Schmuck und Kleidungszubehör aus der frühbyzantinischen Nordnekropole von Argos

Abstract

Jewellery and Clothing Accessories from the Early Byzantine Northern Necropolis of Argos
In this study, small-finds from the Early Byzantine city of Argos (northern Argolis, Greece) are published in considerable numbers for the first time. It deals with jewellery and clothing accessories from cist graves and roof-tile graves of the Early Byzantine northern necropolis extra muros, which has been uncovered since 1972 during rescue excavations in the modern-day urban area. These hitherto unpublished small-finds comprise earrings, hair- and clothing-pins, rings, belt-buckles, fibulae, amulets as well as knives, which by using comparative studies can be dated to the 5th and mainly 6th century. They contain well-known but also hitherto unknown Early Byzantine types of jewellery and belonged to the embellishment of the affluent middle class as well as the lower class of the population of Argos. A focus of this study is formed by the earrings etc., which represent the largest finds’ group of the northern necropolis. Based on the roof-tile graves, which always contained only one skeleton and fitted the size of the deceased, it could be proven that in Argos earrings occur only in the smallest graves. This shows that children, even at an early age, were provided with jewellery for the ears and were often buried with it. Thus, of particular importance for this study was the roof-tile grave of a five- to seven-year-old child who wore a single earring and, owing to the offering of a weapon, has been identified as a boy. Hereby we have archaeological evidence for a male, sartorial custom known from written and illustrative Byzantine sources. The majority of the jewellery and clothing accessories from the graves of the northern necropolis of Argos typologically and chronologically fits the characteristic range of finds of hitherto known Early Byzantine cemeteries in the Mediterranean Basin. However, there were also some finds found which do not fit this scheme and emphasise that our knowledge about the Early Byzantine finds and funerary rituals in the core area of the Byzantine Empire is very fragmentary and needs further, intensive research.