Database

Handmade ceramics, decorated with a lattice ornament. This type of pottery with lattice patterns was characteristic of north-western and western Estonia and Saaremaa. 11th-12th century (Tvauri 2005, 92-101).

Literature:

Tvauri, A. 2005. Eesti hilisrauaaja savinõud. – Muinasaja teadus, 16. Tartu-Tallinn.

Cross-headed pin made into cross-shaped pendant, bronze. The four rounded ends of the pin-head are connected by curved arches. Such pins are frequently found in 13th-century inhumations, seldom in prehistoric stone graves. The pendant dates to the 13th-14th centuries.

Spearhead, iron. With socket and rhombic blade. Such spearheads are dated in Latvia to the 13th-14th centuries, especially to the period after the mid-13th century, although similar spearheads spread in Europe as early as the late 12th century (Brūzis 2012, 74-75). Similar ones have been found in Saaremaa, for example in the Rahu cemetery, where they are previously dated to the 11th century (Mägi 2002, Pl. XII, XV), but are probably later. Late 12th century –  ca 1300.

Literature:

Brūzis, R. 2012.14.-16. gadsimta tuvcīņas ieroči Rīgā. – Sēna Rīga, 7. Pētījumi pilsētas arheoloģijā un vēsturē. Latvijas vēstures institūta apgāds: Rīga, 64-94.

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.

Spearhead, iron. Narrow, almost oval blade, long neck and socket. Such spearheads with a long neck and a long socket are dated in Finland to the 5th-6th century. (Kivikoski 1973, 52, Pl. 36:303).

Literature:

Kivikoski, E. 1973. Die Eisenzeit Finnlands. Bildwerk und Text. Neuausgabe. Helsinki.

Spearhead, iron. With tang, with a round neck of circular cross-section, with rounded edges. Blade patten-welded. Based on Russian analogues, it can be dated from the 9th to the beginning of the 11th century (Kirpitchnikov 1966b, fig. 1).

Literature:

Kirpichnikov 1966b = Кирпичников, А. H. 1966. Древнерусское оружие IX – XIII вв. Выпуск 2. Копья, сулицы, боевые топоры, булавы, кистени. Наука: Москва.

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.

Spirģis, R. 2008. Bruņrupuču saktas ar krūšu važiņrotām un lībiešu kultūras attīstība Daugavs lejtecē 10.-13. gadsimtā. Rīga: Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Apgāds.

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.

Mount, bronze. An elongated rectangle that had been attached at the ends to a belt or elsewhere with two small bronze rivets.

Photo: Jaana Ratas.

Piece of gold plate from a crossbow brooch (?), most probably from the arc. Embossed ornament with two zones of buttons and two zones of slashes between them. Ornament is similar to that of brooch nr SM10862:18.