Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Production

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Velestino Hoard

Part of the book series: New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture ((NABHC))

  • 152 Accesses

Abstract

The “Thessalian antiquities” are similar to some of the pieces in the Biskupija hoard in that on the back many have visible traces of a tightly woven textile fabric. This points to a specific casting technique, namely the “lost wax and lost textile” method. Originating in north-western China and Inner Mongolia during the late fourth and the third century BC, the technique reached Eastern Europe through the intermediary of the nomads. The earliest examples were until now believed to be the Biskupija casts, but some of the Velestino pieces may be slightly earlier. Moreover, unlike the dies in the Biskupija hoard, the Velestino pieces are made of lead, not copper alloy. The technology employed for the production of (some of) the Velestino plaques was an innovation shortly before and after AD 700, in Eastern and East Central Europe, as well as, probably, Byzantium.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

Archival Sources

Secondary Literature

  • Arrhenius, Birgit. “Casting.” In Golden Age and Viking Art in Sweden, edited by Wilhelm Holmqvist, 13–15. Stockholm: Historiska Museet, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayley, Justine. “The production of brass in Antiquity with particular reference to Britain.” British Museum Occasional Papers 50 (1998), 7–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bíró, Csaba, and Gergely Szenthe. “Öntéstechnikai vizsgálatok késő avar kori bronztárgyakon.” In Corolla museologica Tibor Kovács dedicata, edited by Endre Tóth, 155–74. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Műhelyhagyományok és technológiatranszfer. Elmélkedés az avar kor fémműveseinek kilétéről.” In Hadak útján. Népvándorlás kor fiatal kutatóinak XXIII. Konferenciákötete, edited by Ágota S. Perémi, 197–211. Veszprém: Laczkó Dezső Múzeum, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bühler, Birgit. “Ausgewählte Feinschmiedetechniken des 7. Jahrhunderts und ihre Merkmale am Beispiel von Goldschmuck aus Glodosy und Kelegeja (Goldkammer, Kiev, Ukraine).” In Novi tekhnologii v arkheologii. Zbirnyk naukovykh prats’, edited by Denis N. Kozak, 117–36. Kiev/L’viv: Institut arkheologii NAN Ukrainy/Institut arkheologii LNU im. I. Franka, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Zur Identifizierung ‘byzantinischer’ Feinschmiedearbeiten mithilfe herstellungstechnischer Studien unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Funden aus dem awarischen Siedlungsgebiet.” In Byzantine Small Finds in Archaeological Contexts, edited by Beate Böhlendorf-Arslan and Alessandra Ricci, 105–16. Istanbul: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunker, Emma C. “Lost wax and lost textile: An unusual ancient technique for casting gold belt plaques.” In The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys: Papers from the Second International Conference on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys, Zhengzhou, China, 21–26 October 1986, edited by Robert Maddin, 222–27. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other New York Collections. New York/New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chernykh, Evgenii N., D. B. Khoferte, and T. B. Barceva. “Metallurgicheskie gruppy cvetnogo metalla I tysiacheletiia n. e. iz Pribaltiki.” Kratkie soobshcheniia Institutua Arkheologii AN SSSR 119 (1969), 109–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, H. K. “Analysis of Late Roman-Byzantine copper-alloy artifacts from northern Jordan.” M.A. thesis, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craddock, Peter T., and K. Eckstein. “Production of brass in Antiquity by direct reduction.” In Mining and Metal Production Through the Ages, edited by Peter T. Craddock and J. Lang, 216–21. London: British Museum, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curta, Florin. “The archaeology of identities in Old Russia (ca. 500 to ca. 650).” Russian History 34 (2007), 31–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. “‘Slavic’ bow fibulae: Twenty years of research.” Bericht der römisch-germanischen Kommission 93 (2012), 235–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • D’iachenko, A. G. “Tekhnologiia izgotovleniia predmetov na Cepliaevskogo klada ranneslavianskogo vremeni.” In Ispol’zovanie metodov estestvennyi nauk v arkheologii, edited by Vladimir F. Gening, 27–35. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drandaki, Anastasia. “Copper alloy jewellery at the Benaki Museum, 4th to 7th century.” Antiquité tardive 13 (2005), 65–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. “From centre to periphery and beyond: The diffusion of models in late antique metalware.” In Wonderful Things: Byzantium Through Its Art: Papers from the Forty-Second Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, London, 20–22 March 2009, edited by Liz James and Antony Eastmond, 163–84. London: Gower, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egor’kov, Aleksandr N. “Svoistva i rol’ svincovo-oloviannykh splavov v proizvodstve iuvelirnykh izdelii rannimi slavianami Vostochnoi Evropy.” Zapiski Instituta istorii material’noi kul’tury 8 (2013), 160–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egor’kov, Aleksandr N., and Vlasta E. Rodinkova. “Sostav metalla izdelii iz Kurilovskogo klada rannesrednevekovogo vremeni (po rezul’tatam optiko-emissionnoi spektrografii).” Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta Arkheologii AN Rossii 233 (2014), 168–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egor’kov, Aleksandr N., and Ol’ga A. Shcheglova. “Sostav svincovo-oloviannykh splavov ranneslavianskikh kladov ‘drevnostei antov’.” Myslennoe drevo (2000), available at http://www.myslenedrevo.com.ua/ru/Sci/Archeology/Archeometry/Applied/GaponovkaPewters.html (visit of May 8, 2018).

