Museum complex

Fibula and harness buckles

V Century AD
Bronze, gold, garnet, carnelian, glass; forging, embossing, inlay
Fibula length-8.8 cm; badge diameter: 3.2 cm, 4 cm, 6.5 cm
Receipt: collection of P.S.Uvarova
Showcase 11

Verkhnyaya Rutkha burial ground is located in the Digor gorge on the territory of the modern Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. The burial ground with a lot of stone crypts was a place for burying the elite of local mountain tribes in the V Century AD. At the end of the XIX Century, the burial ground was looted by local residents. Some of the items were sold to a Russian archaeologist Praskovya Sergeevna Uvarova who worked in Caucasus. Fibula and harness plaques were made in similar technique: ornament was made on a golden foil by embossment on the inside, the inlays were inserted into cut through sockets. Then back side would be filled with some mastic and thin golden part would be covered with a bronze plate. This technique was used by jewelers whenever it was needed to create an imitation of a massive gold object when they were short of precious metal.
Functional purpose: an item of prestige, an element of barbaric princely costume, which appeared as a result of the widespread fashion for gold jewelry inlaid with red stones (garnets and carnelian).
Notice of uniqueness: products in this technique were widespread in the South of Russia, as well as in Europe in Hunnic time.

1