors, did not simply copy the sample. They replaced the clusters of precious grain with cast teeth decorated with imitation grain. Perhaps the pattern that momentarily appears when a drop of water scatters told them something? Or is it a radiance, diverging rays?.. It’s hard to say. However, after grain was replaced by casting, decoration, which previously only the mistresses of rich houses could afford, became publicly available. Already in the 8th–9th centuries it became a characteristic feature of the Radimichi tribal outfit.

On one of the rings, imitation grain is clearly visible, and its teeth are topped with “droplets”. 9th–10th centuries

Meanwhile, to the east of the Radimichi territories lived the Vyatichi tribe, also famous for their skilled blacksmiths. Apparently, they were especially attracted to rings whose teeth were topped with one or more silver “droplets.” Throughout the 9th century, in their hands, these “droplets” changed size and shape, gradually turning into flat, expanding blades. And by the 11th century, in vast areas from the modern city of Orel to Ryazan, in the vicinity of the future Moscow, women wore peculiar temporal rings, which archaeologists call "Vyatichi". Their blades, rounded at first, gradually become "axe-shaped", then they begin to close at all. It was noticed that other tribes really liked the Vyatichi rings. For example, in the neighboring territory of the Krivichi, they were found mixed with local samples and even threaded into the Krivichi shield ring. What if they were worn by a woman whose husband was from the Vyatichi? Or maybe she bought them or accepted them as a gift? We can only guess about this...

Vyatichi temporal rings with expanding ax-shaped and closed lobes.
11th century

Why do people, especially women, wear jewelry on themselves?

Another invaluable “window to the past” helped scientists answer this question - the opportunity to observe the customs of peoples who, for various reasons, today adhere to the same laws that our ancestors lived by several millennia ago.

It turns out that mankind since ancient times thought about the difference between the "hard" and "soft" parts of any animal organism. People have noticed that “hard” parts (bones, teeth, claws, shells, horns...) are much less susceptible to decay after death than “soft” ones. They compared the life spans of “hard” trees and “soft” grass. Finally, they drew attention to the strength and truly eternity (at least in comparison with human life) of various minerals and native metals - copper, gold, silver.

All this led ancient people to the idea that the hard tissues of their own bodies were much “more perfect” than soft ones. This means that if a person wanted to live a long life, the soft tissues had to be “strengthened.” This was especially true of the various openings of the body, through which, according to the ancients, the soul could fly out - and, conversely, some evil magic could penetrate inside. In addition, it was necessary to “magically protect” the hands and feet, which were most susceptible to wounds and bruises, which, of course, were also explained by the machinations of evil forces. Finally - and modern psychics agree with this - it was necessary to protect the energy centers and channels of the human body.

Generally speaking, people at all times understood that the best defense against hostile witchcraft is purity of thoughts and spiritual perfection. However, alas, for the bulk of humanity, a few righteous people still remain unattainable models. So in ancient times, most people did not really trust their ability to resist evil and tried in every possible way to “strengthen” their soft flesh. Canadian Indians say of a woman who does not wear earrings, “she has no ears,” and if she does not wear jewelry on her lip, “she has no mouth.” The Indians of South America hold very similar views: “The decoration in the ear gives us the ability to hear the words of other people and understand them. And if there were no decoration in the lip, we would not be able to make reasonable speeches ... "

Initially, any bone, animal tooth or piece of hard wood was suitable for this. Of course, it is desirable that the tree be “noble” and durable, and that the animal be fearless and strong. But best of all, metals and precious stones protected the soul and life of a person.

The ancient Egyptians saw particles of the sacred body of the Sun in gold. They were echoed by Indian poets: “Gold is immortal, and the Sun is also immortal...” The Bororo Indians living in Brazil to this day consider gold to be the hardened shine of the sun. A similar belief existed in ancient times among our northern neighbors, the Scandinavians: their mythology mentions luminous gold that illuminated the palaces of the Gods. Slavic pagan myths also relate gold and silver to sunlight and the lightning of Perun. These precious metals are still credited with the ability to ward off evil spirits and bring health, longevity, and beauty. And here’s how a modern jeweler advertises a diamond ring: “It will help you get closer to Eternity...”

So, everything that we now call “decorations” and even “trinkets” in ancient times had a religious, magical meaning, and even today it has not completely lost it. Jewelry in ancient times was worn not only and not so much “for beauty” (although for this too), but as an amulet, a sacred talisman - in Russian “amulet”, from the word “protect”, “protect”.

At the same time, it is easy to notice that the ancient Slavic women’s outfit included (as, indeed, the outfit of modern women) much more jewelry than men’s. Sometimes you hear and even read how this is explained by women’s “innate” frivolity and love for trinkets. But if we keep in mind what was said above about jewelry, it becomes clear that everything is completely the opposite.

No matter how accustomed we are to talk about the “primitive rudeness” of relationships, serious scientists claim: since ancient, truly cave times, a woman has been an object of almost religious worship on the part of her eternal friend and companion - a man.

First, a woman gives birth to children. The chapters “Bread” and “Birth” tell how the pagan Slavs compared a sown field and a pregnant female body to each other. This alone immediately brings a woman to a high, downright cosmic level and makes us remember the Goddess of the Earth, as well as the Great Mother, who, according to some legends, created the entire Universe along with people and Gods. Surprising as it may seem at first glance, humanity has had a rather vague idea about the role of the father in the birth of a child for quite a long time. For example, the Scandinavians, already in a completely historical era, believed that the maternal uncle was a relative almost closer to the father. They believed that the child (boy) would most likely look exactly like him. Other tribes believed that a son would grow up to be like his father only if he took good care of both him and his wife. Ancient people believed that a woman gives birth to children not because she has a husband: it is the sacred spirit of an ancestor that enters her body to reincarnate. The similar beliefs of the ancient Slavs are clearly indicated by some customs that were preserved in some places among the Russian population until the beginning of the twentieth century (only the reason for them was already forgotten).

Modern biologists write that it is the woman who stores the “golden fund” of the genes of her tribe, nation, race; a man as a biological being is much more susceptible to all kinds of changes. It seems that ancient people noticed this long ago and expressed their observation in the language of myth - the myth about the soul of an ancestor...

