The article describes a newly found deposit of natural amber in Estonia. The deposit was discovered in the village of Vintri on the Sõrve peninsula, on the island of Saaremaa. It is the first time when the site has been fixed and documented; the find site has been fixed and documented. All earlier literature on the natural sciences and archaeology claims that natural amber is not found in Estonia, or is only found occasionally as marginal stray finds. The article describes the newly discovered deposit of natural amber, and also refers to other possible find sites that are known, mainly based on oral information. The Vintri deposit is dated according to two different methods, and the article explains both results. The article gives an overview of archaeological amber finds in Saaremaa at the time, and discusses their possible origin and use.
Here, we present new sedimentary data of the amber bearing layer from the Holocene coastal plain on the SW Saaremaa Island where amber is not known in sedimentary successions but is common in Stone Age and Bronze Age archaeological sites. A layer of buried organic matter (BOM), sandwiched between sandy coastal deposits and containing pieces of natural amber, was discovered during fieldwork and analysed in detail. Results show that the BOM layer is buried under approximately 90‐cm‐thick sandy coastal deposits and consists of the remains of different coastal plants. Palaeogeographical reconstructions and sediment compositions indicate that the layer was deposited in the coastal zone and buried quickly by sandy marine sediments. According to AMS radiocarbon dating of knotgrass seeds (Polygonum lapathifolium), deposition of the BOM layer took place in the Late Bronze Age; about 2.7–2.5 cal. ka BP. Infrared spectra and isotopic composition of the analysed amber from the BOM layer indicate Baltic amber, also known as succinite. The stable isotope ratio indicates the origin of the amber to be south of Estonia. Therefore, it is proposed that the amber was probably transported to Saaremaa within organic matter (along the main SW–NE orientated current flows) from the SE coast of the Baltic Sea where secondary Baltic amber deposits are known to exist widely. Amber items are common in Late Bronze Age settlement sites and burials in Saaremaa and are considered to originate from present‐day Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad district (Russia) and Poland. The current study shows that during the Late Bronze Age natural amber accumulated in the coastal zone of Saaremaa Island and that the islanders could collect it. Therefore, the possibility exists that some Bronze Age archaeological amber objects could be made of local material as opposed to being a result of trade with southern neighbours, as formerly thought.
The article deals with Bronze Age double buttons found in Estonia. About ten of these are known, made of bronze, amber and antler. A survey is given of the known finds, their possible use and meaning is discussed. Without precluding the possibility that double buttons could have also had the function of button, i.e. means of fastening, their symbolic meaning, which was probably connected with the Bronze Age sun cult, was apparently more important.On käsitletud Eestist leitud pronksiaegseid kaksiknööpe. Selliseid nööpe on teada kümmekond, valmistatud on neid pronksist, merevaigust ja sarvest. On antud ülevaade teadaolevatest leidudest ja arutletud nende võimaliku kasutusvaldkonna ning tähenduse üle. Välistamata, et kaksiknööpidel võis olla ka nööbi ehk kinnitusvahendi funktsioon, oli ilmselt olulisem nende sümboolne tähendus, mis arvatavasti oli seotud pronksiaegse päikesekultusega.
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