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.
Weights, copper alloy and iron, 4. Such weights in Latvia have been dated to the late 12th and the 13th centuries (Berga, 2017, 73).
Berga, T. 2017. The distribution and chronology of traiding equipment in present-day Latvia in the tenth to thirteenth centuries. – Archaeologia Baltica, 24, 59-77.
Scales, copper alloy. In both Estonian and Latvian archaeological material scales of this type appeared in the end of the 10th century and they were used until the 13th century (Berga 2017, 62). Scales were used mainly to weigh silver (Laul & Tamla 2014, 39).
Berga, T. 2017. The distribution and chronology of trading equipment in present-day Latvia in the tenth to thirteenth centuries. – Archaeologica Baltica, 24: 59–77.
Laul, S. & Tamla, Ü. 2014. Peitleid Lõhavere linnamäelt: Käsitöö- ja ehtevakk 13. sajandi algusest. (Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi Kirjad 10). Õpetatud Eesti Selts, Tartu–Tallinn.
Viltina
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy.
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy. Semi-oval, partly melted. 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. Similar chain holders are also known from the Livic areas in Latvia, where they have often been uncovered in inhumation graves together with other Saaremaa-type artefacts (Spirgis 2008, 144-145). Although previously dated to the 11th century, they were probably mainly in use in the 12th-13th centuries (Mägi 2002, 105).
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.
Viltina
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy.
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy. Semi-oval. 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. Similar chain holders are also known from the Livic areas in Latvia, where they have often been uncovered in inhumation graves together with other Saaremaa-type artefacts (Spirgis 2008, 144-145). Although previously dated to the 11th century, they were probably mainly in use in the 12th-13th centuries (Mägi 2002, 105).
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.
Viltina
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy.
Viltina
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy.
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy. 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. Similar chain holders are also known from the Livic areas in Latvia, where they have often been uncovered in inhumation graves together with other Saaremaa-type artefacts (Spirgis 2008, 144-145). Although previously dated to the 11th century, they were probably mainly in use in the 12th-13th centuries (Mägi 2002, 105).
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.
Viltina
End plaque of a chain arrangement, copper alloy.
End plaque of a chain arrangement, copper alloy. These types of end plaques were widespread in Saaremaa and coastal Estonia, but also in the Livic areas and northern Couronia, where they have been dated 950–1150 (Zariņa 2006, 363; Spirģis 2008, 427). Most of such plaques seem to belong to the 11th century (Mägi 2019, 75). As demonstrated in Livic inhumation burials, they have additionally fixed the chain arrangement in the front part of the bearer (Zariņa 2006, fig. 196: 1, 189: 2).
Zariņa, A. 2006. Salaspils Laukskolas kapulauks 10.–13. gadsimts. Rīga: Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Apgāds.
Spirģis, R. 2008. Bruņrupuču saktas ar krūšu važiņrotām un lībiešu kultūras attīstība Daugavs lejtecē 10.-13. gadsimtā. Rīga: Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Apgāds.
Mägi, M. 2019. Late Viking Age burial place and ritual deposits at Lööne, Saaremaa. – Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia 2018, 67–78.
Chain holder, copper alloy. This type of chain-holder is also referred to as segment- or crescent-shaped chain holders. In the material from Salaspils Laukskola cemetery in Latvia, such chain holders appear together with pins dated to the 10th–11th centuries (Zarina 2006, 259–261).
Zariņa, A. 2006. Salaspils Laukskolas kapulauks 10.–13. gadsimts. Rīga: Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Apgāds.
Viltina
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy.
Saaremaa type chain holder, copper alloy. Semi-oval. 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. Similar chain holders are also known from the Livic areas in Latvia, where they have often been uncovered in inhumation graves together with other Saaremaa-type artefacts (Spirgis 2008, 144-145). Although previously dated to the 11th century, they were probably mainly in use in the 12th-13th centuries (Mägi 2002, 105).
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.