Secondly - and this is also surprising at first glance - it is the woman, about whose “frivolity” we sometimes so habitually talk about, who turns out to be the bearer of the ancient wisdom of the tribe, its myths and legends. It is a woman, not a man, no matter how serious and important he may seem. We will not go into the explanations of biologists - they have written a lot of interesting things about the characteristics of the male and female psyches, which occur due to the difference in the structure of the brain. It is enough for us to recall the expression that is well-established in the Russian language: “grandmother’s tales.” “Grandfather’s” sounds somehow artificial.

Meanwhile, as already mentioned, fairy tales are nothing more than an ancient myth that has ceased to be sacred. It is also appropriate to remember that the bulk of Russian epics were written down from “storytellers”, and not from “storytellers”. And the songs, and the women's folk costume, which has preserved much more ancient features than the men's?..

In a word, in the eyes of our ancestors, a woman not only was not a “vessel” of evil forces - on the contrary, she was a much more sacred being than a man. This means that it, like everything sacred, needed to be especially carefully protected. Hence - with a little bit of income - the golden brocade of girls' headbands, and multi-colored beads, and rings, and everything else that we, in our ignorance, sometimes call “trinkets.” A thousand years ago, men didn’t just want to dress up their daughters, sisters and girlfriends. They quite consciously sought to preserve and preserve the most valuable things that the people possessed, they sought to protect the spiritual and physical beauty of future generations from any encroachment...

A metal hoop placed around the neck seemed to ancient people to be a reliable barrier that could prevent the soul from leaving the body. Such a hoop was a favorite decoration among various peoples of Western and Eastern Europe, as well as the Near and Middle East. We called it “hryvnia”. This name is related to the word "mane", one of the meanings of which in ancient times, apparently, was "neck". In any case, there was an adjective "hryvnia", meaning - "cervical".

In some nations, hryvnias were worn mainly by men, in others - mostly by women, but scientists say that always and for everyone, including the Slavs, it was a sign of a certain position in society, very often - something like an order of merit.

Hryvnias are often found in female burials of the ancient Slavs. Therefore, archaeologists rightfully insist that it was a “typically feminine” decoration, like the beads and temple rings discussed below. But linguists, based on chronicles and other written documents, confidently declare hryvnias to be a “typically masculine” decoration. In fact, on the pages of chronicles one can read how princes reward valiant warriors with hryvnias. Is there some kind of contradiction here?

In the chapter “Chain Mail” it will be told that among all ancient peoples, warriors were considered partly priests, not alien to shamanism. Meanwhile, it is known that during the ritual everything is done “in reverse”, not according to the rules of ordinary life. At Slavic pagan holidays, boys everywhere dressed up as girls, and girls dressed up as boys, which was strictly prohibited on other days. And the male shamans of the northern peoples wore women's clothing and had long hair. So why not make the warrior “priests” a symbol of their courage – a female adornment? Moreover, the problem of preserving the soul in the body was very relevant for them...

Ancient Slavic craftsmen made hryvnias from copper, bronze, billon (copper and silver) and soft tin-lead alloys, often covering them with silver or gilding. Precious hryvnias were made of silver and are found in rich graves. Chronicles mention golden hryvnias of princes, but this was a huge rarity.

The ancient Slavs wore different types of hryvnias, which differed in the way they were made and how the ends were connected. And of course, each tribe preferred its own, special look.

Dartovy hryvnias were made from a “dart” - a thick metal rod, usually round or triangular in cross-section. The blacksmiths twisted it with tongs, heating it over a fire. The hotter the metal was, the finer the “cut” was. A little later, hryvnias made of rhombic, hexagonal and trapezoidal darts appeared. They were not rolled, preferring to emboss a pattern on top in the form of circles, triangles, and dots. These hryvnias are found in burial mounds of the 10th-11th centuries. Comparing them with foreign finds, scientists have established that they came to us from our Finnish neighbors and from the Baltic states.

Similar ones, only connected not with a lock, but simply with ends extending far beyond each other, were made by the Slavs themselves. The open ends of such hryvnias are located in front. They expand beautifully, but the back side, adjacent to the neck, is round to make it more comfortable to wear. Their usual ornament, consisting of triangles with bulges inside, is called “wolf tooth” by archaeologists. Such hryvnias, made of billon, bronze or low-grade silver, were worn in the 10th-11th centuries by the Radimichi tribe. Similar ones were found in the 10th-13th centuries in the Baltic states, but the ends of the Baltic hryvnias are pointed and do not end with figured heads, like the Slavic ones. In the 11th-12th centuries, Radimichi began to connect the ends of the hryvnias with beautiful square plaques, stamped or cast. Some plaques, scattered over a large area, were clearly cast in the same workshop, even in the same mold. This indicates developed trade and the fact that ancient Russian jewelers worked not only to order, but also for the market.

The developed trade is also evidenced by the hryvnias that came to the Slavic lands from Scandinavia. They were made from an iron rod wrapped in a thin bronze ribbon. Judging by the small diameter, they sat quite tightly on the neck. You can often see pendants in the shape of a tiny hammer on them. Archaeologists call them “Thor’s hammers”: Thor is the God of Thunder of the pagan Scandinavians, very close to the Slavic Perun. Thor’s weapon, according to legend, was the stone hammer Mjollnir - scientists write that this word is related to our “lightning”... Hryvnias with hammers were brought to the Slavic lands by the Viking warriors, who greatly revered Thor. Some of them died in battle against the Slavs, others, on the contrary, in the service of the Slavic prince, in battle against common enemies...

The Radimich hryvnias that were made in the Dnieper region were a little similar to the Radimich ones: archaeologists call them “plate-shaped”. They were flat (“sickle-shaped”) or, less commonly, hollow, made of a metal plate bent into a tube. In the 11th-12th centuries, merchants brought them from the Dnieper region to other lands of Rus' and “abroad” - even to the other side of the Baltic Sea, to the Swedish island of Gotland, where at that time one of the important centers of international trade was located.

