Pages: 265-277 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp264265277

The article examines jewellery production among the population of the Upper Oka Region in the first centuries AD on the basis of assemblages and individual finds made of non-ferrous metals. The study identifies two technological traditions of metalworking: casting and forging. Cast objects reflect a local tradition characteristic of the forest zone of Eastern Europe, whereas the appearance of forged ornaments with chased decoration points to the introduction of new craft practices. In order to identify possible directions of cultural contact, the technological and stylistic features of ornaments from contemporaneous archaeological cultures are compared. The closest analogies for the forged items from the Upper Oka Region derive from the Upper Dnieper and Polesia variants of the Zarubintsy culture. This suggests that, during the final stage of the Zarubintsy culture, certain population groups moved into the Oka–Don watershed, bringing with them new craft traditions that subsequently developed in the local milieu.

Keywords: Upper Oka Region, jewelry production, Zarubintsy culture, forging, chasing, bronze ornaments, Barybino hoard, Novo-Kleimenovo

Information about author:

Natalya Birkina (Moscow, Russian Federation). State Historical Museum. Red Square, 1, Moscow, 109012, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-7210-3939