maximus otter
Recovering policeman
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- Aug 9, 2001
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The puzzling depiction of a vicious predator — either a dragon or a snake — devouring a frog on an early medieval belt buckle from the Czech Republic may be a symbol from an unknown pagan cult.
The bronze belt fitting or buckle was found by a metal detectorist near the village of Lány, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Prague.
Archaeologists first thought the central design — a snake or dragon devouring a frog-like creature — must be unique. But they have since learned that in the past dozen years, almost identical artifacts have been unearthed in Germany, Hungary and elsewhere in the Czech Republic.
Previous research suggests such belt fittings were produced in Central Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries and were usually worn by Avars — a nomadic people, thought to be from the Eurasian Steppe, who settled in the Carpathian Basin of what's now Hungary beginning in the sixth century.
The objects were originally heavily gilded and that all four were made from copper mined in the Slovak Ore Mountains, which are now in Slovakia.
An analysis of their shapes based on virtual 3D models suggested some of the buckles or fittings came from the same workshop or were made from a common model, using the "lost wax" method of casting bronze.
The researchers said the striking similarity of the objects points to the "existence of a previously unknown pagan cult that connected diverse populations of varying origin during the early Middle Ages."
https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...czech-republic-may-be-from-unknown-pagan-cult
maximus otter
The bronze belt fitting or buckle was found by a metal detectorist near the village of Lány, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Prague.
Archaeologists first thought the central design — a snake or dragon devouring a frog-like creature — must be unique. But they have since learned that in the past dozen years, almost identical artifacts have been unearthed in Germany, Hungary and elsewhere in the Czech Republic.
Previous research suggests such belt fittings were produced in Central Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries and were usually worn by Avars — a nomadic people, thought to be from the Eurasian Steppe, who settled in the Carpathian Basin of what's now Hungary beginning in the sixth century.
The objects were originally heavily gilded and that all four were made from copper mined in the Slovak Ore Mountains, which are now in Slovakia.
An analysis of their shapes based on virtual 3D models suggested some of the buckles or fittings came from the same workshop or were made from a common model, using the "lost wax" method of casting bronze.
The researchers said the striking similarity of the objects points to the "existence of a previously unknown pagan cult that connected diverse populations of varying origin during the early Middle Ages."
https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...czech-republic-may-be-from-unknown-pagan-cult
maximus otter