Sometimes villagers did not need to buy hryvnias from passing merchants: local craftsmen, who were excellent at making wire in the 11th century, made them themselves. Some neck hoops, made of thick copper or bronze wire, were worn “just like that”, without additional decoration. But if the iron or colored wire was thin enough, beads, round plaques, foreign coins, and bells were strung on it. In what is now the Kaluga and Tver regions, wax “muffs” were fitted at the ends of the hryvnia so that the beads would sit more tightly on the wire and would not hit each other. In a number of places - in the present-day Moscow region, as well as in the Ladoga region - it was customary to decorate hryvnias with a braid of thin wire or wrap them with a narrow metal ribbon.

But the most numerous were twisted torcs: in the north of Rus' they make up about half of all finds. Slavic craftsmen twisted them in different ways: with a “simple strand” - from two or three copper or bronze wires; “complex strand” - from several double, pre-intertwined metal threads; sometimes a simple or complex cord was also wrapped around the top with a thin twisted (“filigree” or “filigree”) wire. Similar hryvnias are often found in other countries connected with Russia through trade relations: in Sweden, Denmark, Northern Germany, Hungary, even in the British Isles. There are a lot of them in Sweden. It has been established that at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries, when merchants - Slavs and Scandinavians - began to establish permanent trade routes between Northern and Eastern Europe, twisted hryvnias came to Scandinavia from the southern regions of Rus'. The products of Slavic artisans were immediately liked overseas - and they took root, adopted by local craftsmen...

Scientists write that the Slavs, who settled in the 6th–7th centuries along the forest belt of Eastern Europe, found themselves cut off from the traditional places of extraction of non-ferrous metals. Therefore, until the 8th century, they did not develop any special, unique type of metal jewelry. The Slavs used those that were then in use throughout Europe, from Scandinavia to Byzantium. However, Slavic craftsmen were never content with imitating models adopted from neighbors or brought by merchants and warriors from foreign lands. In their hands, “pan-European” things soon acquired such a “Slavic” individuality that modern archaeologists successfully use them to determine the boundaries of the settlement of the ancient Slavs, and within these boundaries - the areas of individual tribes. But the process of mutual penetration and mutual enrichment of cultures did not stand still, fortunately in those days there were no strictly guarded state borders. And now foreign blacksmiths copied the new Slavic style and also implemented it in their own way, and the Slavs continued to look closely at the trends of “foreign fashion” - Western and Eastern...

All this also applies to the peculiar decorations of women’s headdresses, usually fastened near the temples. Because of this way of wearing, archaeologists call them "temporal rings". Unfortunately, we do not yet know the ancient Slavic word.

As excavations have shown, temple rings were worn in Western and Eastern Europe, in the North and South. They have been worn since ancient times - and nevertheless, by the 8th–9th centuries they began to be considered typically Slavic jewelry; they began to enjoy such popularity among the West Slavic tribes. Gradually, the fashion for temple rings spread to the Eastern Slavs, reaching their peak in the 11th-12th centuries.

Slavic women hung temple rings from their headdress (girl's corolla, married woman's crown) on ribbons or straps that beautifully framed their faces. Sometimes rings were woven into hair, and in some places they were even inserted into the earlobe like earrings - this was revealed by finds in a 12th-century mound in the Vologda region. There, in the northeast of the Slavic lands, necklaces in the form of chains were sometimes made from small wire rings (scientists call them “ring-shaped”). Sometimes the temporal rings, strung on a strap, formed a crown around the head. And yet, most of them were worn as expected by their name - at the temples.

We have already seen how a woman’s outfit changed, depending on what age group she currently belonged to. This also applied to jewelry, in particular temple rings.

Teenage girls, who had not yet reached the age of brides, did not wear temple rings at all, or, in extreme cases, wore the simplest ones, bent from wire. Brides and young married women, of course, needed increased protection from evil forces, because they had to protect not only themselves, but also future babies - the hope of the people. Their temple rings are therefore especially elegant and numerous. And older women, who stopped having children, gradually abandoned the richly decorated temple rings, passing them on to their daughters and again exchanging them for very simple ones, almost the same as those worn by little girls.

Not so long ago, our fashionistas introduced wire earrings the size of a bracelet, which, as usual, was not very popular with the older generation. And yet, once again it turns out that the “new fashion” is already a thousand years old, if not more. Similar rings (only more often not in the ears, but on the temples) were worn by women of the Krivichi tribe (the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina, Volga, between the Dnieper and Oka rivers). One end of such a ring was sometimes bent into a loop for hanging, the other went behind it or was tied. These rings are called "Krivichi". They wore several of them (up to six) on the temple.

Similar ones were also found in the north-west of the territory of the Novgorod Slovenes, only they were worn one at a time, less often two on each side of the face, and the ends of the rings were not tied, but crossed. In the 10th-11th centuries, bells and triangular metal plates, sometimes even in several tiers, were sometimes hung on chains from wire rings (about their purpose, see the chapter “Children’s Clothing”). But among the Slovenians who lived in the city of Ladoga, rings with a spiral curl facing outward became fashionable in the middle of the 9th century. It cannot be ruled out that they got there from the southern coast of the Baltic, from Slavic Pomerania, with which the Ladoga residents maintained close ties.

The “Northern” wire temple rings differed from them in that the curl turned into a wide, flat spiral.

The temple rings with beads strung on a wire base looked completely different. Sometimes metal beads were made smooth and separated by wire spirals - such rings were loved not only by Slavs, but also by women of the Finno-Ugric peoples. In the 11th-12th centuries, this was a favorite decoration for female leaders (descendants of the ancient Vod tribe still live near St. Petersburg). Novgorod women of the 11th-12th centuries preferred temple rings with beads decorated with fine grain - metal balls soldered to the base. In the Dregovichi tribe (a region of modern Minsk), large silver grains were attached to a frame of beads woven from copper wire. In Kyiv in the 12th century, beads, on the contrary, were made from delicate filigree...

Of course, no one claims that in each of these places only one type of temple ring was worn - we are only talking about its predominance. For example, rings with beautiful filigree beads have long been considered typically Kyiv. However, then almost the same ones were discovered in the mounds of the Rostov-Suzdal land and other areas of North-Western and North-Eastern Rus'. And it became clear that these were simply products of highly skilled urban artisans, intended for noble and wealthy people, and partly for sale. In the same places, instead of openwork metal beads, more affordable ones were often strung - glass, amber, and less often stone. Archaeologists even came across a drilled cherry pit, which, having put on a wire, some Slavic beauty wore on her temple, and perhaps in her ear, like an earring...

(In passing, we note that, in general, earrings were not particularly popular among the ancient Slavs, usually appearing as an imitation of a foreign tradition. Prince Svyatoslav probably acquired his famous earring because he spent most of his time in a foreign land, on military campaigns.)

Women of the Novgorod and Smolensk lands preferred temple rings made of thick wire, unfastened in several places, so that they formed shields. Only in Novgorod was a shield installed at one end of the wire, and the other end was wound behind it or (later) inserted into a special hole, and in Smolensk the ends were tied or tightly connected by soldering.

Over the centuries, both the rings themselves and the pattern on the shields changed. And this, in particular, helped archaeologists more accurately trace the path of settlement of the Slavic tribes. Women's jewelry found in the mounds clearly shows how the Novgorod Slovenes moved to the northeast and how, together with their neighbors - the Smolensk Krivichi - they mastered the Volga region. But merchants carried inexpensive and beautiful rings in completely different directions: to the southwest of Rus', to Finland, to the Swedish island of Gotland...

It is not without reason that venerable archaeologists argue furiously about what exactly the territory of distribution of certain varieties of temporal rings reflects - the settlement of tribes or, after all, the market for artisans?..

And here is an example of the unique flavor that any “pan-European” thing acquired in the hands of Slavic masters. One and a half thousand years ago, throughout Western Europe to Scandinavia, the fashion for precious pendants, which were open rings decorated with several clusters of grains, spread from Byzantium. Western Slavs also wore them. The blacksmiths of the Radimichi tribe, who received similar rings from their neighbors, did not simply copy the sample. They replaced the clusters of precious grain with cast teeth decorated with imitation grain. Perhaps the pattern that momentarily appears when a drop of water scatters told them something? Or is it a radiance, diverging rays?.. It’s hard to say. However, after grain was replaced by casting, decoration, which previously only the mistresses of rich houses could afford, became publicly available. Already in the 8th–9th centuries it became a characteristic feature of the Radimichi tribal outfit.

Meanwhile, to the east of the Radimichi territories lived the Vyatichi tribe, also famous for their skilled blacksmiths. Apparently, they especially liked the rings, the teeth of which were crowned with one or more silver "droplets". Throughout the 9th century, in their hands, these “droplets” changed size and shape, gradually turning into flat, expanding blades. And by the 11th century, in vast areas from the modern city of Orel to Ryazan, in the vicinity of the future Moscow, women wore peculiar temple rings, which archaeologists call “Vyatichi”. Their blades, rounded at first, gradually become “axe-shaped”, then begin to close completely. It was noticed that other tribes really liked the Vyatichi rings. For example, in the neighboring territory of the Krivichi, they were found mixed with local samples and even threaded into the Krivichi shield ring. What if they were worn by a woman whose husband was from the Vyatichi? Or maybe she bought them or accepted them as a gift? We can only guess about this...

Archaeologists consider bracelets to be the earliest Slavic jewelry known to us: they are found in treasures and during excavations of settlements dating back to the 6th century.

The word “bracelet” came into our language from French. The ancient Slavs called a bracelet the word “hoop”, that is, “that which encircles the hand” (including shackles: now handcuffs are also called “bracelets”). In French, by the way, “bracelet” comes from the word “bras” - “hand”; thus, the original Russian name was replaced with its exact tracing, only foreign. Well, the word “hand” exists in many Slavic languages ​​with the same meaning. Trying to figure out its origin, various scientists are looking for matches for it in different languages ​​of the Indo-European family, from Lithuanian “gather” to Old Icelandic “corner”. But we cannot yet say definitively where the familiar “hand”, and with it the “hoop,” came from in the Russian language.

“Hoop” has long been written in our country without a soft sign and in modern language no longer means an ornament for the hand, but “a plate or rod or rod bent into a ring” (Dictionary of S. I. Ozhegov). The Dictionary of V. I. Dahl, compiled in the 19th century, lists it, on the contrary, with a hard sign (“hoop”) in the same meaning: “rim... a large ring or bent circle,” or, in church usage, “wrist” (in in the sense of “bracelet,” the word “wrist” began to be used at the end of the 15th century). “Hoop”, which stands next to V.I. Dahl’s “hoop”, is also attributed by him to church terminology and means “wrist, bracer, handcuff, wristband, handrail, handrail, armlet, bracelet.” Many of these words are often found in fiction about Ancient Rus'. Meanwhile, "hoop" appeared as the plural of "hoop" when it had already become simply a "bent plate"; “opyast” in ancient Russian times was “part of the sleeve at the wrist”; “bracer” is a part of military armor, not an ornament; “bracer” generally meant “as much as you can pick up, an armful”...

As for who in Ancient Rus' wore bracelets more often - women or men - the question is as difficult as in the case of hryvnias. Archaeologists rarely find them in male burials and confidently consider them to be adornments specifically for women. But on the pages of the chronicles, we meet princes and boyars “with hoops on their hands” (we note that the “hoops” were sometimes part of the armor, but the content of the texts is such that they are most likely talking about bracelets). It is appropriate to assume that here we again have a “military-priestly” situation. We also note that in the military culture of many of our neighbors, bracelets occupied an important place, being, like hryvnias, one of the symbols of valor and a welcome gift from the hands of the illustrious leader. So, the Vikings of Scandinavia called a good leader “giving rings”, and scientists write that bracelets are meant here, and not jewelry for a finger.

