Database
Our database is free to use for all history and archaeology enthusiasts. If you use our database, please do not forget to cite correctly:
Mägi, Marika; Palm, Piia Sandra. Archaeological Artefacts of Saaremaa. Foundation Osiliana / Tallinn University. Accessed: date.
The Osiliana Archaeological Database presents artefacts from Saaremaa and the surrounding small islands.
The database contains mainly Iron Age and Medieval finds that can be classified.
Undated metal or other pieces were generally excluded from the database.
Ceramics are represented by isolated examples.
The database is a work in progress and is constantly being updated.
Upa
Ring brooch, bronze. A so-called “Hanseatic” brooch, dated to the 13th-14th centuries in Estonia.
Ring brooch, bronze. A so-called “Hanseatic” brooch, dated to the 13th-14th centuries in Estonia (Reidla 2012, 96). Such brooches are found in Estonia from early Christian cemeteries, but not in the prehistoric stone graves (Laul, Valk 2014, 104). They are also common in 13th-14th century Christian cemeteries in Latvia, for example in Couronia, where they are dated from the second half of the 13th century to the early 15th century (Vaska 2017, 57).
Literature:
Laul, S., Valk, H. 2014. Siksälä kalme, I. Muistis ja ajalugu. Tartu ülikool: Tartu.
Reidla, J. 2012. Eesti ehtekultuur muinasajast uusajani. Schenkenberg, Tallinn.
Vaska, B. 2017. Rotas un ornaments Latvijā no 13.gs. līdz 18.gs. vidum. Latvijas Nacionālais vēstures muzejs. Rīga.
Upa
Saaremaa type chain holder, bronze. Semi-oval, ornamented with concentric circles. Most likely has been silver-plated.
Saaremaa type chain holder, bronze. Semi-oval, ornamented with concentric circles. Most likely has been silver-plated. It is a typical chain holder of Saaremaa, also found in northern and western Estonia, with a few examples in the surrounding areas. They can be found in both cremations and inhumation burials, often together with pins of Saaremaa type. Although previously dated to the 11th century, they were probably mainly in use in the 12th-13th centuries (Mägi 2002, 105; Spirĝis 2008, 144-145).
Literature:
Mägi, M. 2002. At the Crossroads of Space and Time. Graves, Changing Society and Ideology on Saaremaa (Ösel), 9th–13th centuries AD. CCC papers: 6. Gotland University College, Centre for Baltic Studies; Institute of History, Department of Archaeology. Tallinn, 2002. Read the book: here. Look at the drawings of the archaeological excavations: here.
Spirģis, R. 2008. Bruņrupuču saktas ar krūšu važiņrotām un lībiešu kultūras attīstība Daugavs lejtecē 10.-13. gadsimtā. Rīga: Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Apgāds.
Ure
Crossbow brooch, bronze + silver + iron, and a fragment of burnt pipe bone. Triangular foot. The brooch has a small spring cord with relatively long knobs with ring decoration extending to either side. It has a flat arc and the foot is flat, shaped into a trapezoid. On the top of the foot was a silver plate which had been fastened with two pins. The back of the leg had a remnant of bronze mount, with a small bronze rivet attached to it – probably a pinhole had been attached to the leg with bronze mounts. The needle is missing.
First photo: Jaana Ratas.
Crossbow brooch, bronze + silver + iron, and a fragment of burnt pipe bone. Triangular foot. The brooch has a small spring cord with relatively long knobs with ring decoration extending to either side. It has a flat arc and the foot is flat, shaped into a trapezoid. On the top of the foot was a silver plate which had been fastened with two pins. The back of the leg had a remnant of bronze mount, with a small bronze rivet attached to it – probably a pinhole had been attached to the leg with bronze mounts. The needle is missing. It is a local brooch, that type was common in coastal Estonia in the 4th-5th centuries (Rohtla 2005, 130-131).
Literature:
Rohtla, M.-L. 2005. Crossbow fibula as a reflection of social status and relations. – Culture and Material Culture. – Interarchaeologia, 1. Ed. by V. Lang. Tartu – Riga – Vilnius, 121–145.
