Temporal rings, the photos of which are presented in the article, are jewelry of Slavic women, usually fixed at the temples. They were made of gold, silver, bronze. Slavs wore temporal rings one or several pairs at a time. Different tribes had ornaments of different shapes. Rings were attached to the headpiece using ribbons or straps.
History
The very first decorations were found in the burials of the Unetitsky and catacomb civilizations. There are samples in the burials of Troy and Minken of the Bronze Age. In the east, jewelry was found in Karasuk burials. Later findings are attributed to the Chernoles culture. The peak of the diversity of the temporal rings falls on the heyday of the Slavic culture in the Middle Ages. According to some researchers, the appearance of jewelry was invented under the influence of Arab and Byzantine civilizations.
Slavic jewelry, including temporal rings, began to appear in Scandinavia in the second half of the 10th century. They were used as a means of payment. Among the jewelry found in the Croatian burials of the Istrian Peninsula, most were small-sized wire products. The ends of the jewelry were wrapped in small hinges. They served to connect the elements.
Seven-beam products
Jewelry, which became the prototypes of seven-pointed and seven-bladed temporal rings, were common among Vyatichi and Radimichi. Among them are products of the Zaraisk treasure of the 9th century. Among the found ornaments there are five-rays with three balls on the rays and seven-rays with one ball. This group includes jewelry from the Poltava treasure of the 9th century. Seven-ray ornaments found in the Novotroitsky settlement are considered close to the Zaraisk temporal rings. It is believed that they copy products from the Subunavia.
The seven-rayed decoration of the Khotomel settlement dates back to the 8th-9th centuries. Ornaments of the same type were found in the hillforts of Gornal (Ramensky culture), Borschev culture, in Kvetuni, in the settlements near Smolensk and in Upper Poochye.
Wire temporal rings of the Slavs: photos, types
The size and shape of the jewelry determines the category to which this or that product belongs: ring-shaped, bracelet-shaped, medium-sized, curly. Within the first three categories there is a division into types:
- Closed (the ends are soldered).
- Tied (with one or two ends).
- Unclosed simple.
- With setting ends (cruciform, 1.5-2 turns).
- Bent tip.
- Flat-ear.
- Bushings.
- Petechoic.
The smallest ring-shaped temporal rings were sewn onto a headpiece or woven into hair. Such jewelry was common among all Slavic tribes, so they can not be considered either a chronological or ethnic sign. One and a half-turn products, however, were mainly made by southwestern groups.
The temporal rings of the Dregoviches, Polyans, Drevlyans, and Buzhan were ring-shaped. Their diameter ranged from 1 to 4 cm. The most popular were jewelry with open and overlapping ends. Less commonly found are S-terminal and bent-ring, polychrome, tri-bead and single-ended products.
Decorations of the northerners
As an ethnographic feature of these Slavs, spiral figurines of the 9th-12th centuries appear. Women wore 2-4 pieces on both sides. This type of jewelry came from spiral products, common in the VI-VII centuries. on the left bank of the Dnieper. For earlier cultures, ray cast false-grained decorations of the VIII-XIII centuries are characteristic. They are presented in the form of late copies of expensive products. Rings XI-XIII centuries. distinguished by negligence of manufacture.
Krivichi
Smolensk-Polotsk tribes made bracelet-shaped jewelry. Krivichi temporal rings were attached with leather straps to a headdress made of birch bark or dense fabric. Each temple had 2-6 decorations. In the XI-XII centuries, the Smolensk-Polotsk krivichi wore rings with two ends tied, and a little later with one. In the upper Klyazma and Istra, many rings in the shape of the letter S were found.
The Pskov Krivichs also had bracelet-shaped rings, but cruciform and bent. In some cases, women hung bells or trapezoidal pendants on chains to them.
Novgorod Slavs
They made shield rings. The earliest products include a ring measuring 9-11 cm with clear rhombic shields. Inside them was a dotted line depicting a cross in a rhombus. The end of the cross is framed in three circles. The ends of the ring were tied, or a shield was made on one of them. This type of jewelry is called a classic diamond-shaped. Such products were common in the X-XII centuries. A little later, they began to draw a cross in a rhombus with four circles.
Over time, the shields began to be smoothed, and subsequently oval. The diameter of the rings decreased significantly. In the XII-XIII centuries. they began to make sleeve-finished products decorated with a longitudinal rib or bulges. In the XIII-XV centuries, temporal rings made in the form of an inverted question mark became popular.