The ancient Slavs made their "hoops" from a variety of materials: from leather covered with an embossed pattern, from woolen fabric, from a strong cord wrapped in a thin metal ribbon, from solid metal (copper, bronze, silver, iron and gold) and even ... glass

Woven and leather bracelets, of course, were very poorly preserved in the ground. Their finds are rare, but archaeologists rightly point out that most of them simply did not reach us.

Glass bracelets are much better preserved, because glass resists corrosion well and practically lasts forever. Another thing, because of their fragility, thin twisted bracelets are found mainly in the form of fragments. They are found in huge numbers during excavations of ancient Russian cities. For a long time, they, like all glass products in general, were considered to be imported items. But thousands of fragments found convinced researchers that glass bracelets were cheap and were worn by literally all city dwellers (and not just the rich, as it would be if they were really imported). When they broke, they were thrown away without trying to fix them. Massive finds of glass bracelets begin in the 10th century layer. Blue, blue, purple, green, yellow, brightly colored and shiny, they were the product of local workshops. New excavations and comparisons of materials will show in which century our ancestors mastered the secrets of glassmaking (see also the chapter "Beads").

Despite the cheapness, brisk trade and the great proximity of urban and rural life in those days, glass “hoops” (probably again due to fragility?) did not take root among the rural population, remaining a specifically urban decoration. They are extremely rarely found outside cities, and even then, as a rule, in nearby villages.

Scientists point out that glass bracelets were borrowed by the Slavs from Byzantium and appeared in large quantities where Christian churches were built with their mosaics, window glass and glazed tiles. Studying glass bracelets, it was possible to identify two main schools of glassmaking: Kyiv and Novgorod. Here, different compositions of glass and different dyes were used, and therefore, the “fashion” also differed.

Apparently, the village people preferred metal bracelets, mostly copper (silver and especially gold were the property of the nobility). They were worn on both the left and the right hand, sometimes on both, and several at a time, on the wrist and near the elbow, on top of shirts and under them... (It is worth noting, by the way, that researchers point out that the attire of Slavic women was not so rich in metal ornaments, like some neighboring tribes.)

Metal bracelets have been well studied by archaeologists; scientists divide them into many types and subtypes according to the method of manufacture, the connection or decoration of the ends. However, unlike, for example, temporal rings, only a few varieties of bracelets say something definite about the tribe to which the person who wore them belonged. Scientists single out only Novgorod "hoops" made of twisted wire with chopped ends. Perhaps bracelets were considered less "sacred" objects than the same temporal rings - an accessory to a woman's headdress, which, as shown in the previous chapter, has changed very little over the centuries? Apparently, the bracelet was much easier to buy, give, exchange, without violating traditions.

The fashion for some bracelets spread across Europe from the south, from Byzantium. Archaeologists consider them to be a continuation of ancient Greek jewelry traditions. Such, for example, are bracelets made of dart with the ends tied in an elegant knot. (Even cast bracelets were often made in molds imitating such a knot.) Around the 10th century, they also appeared in Rus', and it was from us that they then came to Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states.

The same is true of open-ended bracelets with ends beautifully shaped like animal heads. Some of them cause controversy among scientists: some researchers believe that they were brought from Byzantium, but others insist that in the 10th-12th centuries Slavic jewelers were already highly skilled craftsmen and could well create jewelry no worse than Byzantine ones, including those according to ancient antique samples.

In great use were bracelets twisted from several wires, “false-twisted”, that is, cast in clay molds from wax casts of twisted bracelets, as well as wicker ones - with or without a frame. All of them are very diverse; there are even some in which the base rod is braided with small rings, reminiscent of chain mail links.

“Plate” (bent from metal plates) bracelets, forged and cast, are very beautiful and varied. The fashion for some of them came not from Byzantium, but, on the contrary, from the Nordic countries. For example, wide, massive, convex, cast bracelets with a characteristic pattern are often found in Scandinavia, Finland, and Karelia. Scientists call them “scaphoid”. Often they were even fastened with a clasp attached to miniature hinges. The Slavic masters who lived on the territory of the modern Vladimir region, apparently, liked the foreign snake design. However, they made the bracelet itself in their own way, from a thin flat plate with tied ends, and the pattern was applied using an embossing technique (using a stamp), which was not used by northern blacksmiths. In this form, already as a “Russian souvenir”, these bracelets find their way back to Scandinavia - plate bracelets, and, moreover, tied in the Slavic style, were a rarity there...

From pre-Mongol times, another type of bracelet has been preserved - “fold”, consisting of two halves connected by small loops and a clasp. On the samples that have come down to us, images of mythical animals, birds and musicians playing the harp and sniffle pipes are discernible. And next to the musicians, girls in shirts with sleeves extended to the ground perform the sacred dance.

Scientists quite reasonably assumed that the bracelets themselves were intended for participants in such a ritual. Apparently, silver flaps held the wide, long sleeves of women's shirts at the wrist; at the moment of the sacred ceremony, they were unbuttoned, and the sleeves unfolded like wings (see the chapter “... and about the sleeve”). It is interesting that the bracelets found date back to the 12th-13th centuries, that is, they were made and used in pagan rituals two hundred, if not three hundred years after the official introduction of Christianity. In addition, judging by the nature of the burials, they belonged to a princess or noblewoman. Here it is: Christian churches already stood all over Rus', and noble wives continued to keep ritual decorations; moreover, they themselves participated and even led the sacred pagan dance. And this despite the fact that Christianity in Rus', as is known, was implanted “from above”!

The situation, strange at first glance, can be explained simply if we consider that by that time the princes and boyars had not yet completely turned into oppressor-feudal lords hated by the people. Ordinary people, according to a thousand-year tradition, continued to see in them (especially in princes) the “elders” of their tribe, not only military leaders, but also religious ones - high priests, intermediaries between people and the Gods. And this imposed certain obligations on noble people, which they did not dare to neglect. The tribe believed: the well-being of everyone else depended on the personality of the prince, on his performance of ancient rituals, and on his mental and physical health. We know how unshakably pagan ideas were held among farmers (see, for example, the chapter “Polevik and Poludnitsa”). Would the wife or daughter of such a “mediator between people and the Gods” try not to come to the pagan holiday, to refuse the sacred dance, which was a prayer for timely rain, and therefore for the harvest! Popular indignation could hardly have been avoided...

