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Technological characterisation of early Medieval gilded copper hollow pendants (gombiky), from Mikulčice (Moravia) and Prague Castle (Bohemia)

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Abstract

Gilded copper hollow spherical pendants known as gombiky (s. gombik) were examined to identify the technology of gilding and the material chosen as the substrate. The examined ornaments dating from the ninth and tenth centuries AD were recovered from elite graves of two major political, ecclesiastical and economic centres of the Early Medieval period located in the territory of the present-day Czech Republic: Mikulčice and Prague Castle, major sites of Moravia and Bohemia, respectively. Taking into account the state of degradation and possible bias due to earlier restorations, surface and bulk characterisation of the gilded material has been performed combining optical observation, X-ray radiography, metallography, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS analysis) and focused ion beam (FIB) milling mounted on FEG-SEM. The manufacturing procedure was reproduced by experimental archaeology. A detailed investigation of the gilded artefacts revealed several types of gombik construction involving different mounted elements, including the main body parts and the suspension system elements joined by hard soldering. The different constitutive parts are made with almost pure copper or low-purity copper. The systematic use of fire gilding (mercury amalgam gilding) was documented. Differences in the materials that were used and technical quality show the coexistence of finely produced objects by highly skilled and knowledgeable jewellers alongside more coarsely manufactured imitations. These variations are discussed in terms of different workshops in a possible relationship with their origin of manufacture.

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Acknowledgements

Ing. D. Janová from the Department of Structure and Phase Analyses (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering VUT in Brno) is warmly thanked for performing the SEM/EDS analysis. We also wish to thank G. Plítková, L. Zahradníková and J. Hošek, who compiled the technical drawings for better visualisation of the final construction of each type of gombiky.

Funding

This research was supported by two grant projects from the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) – No. 405/12/2195 (burial group in Prague Castle’s Lumbe Garden: analysis of jewellery and grave goods dated to the beginnings of Prague Castle) and No. 17-01879S (lifestyle and identity of the Great Moravian nobility: archaeological and bio-archaeological analysis of evidence of Mikulčice’s uppermost elites)—and institutional support (RVO: 67985912 – the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Prague, and RVO 68081758 – the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Brno).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Prague, Letenská 4, 118 01, Praha 1, Czech Republic

    E. Ottenwelter, L. Barčáková & J. Frolík

  2. TRACES laboratory (CNRS UMR5608), Université de Toulouse, Maison de la Recherche, 31058, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

    E. Ottenwelter & L. Robbiola

  3. Centre de Microcaractérisation Raimond Castaing (CNRS UMS 3623), Espace Clement Ader, 3 rue Caroline Aigle, 31400, Toulouse, France

    C. Josse

  4. Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Brno, Čechyňská 363/19, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Š. Krupičková & L. Poláček

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  1. E. Ottenwelter
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Ottenwelter, E., Barčáková, L., Josse, C. et al. Technological characterisation of early Medieval gilded copper hollow pendants (gombiky), from Mikulčice (Moravia) and Prague Castle (Bohemia). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 145 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01084-4

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