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STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS

CHAIN-HOLDERS (TYA 283: 15)

Type: Two chain-holders, bronze.

Use: Jewel.

Site: Raisio, Ihala, Siiri cremation cemetery I.

Period: Viking Age

Dating: 800-1025 A.D.

Photographer: Arto Korhonen.

At the end of the Merovingian period (around the 8th century) until the Crusade´s last stages (12th century), multiple chain arrangements may have been fashionable ornaments for women. Different kinds of chain-holders carried chains made of jointed bronze rings; two models are shown in this picture.

Chains were hanging from the brooches on shoulders, but often there were special "chain-holders" in between. In this picture the upper chain-holder, with a form of two spirals, is a Finnish type that is thought to have been in use from the 10th to the 12th century. To some degree, this type has also been documented in the Baltic countries. The lower, and rarer, type was in use during the 10th and 11th centuries. It was probanly developed from the upper type, but the spirals have become animal heads.

Sources:

• Kivikoski 1973: Abb. 766-768, 1110, 1111.
• Lehtosalo-Hilander 1982: 118.

Archive numbers of items:

• TYA 454: 8
• TYA 546: 18.

Other related topics:

• Bronze
• Jewels.

Coordinates:

• TYA 454: 8: x=160, y=80, z=17,97, r=20-22/36-38, 1st layer
• TYA 546: 18: x=52, y=0, z=18,74, r=32/42, 2nd layer.

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