This is how much a small bracelet that has lain in the ground for almost eight long centuries can tell.

Other jewelry, originally designed to magically protect the human hand - rings, rings - appear in the graves of the ancient Slavs from the 9th century and are widely found starting from the next, 10th century. Some archaeologists believed that they became widespread among the Slavs only after the introduction of Christianity, because rings play an important role in church rites. However, other scientists excavated Slavic burials of the 7th century (in Transylvania), and there were bronze rings - not brought from a distant country, but local, and even allowing us to talk about the “Slavic type” of rings. The ring is also held in the hand by one of the Deities of the Zbruch pagan idol: researchers recognized in it the image of Lada - the Slavic Goddess of the universal order of things, from the cosmic circulation of the constellations to the family circle (see the chapter “Rozhanitsa”). And on later rings, the sacred symbols of paganism, for example, the signs of the Earth, are persistently visible. In a word, the pagan symbolism of the ring-ring was in no way poorer than the Christian one. Or maybe this is why the pagans avoided putting rings on the deceased, for fear of preventing the soul from leaving the body and going on an afterlife journey (see chapter “The Belt”)? If so, then it should be assumed that after the adoption of Christianity at the end of the 10th century, when the dead, especially noble ones, increasingly began to be buried according to Christian rites, rings began to be placed next to the body, and then left on the hand...

In one female burial, as many as thirty-three rings were found in a wooden casket. In other graves, the rings are tied with a cord, placed in a pot, in a suitcase, in a leather or knitted wallet, or simply on a piece of birch bark. Probably, the customs of the Finnish tribes, neighbors of the ancient Slavs, and not just neighbors, were reflected here: some of these tribes were destined to join the emerging ancient Russian people. Where such proximity and kinship became the closest, completely Finnish types of rings were found in Slavic graves. For example, to the southwest of modern St. Petersburg and in the middle reaches of the Volga, so-called “mustachioed” rings were worn, and in the Vladimir burial mounds “noisy” rings were found - equipped with metal pendants capable of ringing one another. Sometimes these pendants have very characteristic outlines of “duck feet” - ducks and other waterfowl were sacred to the Finno-Ugric tribes, according to their beliefs, they participated in the creation of the world.

An equally interesting “Finnish borrowing” was the peculiar way of wearing rings. In the Moscow region, in several burial mounds, rings were found worn... on a toe.

Ancient Slavic rings, like bracelets, do not have a clearly defined “tribal affiliation”. The same varieties are found over very large areas. Local types of rings appear mainly in the 12th-13th centuries, when their production became truly massive.

The very unique and beautiful “lattice” rings of the Vyatichi were apparently inspired by the art of the Mordovian and Murom Finno-Ugric tribes. The Vyatichi generally retained their color for a very long time, in no hurry to dissolve into the strengthening ancient Russian state. Craftsmen who lived in different parts of the Vyatichi territory applied the same pattern to both temple rings and rings with open ends and wide centers - they were cast in the form of plates and only then bent into a ring. The background of the relief pattern was sometimes filled with enamel. Among the Vyatichi, such rings were worn not only by noble people, but also by ordinary people who lived in forest villages. And they were made both in the city and in rural workshops.

But in the lands between Pskov and modern St. Petersburg, where the Krivichi and Slovenes mixed with the Finno-Ugric tribes - Izhora and Vodya - there were rings with convex scars on a long shield. There are also twisted open rings, cast with an imitation of twisting, as well as with a signet, and quite a “modern” look. On the seals of ancient Slavic rings you can find a variety of sacred, protective signs, including the swastika - a rolling sun wheel (for more details, see the chapter “Dazhdbog Svarozhich”).

With the development of jewelry, our ancestors began to decorate their rings not only with relief patterns and enamel, but also with niello, granulation, filigree...

The way the ring was worn, at least among women, seemed to depend on age, or rather on age group. Judging by some data (Chernigov region), underage girls could wear a simple ring on their left hand. This was found in the grave of a two to two and a half year old girl. The bride-girl, the young woman, put a rich ring on her right hand. And an elderly woman, moving into the “old women” age group, together with a hornless kika - a symbol of the end of childbearing age - gave an elegant ring to her daughter or granddaughter, and she again took a simple ring and put it on the finger of her left hand ...

The above applies to metal rings. Meanwhile, there were also bracelets made of other materials, such as glass. Only they are encountered much less frequently by archaeologists.

The word "ring" for us now means an ornament for a finger topped with some kind of insert, usually a pebble, precious or semi-precious. What our distant ancestors made and wore, we would most likely simply call “rings”: in modern language, this word means rather a purely metal decoration (or from another material, but also without an insert). However, scientists write that the Old Russian language did not know such a contrast. The decoration worn on the “finger” was called a “ring”. The word "ring", apparently, began to be used in this meaning later.

As for rings with precious inserts, they were also not uncommon for our ancestors. Another thing is that those found by archaeologists are entirely imported. Deposits of colored stones - except perhaps for amber, which was also found on the Dnieper - were far from the then Slavic lands. Rings with inserts were called “zhukoviny” by the ancient Slavs. Maybe the shiny convex stones somehow reminded them of the iridescent backs of beetles. Or maybe our ancestors happened to be amazed at the rings with the image of a scarab - the sacred beetle of the Egyptians...

Sometimes you read that pagans (not only Slavs, European pagans in general) did not wear objects of worship, that is, revered, sacred, protective images, in the form of jewelry: such a “fashion,” according to some researchers, arose only after official baptism as a protest against a new, often forcibly implanted religion. I think this is worth arguing with. Firstly, we have already seen: everything that is called “decoration” in modern language had a clearly readable religious, magical meaning in ancient times. Secondly, for a Christian believer, is the cross that he wears around his neck, even if this cross is a beautiful work of jewelry, simply “decoration” in the sense that we give to this word today? And finally, the decoration of the deceased, lowered into the grave or laid on the funeral pyre, did not necessarily correspond to the decoration of the living, at least every day. Who knows what customs existed that prohibited putting religious objects in the grave? For example, it is quite possible to assume that the Slavs were afraid to cover the symbols of the Sun with earth, and the Scandinavians were afraid to cover their Thor hammers, symbols of heavenly thunder...