  • ———. “Metall ‘antskikh’ kladov po rezul’tatam emissionno-spektral’nogo analiza.” In Drevnie remeslenniki Priural’ia. Materialy Vserossiiskoi nauchnoi konferencii (Izhevsk, 21–23 noiabria 2000 g.), edited by Vladimir I. Zav’ialov, 280–307. Izhevsk: Udmurtskii institut istorii, iazyka i literatury Ural’skogo Otdeleniia RAN, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Metal iz Kozievki/Novoi Odessy.” In Slaviano-russkoe iuvelirnoe delo i ego istoki. Mezhdunarodnaia nauchnaia konferenciia, posviashchennaia 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia Gali Fedorovny Korzukhinoi. Tezisy dokladov, edited by Anna A. Peskova and Ol’ga A. Shcheglova, 21–24. St. Petersburg: “Nestor-Istoriia”, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichert, Stefan, and Mathias Mehofer. “Recycelte Römer oder slawische Metallurgen? Interdisziplinäre Studien zum frühmittelalterlichen Buntmetallindustrie im Ostalpenraum.” Archäologie Österreichs 24 (2013), no. 2, 46–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elsner, John. “Replicating Palestine and reversing the Reformation: Pilgrimage and collecting at Bobbio, Monza and Walsingham.” Journal of the History of Collections 9 (1997), no. 1, 117–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engemann, Josef. “Palästinensische Pilgerampullen im F. J. Dölger-Institut in Bonn.” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 16 (1973), 5–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fettich, Nándor. Bronzeguss und Nomadenkunst aufgrund der ungarländischen Denkmäler. Prague: Seminarium Kondakovianum, 1929.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filipová, Alžběta. “The memory of Monza’s Holy Land ampullae: From reliquary to relic, or there and back again.” In Objects of Memory, Memory of Objects: The Artworks as a Vehicle of the Past in the Middle Ages, edited by Alžběta Filipová, Zuzana Frantová, and Francesco Lovino, 10–25. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavritukhin, Igor O., and Andrei M. Oblomskii. “Gaponovskii klad (predvaritel’naia publikaciia).” Rossiiskaia Arkheologiia 4 (1995), 136–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. Gaponovskii klad i ego kul’turno-istoricheskii kontekst (Ranneslavianskii mir, 3). Moscow: Institut Arkheologii RAN, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Gaponovskii klad i maloizvestnye sobytiia rannesrednevekovoi istorii Podneprov’ia.” In Arkheologicheskie otkrytiia 1991–2004 g., edited by Nikolai A. Makarov, 309–20. Moscow: Institut Arkheologii RAN, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goriunova, Valentina M., and Vlasta E. Rodinkova. “Ranneslavianskoe poselenie Velikie Budki (Khutor).” Stratum+ (1999), no. 4, 167–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorodcov, V. A. “Podcheremskii klad.” Sovetskaia Arkheologiia (1937), no. 2, 113–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grömer, Karina. “Cloth qualities from 800 BC–800 AD in Central Europe: Context, development, handcraft.” Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 51 (2010), 14–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grömer, Karina, and Silvia Müller. “Textiles from the Avar graveyard Zwölfaxing II, Austria.” Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 46 (2008), 17–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grömer, Karina, and Anita Rapan Papeša. “Jednostavne tkanine i žigošana koža organski nalazi s avarodobnog groblja u Nuštru (istočna Hrvatska).” Vjesnik Arheološkog Muzeja u Zagrebu 48 (2015), 51–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haas, Brigitte, and Roland Schewe. “Byzantinische Gürtelbeschläge im Germanischen Nationalmuseum.” Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums und Berichte aus dem Forschungsinstitut für Realienkunde 6 (1993), 255–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich-Tamáska, Orsolya. “Tier- und Zahnschnittornamentik im awarenzeitlichen Karpatenbecken.” Bericht der römisch-germanischen Kommission 87 (2006), 506–627.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Avar-age metalworking technologies in the Carpathian Basin (sixth to eighth century).” In The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans, edited by Florin Curta, 237–61 (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 2). Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hensel, Zdzisław. “Elementy rzędów końskich z cmentarzyska w Tumianach, woj. olsztyńskie w świetle badań składu chemicznego.” Archeologia Polski 41 (1996), 131–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, Jane. “Bactrian gold: Jewelry workshop traditions at Tillya Tepe.” In Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road, edited by Joan Aruz and Elizabetta Valtz Fino, 78–87. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hundt, Hans-Jürgen. “Textilreste aus awarischen Gräbern von Leobersdorf und ein Exkurs über gegessene Textilstrukturen an der Rückseite bronzener Riemenzungen.” In Das awarische Gräberfeld von Leobersdorf, NÖ, edited by Falko Daim, 9–17. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inkova, Mariela. “Bronzova aplikaciia s izobrazhenie na grifon ot Nacionalniia istoricheski muzei.” Problemi na prabălgarskata istoriia i kultura 3 (1997), 256–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Rannosrednovekovni nakiti ot NIM.” In Izsledvaniia po bălgarska srednovekovna arkheologiia. Sbornik v chest na prof. Rasho Rashev, edited by Pavel Georgiev, 224–39. Sofia: Faber, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelinková, Dagmar, Vladimír Šrein, and Martin Šťastný. “Doklady slévačství neželezných kovů v kultuře s keramikou pražského typu na Moravě.” In Mezi raným a vrcholným středověkem. Pavlu Kouřilovi k šedesátým narozeninám přátelé, kolegové a žáci, edited by Jiří Doležel and Martin Wihoda, 69–90. Brno: Archeologický ústav Akademie věd České republiky, Brno, v.v.i., 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidd, Dafydd. “The Velestínon (Thessaly) hoard—A footnote.” In Awarenforschungen, edited by Falko Daim, 509–15. Vienna: Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Wien, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Költő, László. “Avar kori bronztárgyak röntgenmissziós analízise.” Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 5 (1982), 5–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Régészeti következtetések avarkori bronzok elemzési adatainak vizsgálata.” Múzeumi műtárgyvédelem 12 (1983), 267–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Költő, László, and Varga Miklós Kis. “Röntgenemissziós analízis kés avar kori bronztárgyakon.” In Iparrégészeti kutatások magyarországon. Égetokemencék régészeti és interdisziplínáris kutatása. Sopron 1980, VII, 28–30, edited by János Gömöri, 165–79. Veszprém: Veszprémi Akadémiai Bizottságának, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korošec, Josip. “Ostava brončanih matrica za otiskivanje u Biskupiji kod Knina.” Starohrvatska prosvjeta 6 (1958), 29–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuna, Martin, and Naďa Profantová. Počátky raného středověku v Čechách. Archeologický výzkum sídelní aglomerace kultury pražského typu v Roztokách. Prague: Archeologický Ústav AV ČR, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linduff, Katheryn M. “Production of signature artifacts for the nomad market in the state of Qin during the Warring States period in China (4th–3rd century BCE).” In Metallurgy and Civilisation: Eurasia and Beyond: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Beginnings of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA VI), edited by Jianjun Mei and Thilo Rehren, 90–96. London: Archetype, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merkevičius, Algimantas. “Jurgaičių kapinyno II–IX amžių žalvario dirbinių metalo sudėtis.” Lietuvos TSR mokslų Akademijos darbai. Serija A 1 (1973), 67–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minchev, Aleksandăr. “Kăsnoantichni bronzovi lampi s podstavki ot Bălgariia.” Dobrudzha 30 (2015), 247–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niewęgłowski, Andrzej. “Problemy i metody metaloznawczych badań starożytnych wyrobów z miedzi i jej stopów.” Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej 34 (1986), 289–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostanina, Taisiia I., O. M. Kanunnikova, V. P. Stepanov, and A. B. Nikitin. Kuzebaevskii klad iuvelira VII v. kak istoricheskii istochnik. Izhevsk: Izdatel’stvo “Udmurtiia,” 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Picon, M., Condamin, J., and Boucher, S. “Recherches techniques sur des bronzes de Gaule romaine I.” Gallia 24 (1966), 189–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponting, M. J. “Roman military copper-alloy artefacts from Israel: Questions of organization and ethnicity.” Archaeometry 44 (2002), no. 4, 55–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Profantová, Naďa. “Kontakty předvelkomoravských Mikulčic ve světle rentgenfluorescenčních analýz bronzových kování.” In Kulturne historické štyky jižní Moravy. XX. Mikulovské sympozium 24. a 25. ríjna 1990, edited by Emil Kordiovský, 195–207. Mikulov/Brno: Okresní archiv v Břeclav/Muzejní a vlastivedná společnost, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prykhodniuk, Oleg M., V. A. Padin, and N. G. Tikhonov. “Trubchevskii klad antskogo vremeni.” In Materialy I tys. n. e. po arkheologii i istorii Ukrainy i Vengrii, edited by István Erdélyi, Oleg M. Prykhodniuk, A. V. Simonenko, and Eugénia Szimonova, 79–102. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds Brown, Katherine. “Box brooch and pair of boar’s head brooches.” In Mirror of the Medieval World, edited by William D. Wixom and Barbara Drake Boehm, 49–50. New York: Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds Brown, Katherine, Dafydd Kidd, and Charles T. Little, eds. From Attila to Charlemagne: Arts of the Early Medieval Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodinkova, Vlasta and Aleksandr N. Egor’kov. “Klad rannesrednevekovogo vremeni iz Sudzhi-Zamost’ia i sostav metalla ego artefaktov.” In Problemyi istoryi ta arkheologyi Ukrainy. Materialy VIII mizhnarodnyi naukovyi konferentsyi (9–10 lystopada 2012 roku), 71–72. Kharkiv: TOV “NTMT”, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sever, Deniz. “A pilgrim’s self-identification: Sixth- and seventh-century lead pilgrim flasks from the Holy Land.” Diogenes 4 (2016), 35–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shablavina, Ekaterina A. “Pal’chataia fibula iz kollekcii E. A. Goriunova.” In Kul’turnye transformacii i vzaimovliianiia v Dneprovskom regione na iskhode rimskogo vremeni i v rannem Srednevekov’e. Doklady nauchnoi konferencii, posviashchennoi 60-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia E.A. Goriunova (Sankt-Peterburg, 14–17 noiabria 2000 g.), edited by Valentina M. Goriunova and Ol’ga A. Shcheglova, 244–53. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shablavina, Ekaterina A., and Szmoniewski, Bartłomiej Szymon. “The forming model of the Kertch type finger-shaped fibula.” Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 58 (2006), 519–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shcheglova, Ol’ga A. “Klad iuvelira v Trubchevske i ‘master Gaponovskogo klada’.” In Arkheologicheskoe izuchenie Central’noi Rossii, edited by A. N. Bessudnov, 272–73. Lipeck: Izdatel’stvo Lipeckogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shcheglova, Ol’ga A., and Anatolii A. Sedin. “Izdeliia iz svincovo-oloviannykh splavov s gorodishcha Nikodimovo.” In Slavianskii mir Poles’ia v drevnosti i srednevekov’e. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferencii, 19–20 oktiabria 2004 g., Gomel’, edited by O. A. Makushnikov, 190–93. Homel’: Gomel’skii gosudarstvennyi universitet imeni Francisca Skoriny, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szenthe, Gergely. “Technological history, experimental archaeology and bronze casting: Research findings and research perspectives in early medieval studies.” Hungarian Archaeology (2013), 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Contributions to the connections of the Vrap-Velino horizon and the Late Avar material.” In Avars, Bulgars, and Magyars on the Middle and Lower Danube, edited by Liudmila Doncheva-Petkova, Csilla Balogh, and Attila Türk, 61–76. Sofia/Pilicsaba: Archaeolingua, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldbaum, Jane C. Metalwork from Sardis: The Finds Through 1974 (Monographs of the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, 8). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Florin Curta

  2. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland

    Bartłomiej Szymon Szmoniewski

Authors
  1. Florin Curta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bartłomiej Szymon Szmoniewski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Curta, F., Szmoniewski, B.S. (2019). Production. In: The Velestino Hoard. New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04846-4_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04846-4_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04845-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04846-4

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation