Mária T. Biró: The Bone Objects of the Roman Collection. (Catalogi Musei Nationalis Hungarici. Seria Archeologica 2; Budapest, 1994)
III. JEWELLERY
III. JEWELLERY 1. Bracelets. 2. Rings. 3. Beads. 4. Necklace ornaments, pendants(crepundia) , Jewellery was mostly made of metal in the Roman Age: gold, silver, bronze and iron were equally employed. Beside metals they were also wearing jewellery made of natural materials like bone, jet, transparent rock crystal, calcedon and amber. The most preferred of these were jewels made of amber and bone. All sorts of jewellery were manufactured from bone. Ivory carvings were of equal value as jewellery made of precious metal. Jewels carved from other bones substituted precious metals of people of modest social station. The so-called "4th-century renaissance" of bone objects — i. e. the quantitative change to be observed in Late-Roman settlements and cemeteries of our province — refers primarily to jewellery. 64 In the 4th century there were especially great number of bone objects made: bracelets, decorative pins, decorative combs for knots of hair. The cause of this trend could equally be general impoverishment as the effect of Germans surrounding our province. In the latter case we cannot speak of copying or adopting the objects used in everyday life by Germans as it was supposed earlier, rather we should postulate a fruitful, inspiring interconnection between Romans and Germans. Bone was one of the most obvious materials of peoples living in close contact with nature and appearing at the borders of our province (rural, steppe peoples). Their masses of objects of everyday use and decorative pieces indicated the possible buyer's market which on the other hand could have inspired urbanized imperial (provincial) handicraft to revive bone processing industry. This boom created by minor provincial workshops — the great number of simple bone tools and jewels used everyday life — was in compliance with the Late Roman, Early Mediaeval flourishing Age of Roman, Alexandrian and Constantinople art schools (e. g. diptychs). The fashion of bone jewellery in the 4th-5th centuries was not connected to ethnics (settling Germans) but to social groups. Moreover, in a contrary way as within the limes or outside it. In the provinces we can find bone jewels in the graves of middle class or poor people while in the Barbaricum they were rich Romanized highranking people who could afford these jewels. Last we sould also mention the magic significance of bone. The spiritual contents of minerals, stones and other raw materials constituted from the primitive age up to the enlightened modern age an undeniable part of human thinking. The hieratic effect of gold gives rank to the person who wears it either in secular or religious meaning. Lead connected closely to disastrous powers bears and mediates chthonic forces while as a bull it also protects its wearer. Thousand-year-old beliefs are connected with precious stones as well. As I have observed bone jewels had also a magic interpretation especially in the case of children and woman. It is only this way we can find explanation why bone bracelets were without expection on the left arm. The sacral role of bone jewels and magic objects connected with beliefs will be dealt in a separate chapter.