Many Slavic amulets are quite clearly divided into male and female (by the way, note that in the Christian era, pectoral crosses were similarly differentiated).

In women's burials, amulets in the form of horse figurines are often found. According to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, the horse is a symbol of goodness and happiness; the wisdom of the Gods sometimes appeared to people through this animal. The cult of the horse is associated with the veneration of the Sun: the chapter “Dazhdbog Svarozhich” tells about winged white horses pulling a solar chariot. It is no coincidence that amulets from ancient burials are often decorated with a “sunny” circular ornament. Slavic women wore them at the left shoulder, on a chain, in combination with other amulets, which will be discussed later.

Without much of a stretch, skates can be called the favorite amulet of the Smolensk-Polotsk Krivichi people. In other Slavic tribes, even among the same Krivichi who lived near Pskov, they are almost never found. Scientists explain this by saying that in the area of ​​modern Smolensk, before the arrival of the Slavs, Baltic tribes lived and the Slavs, having mixed with them, absorbed much of their culture and beliefs. Including a special commitment to the cult of the horse. It is no coincidence that the talismans of the Smolensk Krivichi echo those found in the antiquities of the Baltic Latgalian tribe.

Skates are often adjacent to amulets depicting waterfowl - swans, geese, ducks. The largest number of them were found in those places where the Slavs came into contact and mixed with Finno-Ugric tribes. In particular, this applies to the regions of modern St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Kostroma. We have already noted more than once that for the Finno-Ugrians these birds are sacred and were not hunted. However, they also found a place in the beliefs of the Slavs: after all, it was ducks, swans, and geese that transported the chariot of Dazhdbog the Sun across the Ocean-Sea on its way to the Lower World and back. Such beliefs explain why the hands of Slavic craftsmen produced unique amulets that combined the body of a waterfowl with the head of a horse. Our ancestors believed that the glorious Sun God would certainly rush to their aid - both at night and during the day.

Other women's amulets were small copies of household items - ladles, spoons, combs, keys. Their symbolism is clear: they were supposed to attract and maintain wealth, satiety, and contentment in the hut. Who could take care of this if not the housewife? So women hung them on the left or right shoulder, less often on the belt, as was customary among their Finnish neighbors. And when a girl died, who did not have time to grow up, get married and acquire a household, such amulets could be given to her “with them”, but not attached to clothes, but separately, in a leather purse ...

Ax amulets were worn by both women and men. Only women attached them again at the shoulder, and men - at the belt. The ax was a favorite symbol of Perun's presence (for more on it, see the chapter "Perun Svarozhich"). Perun - the God-warrior, the giver of warm thunderstorms, the patron saint of the harvest - had something to honor for both women and men. But amulets, which were miniature images of weapons - swords, knives, sheaths - were a purely masculine property.

“Solar” symbolism can also be clearly seen in the round amulets pendants, which were also included in women’s attire. They were made, as a rule, from billon or bronze, less often from high-grade silver. Sometimes they were decorated with the image of a cross, and now it is difficult to say what the 12th century master had in mind - either the new Christian Cross or his ancient Solar Cross.

If mostly yellow alloys were used for “sunny” round pendants, then for “lunar” pendants white alloys were more often used, in the color of moonlight - silver or silver with tin, and bronze - only occasionally. This is understandable, because, as scientists write, the moonlits reflect the ancient cult of the Moon, widespread not only among the Slavs, but also among other ancient peoples of Europe and Asia. Lunas have appeared in Slavic burials since the 10th century. Usually they were worn in several pieces as part of a necklace, or even put into the ears like earrings. Rich, noble women wore moonlights made of pure silver; They are often marked with the finest jewelry work, they are decorated with the smallest grain and filigree. It is no coincidence that they are found in the vicinity of large cities of Ancient Rus', which grew along trade routes.

In lunnitsa, which most women willingly wore, and the metal was cheaper, and the work was simpler. If the craftsman managed to get his hands on an expensive grained crescent moon, on which each microscopic ball was soldered by hand (an incredibly painstaking and expensive job!), The village jeweler, without further ado, would take a wax cast from a valuable item and cast an alloy decoration on it, what was at hand. And then he simply imprinted the moon in the clay, poured liquid metal - and the result was a “mass production” of rather rough work, however, apparently, it satisfied the villagers. But if such a master was not alien to artistic taste, he himself made a wax model, and then sometimes a floral ornament appeared on the moon - elegant, delicate and quite “functional”, because the first mythological “duty” of the Moon was to monitor the growth of plants. By the way, modern research has shown that in this case, too, an apt observation is written in the language of myth: it turns out that the concentration of nutrients in the “tops” and “roots” of our garden vegetables directly depends on the new moon or full moon.

The word “beads” in its modern meaning began to be used in the Russian language from the 17th century, until then, apparently, the Slavs called this type of jewelry a “necklace,” that is, “what is worn around the throat.” Archaeologists often write this in their works: “...a necklace made of beads was found.” In fact, a string of often very large (about 1.5 cm in diameter) beads, of the same type or different, will remind a modern person more of a necklace, and not of the beads that are worn now.

In ancient times, beads were a favorite decoration for women from the northern Slavic tribes; they were not so common among the southern ones. They were mostly made of glass, and until the 9th-10th centuries they were mostly imported, since the Slavs' own glassmaking was only getting better and could not satisfy mass demand. In the ancient trading city of Ladoga, in the layer of the 8th century, pieces of slag were found, which is formed during the melting of glass, as well as unfinished, defective beads. This encouraged the researchers; they began to look for the remains of a local glassmaker’s workshop - “blacksmith’s glass”. Soon they came across small fireproof crucibles, but... when tested, they turned out to be intended for casting bronze jewelry. Later, however, “deposits” of quartz sand were discovered in the same layer, and in a place where this sand could only be transferred by human hands: the question is, why, if not for making glass?.. Scientists argue: some demand irrefutable evidence , others say that all the necessary evidence has already been found. The time of the emergence of own glassmaking in Ladoga, therefore, remains to be clarified. But the fact that it was through these places that imported glass beads were transported from across the Baltic Sea to Northern Rus' and sold, perhaps even by weight, is an established fact. It is also known that even at the time of writing the first chronicles, “archaeological finds” were made in Ladoga: the river, washing away the bank, brought to light “glass eyes” of unknown origin in large numbers...

