Three-Beam Tracery Badges From Martynivka Hoard: Functions and Use

Abstract

The paper presents consider of the functional use of two three-beam openwork badges from the Martynivka hoard (fig. 1). There are two points of view on the functional use of these products: 1) horse trappings; 2) details of the belt.
 An attempt is made to determine the range of possible analogies or prototypes of products. All analogies can be divided into two major groups: 1) on the general outlines; 2) on the «internal ornamentation».
 The first group. An almost complete analogy to the products from the Martynivka hoard is the decoration from grave 1, vault 238 of the Luchiste cemetery in the Crimea (fig. 2) — the last quarter of the 7th century.
 The other two analogies come from the Avar cemetery of Pécs-Köztemető, burial 45 (fig. 3), although they differ in greater finesse. This is the burial of a horse with trappings. A. Kissa dates this area of the cemetery within the end of 6th — middle of 7th century.
 More distant analogies are two finds (almost completely identical to each other) from the Luchiste cemetery, from vault 65, grave 2 — the second half of the 7th century (figs. 4—6) and vault 113 — the first half of the 7th century (fig. 8: 7). A similar badge depicting a man in the center comes from Cherkasy or Chyhyryn counties (fig. 8: 8). This find, together with products from Luchiste, on formal grounds belongs to type IV according to E. Garam. On the territory of the Avar Khanate, similar ornaments are known (figs. 7; 8: 9—12) — Tiszafüred, grave 166 and 262, Tiszaderzs, grave 14 and an accidental find from Hungary.
 Second group. Prototypes or analogies for this group are determined by internal ornamentation. They can be found among the bronze belt openwork badges of a number of cemeteries of the Avar Khanate.
 The first subgroup — badges with three rays departing from the central shamrock (fig. 8: 13). The second subgroup — badges with a triangle in the centre with three groups of double rays diverging from it in different directions (fig. 8: 14). The third subgroup — badges with а circle in the centre and three radial rays (fig. 8: 15).
 So, in the second group you can find similar products, they are very diverse, differ in the design of interior decoration. There is a difference from the presence of eyelets. Although finds from Avar cemeteries sometimes have one eyelet.
 In the Avars, the beginning of the existence of such products falls on the Early Avar period — the second half of 6th — early 7th century, although most of them in the Late Avar period — 8th century. E. Garam believes that these products appear in the Avars from the middle of the 7th century and continue to exist in the 8th century.
 Thus, the three-beam openwork badges from the Martynivka hoard could have two uses: as details of a horse harness and details of belt ornaments of a woman’s suit.