Seven-bladed ray decorations
A sign of the earliest samples is their rough manufacture. The oldest types of seven-blade products date back to the 11th century. T.V. Ravdina notes that these products were distributed (with some exceptions) outside the territory of the use of classic seven-bladed ornaments. At the same time, the author points out the absence of a gradual morphological transition from the oldest works of the 11th century to the 12th-13th centuries of Moscow. However, as the findings of the last few years show, this is not entirely true.
For example, several ancient ornaments were found in the Zvenigorod district of the Moscow region. Their fragments are often found on the field near the former site of the Dun in the Tula region. Archaeologists say that this type of jewelry was common at the turn of the XI-XII centuries. Therefore, despite the absence of a gradual transition, it could be the next level of development of seven-blade products.
This type of jewelry is notable for its small size, rounded drop-shaped blades, and the absence of side rings. The latter begin to appear in the first half of the XII century. together with a shaded ornament, coming to the blades with sharp tips. The ends themselves acquire an ax-shaped form.
The development of seven-bladed ornaments
In the middle of the XII century, there were many transitional forms of such rings. For example, products with teardrop-shaped blades and side rings, with an ornament, ax-shaped blades and a pattern that does not go over them were found. Later decorations had all of these symptoms. In the XII-XIII centuries. the seven-bladed ring becomes larger, patterns and ornaments are becoming more complicated. Found several types of such jewelry. The number of blades varied from 3 to 5 pieces.
Contradictions of researchers
T.V. Ravdina notes that the region in which the largest number of complex temporal rings were found was not inhabited by Vyatichi. This is confirmed by information from the annals. In the upper reaches of the Oka River, quite a few such ornaments were found. Accordingly, the question arose before the researchers: can these products be considered an attribute of Vyatichi?
I must say that the oldest type of seven-bladed ornaments is often found in the territory of Radimichi. Temporal rings of this type, according to Rybakov, came to them through the Volgodonsk route. Such products were distributed on the land of Vyatichi and Radimichi for a long time - until the XIII century. From them came the Radimichi seven-rayed temporal ornaments of the X-XI centuries and the Vyatichi seven-bladed rings of the XII century. They were used until the Mongol invasion.
At the heart of the product was a ring, the lower part of which is decorated with cloves sticking inward. Long triangular beams come out, often decorated with grain. These products, which first fell to the Eastern Slavs, were not considered a tribal trait. However, over time, they were well established in the territories inhabited by Vyatichi and Radimichi. In the IX-XI centuries, it was these rings that became a sign of tribal groups. Seven-beam rings were fixed on a vertical ribbon, which was sewn to the headdress. Such jewelry sets are called ribbon.
Bead jewelry
They also apply to ribbon decorations. The bead rings were called because small beads pierced the wire. To prevent the elements from moving, they were fixed with a winding of thin wire. Among the bead rings, the following varieties are distinguished:
- Smooth. This group includes rings with beads of the same and different sizes. The first were common in the X-XIII centuries, the second - in the XI-XIV centuries.
- Spooned.
- Smooth with a scan.
- Finely grained.
- Coarse-grained.
- Openwork filigree.
- Grain-filigree.
- Combined.
- Nodular
- Polychrome with beads made of stone, paste, amber, glass.
Colts
In rural areas, with the exception of certain territories, bead rings are rarely found. They were prevalent mainly among city dwellers. Ribbons with three-bead rings, as a rule, ended with a bundle of two or three such jewelry or a weighted pendant. In the first half of the XII century, the star colt acted as the last. The bow of the ring was wide. In the second half of the XII century, instead of a flattened upper beam, a lunar element with a narrow arch appeared.
Over time, the size of the colt decreased. Scan-granular ray products became the masterpieces of ancient Russian jewelry masters. The highest nobility wore lunar hollow pendants. They were made of gold and decorated with enamel designs on both sides. Such colts were also made of silver. They were decorated with mobile. As a rule, mermaids were depicted on the one hand and turkish horns on the other. Similar ornaments were present on other jewelry, described in the work of V. Korshun. Rybakov believes that these images symbolized fertility.
Colonial colts were worn, as a rule, on a chain, which was attached in the temple area to the headdress. In the second half of the 12th century, hollow enamel coils made of copper began to be manufactured. They were decorated with drawings and gilding. These pendants were cheaper than jewelry made of precious metals. Accordingly, copper products are more widespread. Colts made from tin-lead alloys were even cheaper. They were common until the fourteenth century.
The era of jewelry of the ancient Slavs ended after the establishment of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. With the invasion of the nomads, technology disappeared, which was restored only after a few hundred years.