Some beads came to the Volkhov shores from Central Asia, others from the North Caucasus, others from Syria, and still others from the African continent, from Egyptian workshops. The most interesting thing is that they were brought here not by the eastern route, through Rus', but, on the contrary, along the waterways of Western Europe - through the lands of the Western (Slovakia, Moravia, Czech Republic) and Baltic Slavs, who owned access to the sea. Examples of such beads were also found in the Scandinavian countries, in shopping centers known at that time throughout the Baltic “Mediterranean”: in the cities of Hedeby and Birke, on the island of Gotland. Beads were brought here, sold to each other and to the local population by merchants - Slavic, Scandinavian and others. (By the way, it cannot be ruled out that beads sometimes served not only as a commodity - but more on that a little later.) And since the 9th century, in these cities, in addition to imported beads, beads have also been found that were clearly made locally...

Scientists divide ancient beads into so many types, groups and subgroups that it is impossible to even briefly describe them all here. Let's take a closer look at at least a few.

The craftsmen made some beads from pieces of glass rods that had several layers - most often yellow, white, and red. The “glass smith” heated the stick to a soft state, separated a piece with tongs and pierced it with a sharp needle in layers or across. In other cases, the base of a large bead was prepared from glass of various mixed shades (sometimes the melted remains of defective beads were used in this way). Then, if required, a thin layer of glass of a pure, beautiful color was “wound” onto the base: yellow, blue, red, green, violet, white, whatever (having mastered the preparation of glass, the Slavs very soon learned to color it using minerals whose deposits were located on their territory). And then more and more pieces of multilayered rods were fused into the sides of the bead, blazing with heat, but this time the colored layers alternated in concentric circles, like tree rings. Archaeologists call the resulting patterns “eyes”: indeed, for example, a red spot surrounded by white, green and yellow rims resembles a peephole.

There is an assumption that the “eyes” served not only aesthetic purposes. Some researchers believe that such beads (and they are quite identical in weight) could serve as weights: some of them are not completely pierced, some of the holes are completely filled with lead. Such beads were found, among other things, among sets of weights, next to folding scales. Even a hypothesis has been put forward: wasn’t the number of “eyes” a sign of the value of the weight bead? Or maybe, before the spread of locally minted coins, they were sometimes used as money?..

Other beads that I definitely want to mention are gold-plated and silver-plated ones. The technique of silvering and gilding glass products, including beads, was mastered by craftsmen in the Egyptian city of Alexandria even before our era. Centuries later, the thread of tradition reached Northern Europe. This is how the local “glass smiths” worked: using special techniques, the thinnest petals of silver or gold foil were applied to the glass base of the bead, and so that the coating did not wear off, it was protected with a new layer of glass on top. After the 6th century AD, when the production of beads became widespread and the whole of Europe began to wear them, artisans quickly learned to “hack”: saving precious gold, they covered all the beads with cheaper silver, and in order to give them the appearance of “golden” (and sell them at the appropriate price) price) - poured transparent light brown glass on top. Until the end of the 9th century, real gilded beads were found among the Ladoga finds, but very soon outright fakes began to be found in huge quantities: instead of foil they began to use... glass painted in a “golden” color with silver salts...

And the Slavs were very fond of beads. They made it in a variety of colors: yellow (bright yellow and lemon), green, turquoise, cornflower blue, blue-gray, milky white, pink, red. Arab travelers mention that green beads (beads) were considered very prestigious among the Slavs and were a sign of wealth. Archaeologists also come across “gilded” beads (in the Ryazan-Oka region from the beginning of our era until the 8th century, they were generally the main type of beads). Scientists write that they made beads from glass tubes with a diameter of 5–7 mm: first they marked the beads with tongs, then separated them with a sharp blade. Then it was placed in a pot, mixed with ash or fine sand and heated again. Some of the beads (three or four out of every hundred) had the holes intended for the thread become swollen, but the rest were made smooth and shiny: if you want, sew them on, if you want, string them on a strong thread and wear them to your health!

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Gurevich F. D. The oldest beads of Staraya Ladoga // Soviet Archeology. 1950. Issue. 14.

Darkevich V. P. Symbols of heavenly bodies in the ornament of Ancient Rus' // Soviet Archeology. 1960. Issue. 4.

Darkevich V. P., Froyanov V. P. Old Ryazan treasure // Ancient Rus' and the Slavs. M., 1978.

Levasheva V. P. Temporal rings // Essays on the history of the Russian village of the 10th-13th centuries. M., 1967. (Proceedings of the State Historical Museum. Issue 43).

Lévi-Strauss K. Why do people wear jewelry? // Abroad. 1991. Issue. 47.

Lukina G. N. Names of decoration items in the language of monuments of ancient Russian writing of the 11th-14th centuries. // Questions of word formation and lexicology of the Old Russian language. M., 1974.

Lukina G. N. Subject-related vocabulary of the Old Russian language. M., 1990.

Lvova Z. A. Glass beads from Staraya Ladoga. Part 1. Manufacturing methods, area and time of distribution // Archaeological collection of the State Hermitage. L., 1968. Issue. 10.

Lvova Z. A. Glass beads from Staraya Ladoga. Part 2. Origin of beads // Archaeological collection of the State Hermitage. L., 1970. Issue. 12.

Malm V. A., Fechner M. V. Pendants-bells // Essays on the history of the Russian village of the X-XIII centuries. M., 1967. (Proceedings of the State Historical Museum. Issue 43).

Uspenskaya A.V. Chest and waist pendants // Ibid.

Fechner M.V. Neck hryvnia // Ibid.