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; Niinesalu-Moon, Maris; Rannaäär, Karin; Leiman, Lisanna Lee. 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.
Viltina
Penannular brooch with knob-shaped terminals, copper alloy.
Penannular brooch with knob-shaped terminals, copper alloy. With a rhomb-shaped cross-section. Such brooches have been found in stone graves with cremations, where they can belong to the late 12th century. They are more widespread in inhumation graves or found as stray-finds. In Siksälä Cemetery, SE-Estonia, such brooches are dated, depending on the shape of the ring and pin, to the 13th-15th centuries (Valk & Laul 2014, 102-103).
Valk, H. & Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme I: Muistis ja Ajalugu. Tartu ülikool, Ajaloo ja arheoloogia instituut, Tallinn.
Viltina
Penannular brooch with thickening terminals, copper alloy.
Penannular brooch with thickening terminals, copper alloy. Possibly imported from Couronia, where such brooches have been found in 11th-13th-century burials (Griciuvienė 2009, 317, 339).
Griciuvienė, E. (prepared by) 2009. Kuršiai. Genties kultūra laidosenos duomenimis. Baltų archeologijos paroda. Katalogas. The Curonians. Tribe Culture According to the Burial Data. Baltic Archaeological Exhibition. Catalogue. Lietuvos nacionalis muziejus, Latvijas Nacionālais vēstures muzejs, Vilnius – Riga.
Viltina
Penannular brooch with faceted terminals, copper alloy.
Penannular brooch with faceted terminals, copper alloy. With a rhomb-shaped cross-section of the ring, the ring decorated with “wolf-teeth” ornament. The pin has a broad base. Such brooches were widespread in Estonian stone graves (see e.g. Pauts 1997, 197; Mägi 2002; Mandel 2017), but also occurred in inhumation graves, and can be dated up to the the mid-13th century.
Pauts, H. 1997. Pahaga hoburaudsõled Eestis. – Eesti Ajaloomuuseum. Töid ajaloo alalt, I. Tallinn, 79–115.
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.) Tallinn.
Mandel, M. 2017. Maidla muinaskalmistu saladused. Eesti Ajaloomuuseum, Tallinn.
Penannular brooch, copper alloy. With a rhomb-shaped cross-section of the arch.
Viltina
Penannular brooch with knob-shaped terminals, copper alloy.
Penannular brooch with knob-shaped terminals, copper alloy. Such brooches have been found in stone graves with cremations, where they can belong to the late 12th century. They are more widespread in inhumation graves or found as stray-finds. In Siksälä Cemetery, SE-Estonia, such brooches are dated, depending on the shape of the ring and pin, to the 13th-15th centuries (Valk & Laul 2014, 102-103).
Valk, H. & Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme I: Muistis ja Ajalugu. Tartu ülikool, Ajaloo ja arheoloogia instituut, Tallinn.
Ring brooch, copper alloy. Such ring brooches came into use during the 13th century (Valk & Laul 2014, 104).
Valk, H. & Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme I: Muistis ja Ajalugu. Tartu ülikool, Ajaloo ja arheoloogia instituut, Tallinn.
Penannular brooch, copper alloy. With a rhomb-shaped cross-section of the arch, the arch decorated with “wolf-teeth” ornament. Probably been with knob-shaped or faceted terminals. Such brooches were widespread in Estonian stone graves (see e.g. Mägi 2002; Mandel 2017), but also occurred in inhumation graves, and can be dated up to the the mid-13th century.
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.) Tallinn.
Mandel, M. 2017. Maidla muinaskalmistu saladused. Eesti Ajaloomuuseum, Tallinn.
Viltina
Penannular brooch with knob-shaped terminals, copper alloy.
Penannular brooch with knob-shaped terminals, copper alloy.The ring has grooved thicker middle part, transversely grooved. Similar brooches are often found in 13th-14th-century inhumation graves and only seldom in stone graves with cremations. In Karja, such brooch was registered in an inhumation dated to the second half of the 13th century (Mägi 2002, Pl. 125: 1–2), but in Siksälä, South-East Estonia, they also occur in 14th-century graves (Valk et al 2014).
Mägi, M. 2002. At the crossroads of space and time: graves, changing society and ideology on Saaremaa (Ösel), 9th–13th centuries AD. Tallinn.
Valk, H., Ratas, J., Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme II. Matuste ja leidude kataloog. Tartu Ülikool: Tartu.