Ure
Fire striking stone, oval shaped, with sharpening ends. White-red stone. Oval fire striking stones have been found in several mainly Roman Period deposits, burial places as well as stray finds in Estonia and surrounding countries.
Last photo: Jaana Ratas.
Fire striking stone, oval shaped, with sharpening ends. White-red stone. Oval fire striking stones have been found in several mainly Roman Period deposits, burial places as well as stray finds in Estonia and surrounding countries. In Estonian and Finnish archaeology, such stones have normally been considered as rituaal items, in Scandinavia also as items indicating status (Oras et al 2018; Monikander 2015).
Literature:
Monikander, A. 2015. Negotiating Fire and Water: Strike-a-lights from the Early Iron Age in Scandinavian Wetlands. – Journal of Wetland Archaeology, 15:1, 57-71. Read the article: here.
Oras, E., Kriiska, A., Kimber, A., Paavel, K. & Juus, T. 2018. Kohtla-Vanaküla weapons and tools deposit: an Iron Age sacrificial site In North-East Estonia. – Estonian Journal of Archaeology 2018, 22, 1, 5–31. https://doi.org/10.3176/arch.2018.1.02.
Potsherd.
Ure
Arc of a crossbow brooch, silver + gold + iron. The backward-shaped feet form the needle store which was wrapped at the end as wire for six rounds around the middle part of the arc. The head knob of the arc has a circular cross-section and in the hole of it a residue of an iron spiral axis. The brooch is ornamented in four places with two silver ring garnets which have a gold plate in-between. The gold plates have had embossed ornament. On the gold plate at the bottom of the foot, a small head of a bird and two diagonal stripes can be distinguished. The next one after this has diagonal embossed stripes and two birds. Another after that depicts the bird as well, flanked by a central ring and surrounding ovals of a flower. The uppermost plaque shows the image of a bird with a band of diagonal stripes below it. This is a typical Estonian brooch type, the only exception being the embossed ornamentation on the gold plaques as usually a reticulated pattern is used.
Arc of a crossbow brooch, silver + gold + iron. The backward-shaped feet form the needle store which was wrapped at the end as wire for six rounds around the middle part of the arc. The head knob of the arc has a circular cross-section and in the hole of it a residue of an iron spiral axis. The brooch is ornamented in four places with two silver ring garnets which have a gold plate in-between. The gold plates have had embossed ornament. On the gold plate at the bottom of the foot, a small head of a bird and two diagonal stripes can be distinguished. The next one after this has diagonal embossed stripes and two birds. Another after that depicts the bird as well, flanked by a central ring and surrounding ovals of a flower. The uppermost plaque shows the image of a bird with a band of diagonal stripes below it. This is a typical Estonian brooch type, the only exception being the embossed ornamentation on the gold plaques as usually a reticulated pattern is used. In Lithuanian Courland, such types of brooches were used from as early as the 2nd-3rd century (Tautavićius 1968, 141), but it seems more likely that the Ure specimen belongs to the 4th-5th centuries (Rohtla 2005, 126-127).
Literature:
Rohtla, M.-L. 2005. Crossbow fibula as a reflection of social status and relations. – Culture and Material Culture. – Interarchaeologia, 1. Ed. by V. Lang. Tartu – Riga – Vilnius, 121–145.
Tautavićius, A. (ed.) 1968. Lietuvos archeologiniai paminklai. Lietuvos pajūrio I-VII a. kapinynas. Vilnius.
Ure
Artefact fragment, iron.
Ure
Fragment of artefact, bronze. Higher loop for a belt to pass through. The longer part is decorated with long lines. The tip turns downwards at a perpendicular angle and ends with an oval plate that is situated crosswise to the rest of the artefact. On both parts of the plate, there has been a small bronze rivet, and one of these is snapped. It has been attached to either a wooden or leather object, e. g. a belt or a sword scabbard.
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Parallels:
Similar mounts on the officer belts from Nydam (Jørgensen & Petersen 2003, 267, figs. 8, 9, fragments; photo National Museum/ John Lee).
Fragment of artefact, bronze. Higher loop for a belt to pass through. The longer part is decorated with long lines. The tip turns downwards at a perpendicular angle and ends with an oval plate that is situated crosswise to the rest of the artefact. On both parts of the plate, there has been a small bronze rivet, and one of these is snapped. It has been attached to either a wooden or leather object, e. g. a belt or a sword scabbard. Possibly from the same belt or from one of the belts from which Ure propeller-shaped fittings come (Jørgensen & Petersen 2003, 267).
Literature:
Jørgensen, E. & Petersen, P. V. 2003. Nydam mose – nye fund og iagttagelser. – Sejrens triumf. Norden i skyggen af det romerske imperium. Ed. by L. Jørgensen, B. Storgaard & L. Gebauer Thomsen. København, 258–294.
Parallels:
Mounts of sword belt from the weapon sacrifice Ejsbølgård D (Andersen 2003, 251, fig. 8. Photo Hadersel Museum/ Steen Hendriksen).
Reconstructed belt from Nydam fyretree boat (Jørgensen & Petersen 2003, 267, fig. 8; photo National Museum/ John Lee).
Propeller-shaped belt fitting, bronze.
See also Ure finds SM10862: 1, 4, 33, 117.
Such propeller-shaped fittings that hanged from a belt are normally considered Germanic, but were clearly influenced by Roman fashion. They decorate so-called ‘officers belts’ found near the pinetree-boat at Nydam sacrificial place in Denmark. Very similar belt ornaments, plated with silver and gold, are known from Ejsbølgård sacrifice, e. g. weapon offering D, dated 250-300 AD (Andersen 2003, 251-253).
Sword-belts decorated with propeller-shaped fittings have been also found in other sacrificial places, e.g. Skedemosse on the island of Öland (Monikander 2010, 46) and in South-Scandinavian elite graves, e. g. in a chamber grave at Lilla Jored (Sweden), Lærkenfeld (Denmark), or Sætrang (Norway) (Rau 2014).
In the Eastern Baltic, propeller-shaped mounts have been recorded so far in two sites: Kambja in Southern Estonia and Lejas-Kleperis in Northern Latvia (Moora 1929, pl. XXX: 14; 1938, 477). Five specimens are recorded in Ure. As suggested by the parallels mentioned above, they may originate from the same belt as the mount SM10862:9. The propeller-shaped mounts in Ure represent two different sizes, possibly indicating two sacrificed belts.
Belts decorated with propeller-shaped silver or silver-plated fittings are considered to belong to the commanders of the armies.
Literature:
Andersen, H. Chr. H. 2003. Nye undersøgelser i Ejsbøl mose. – Sejrens triumf. Norden i skyggen af det romerske imperium. Ed. by L. Jørgensen, B. Storgaard & L. Gebauer Thomsen. København, 246–256.
Jørgensen, E. & Petersen, P. V. 2003. Nydam mose – nye fund og iagttagelser. – Sejrens triumf. Norden i skyggen af det romerske imperium. Ed. by L. Jørgensen, B. Storgaard & L. Gebauer Thomsen. København, 258–294.
Monikander, A. 2010. Våld och vatten. Våtmarkskult vid Skedemosse under järnåldern. – Stockholms Studies in Archaeology, 52. Stockholm. Read the article: here.
Moora, H. 1929. Die Eisenzeit in Lettland: bis etwa 500. N. Chr. Tafeln zum I. Teil. Tartu-Dorpat.
Moora, H. 1938. Die Eisenzeit in Lettland: bis etwa 500. N. Chr. II. Teil : Analyse. Tartu.
Mägi, M. 2021. Scandinavian chieftains in Saaremaa? Archaeological investigations in Ure, a probable Roman Period sacrificial place. – Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia 2020, 73-90. Read the article: here.
Rau, A. 2014. Spätkaiserzeitlich-frühvölkerwanderungszeitliche Kammergräber der Sætrang-Lilla Jored-Gruppe. – Kammergräber im Barbaricum. Zu Einflüssen und Übergangsphänomenen von der vorrömischen Eisenzeit bis in die Völkerwanderungszeit. Ed. by N. Lau & A. Abegg-Wigg. Wachholtz, 145-166. Read the article: here.
