New Finds of Bronze Fibulae with Enamel

TITLE: NEW FINDS OF BRONZE FIBULAE WITH ENAMEL – WHAT WOMEN LIKED TO WEAR DURING THE MIDDLE AND LATE LA TÈNE IN THE SOUTHERN CARPATHIAN BASIN

(Nové nálezy bronzových spôn s emailom – čo ženy rady nosili počas strednej a neskorej doby laténskej v južnej časti Karpatskej kotliny)

Author: Marko DIZDAR

DOI: 10.17846/SHN.2019.23.S.33-47

Publication order reference: Marko Dizdar, Institute of Archaeology, Ljudevita Gaja 32, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia, mail: marko.dizdar@iarh.hr

Source: Studia Historica Nitriensia, year: 2019, vol.: 23, number: Supplementum, pages: 33-47

Abstract: The characteristic forms of the Middle La Tène female costume in the southeastern and eastern Carpathian Basin include the fibulae that have a rectangular plaque on the end of the foot, with depressions of different shapes filled with colourful enamel. They have characteristic rectangular plaques located on the end of the foot, between a single spherical knob on each side, which have depressions of different shapes. The foot can end with an anchor-shaped terminal above the spring, which most often consists of six or eight coils connected with an external chord. Insights have shown that the Middle La Tène forms of fibulae with enamel are found in the greatest number in the southeastern Carpathian Basin and along the Tisza River, but they have also been recorded on sites from Slovakia to Transylvania. On the basis of all known finds, the distinct variants can probably be dated to late phase of LT C1 and LT C2, with particular forms only rarely characterising particular areas, which possibly included the workshops where they were produced. One of these rare narrowly distributed forms is represented by the fibulae of the Boljevci variant, which are probably characteristic for LT C2 and are currently restricted to the southeastern Carpathian Basin with isolated finds more to the south, in the area of the western and central Balkans, where they probably arrived by means of cultural transfers and/or the mobility of the women who wore them. An even narrower distribution can be seen for the more complex form of the Late La Tène fibula with enamel or the Gomolava-type fibula, which has been found – similarly to the fibulae of the Boljevci variant – only on the sites in the southern Carpathian Basin, with one exception on those attributed to the Scordisci.

Keywords: FEMALE COSTUME; FIBULAE WITH ENAMEL; MIDDLE LA TÈNE; LATE LA TÈNE; SOUTHERN CARPATHIAN BASIN; IDENTITY; WORKSHOPS;

Language: ENGLISH