Iron Age 

Expanding Networks

Regional cultural identities throughout southeastern Europe became more sharply defined during the Iron Age (ca. 3,000–2,100 years ago), while increasing mobility expanded interactions within the area and with regions beyond. Collective group identities were consolidated through social practices, and burial rituals in particular have left important traces in the material record. Archaeologists have teased out some of the nuances: many of the finds were excavated from tumulus graves, a type of monumental burial mound, and artifacts reveal that although communities differentiated themselves, they did interact with one another in important ways.

The nature of these cross-cultural interactions was complex, and objects moved across space not only through trade, but also through diplomatic gifts and even warfare. Graves might contain treasures imported from distant locations, as well as artifacts that reveal the melding of local traditions with foreign materials and iconography. An intricately designed gold earring  featuring the Greek goddess Nike was clearly made in a Greek workshop before ending up buried with an elite woman on the Black Sea coast. Amber imported from the Baltic Sea was worked by local artisans and transformed into adornments with a style distinct to the Iapodian people from the Adriatic coastal area. A large bronze vessel from Slovenia depicting a procession of stags reveals a relationship between the manufacturing traditions of the eastern Alpine and western Balkans and ancient designs from the Near East and the East European steppe region.

Two bracelets with tapering ends. Two spiral bracelets. One rattle consists of a spoked wheel and a handle. Three slotted cases with beads hang from small rings at the bottom of the wheel. Two of the rattles consist of a single ring from which hang round slotted cases with beads. Two triangular pendants and one crescent-shaped pendant are decorated with triangular perforations and have hanging beads similar to those on the rattles. Four of the five belt fittings consist of wide flat bases joined by circular forms at the midsection. One of the belt fittings has narrow ends, each of which tapers outward to the midsection. The wand is composed of four round slotted cases, one of which is topped by a birdlike form. Forty-three loose beads.
Digital reconstruction of a female holding a cult wand capped with bronze fixtures and wearing a bronze earring on the left ear, spiral bracelets and cuffs on each arm, a belt with various rattles and a pendant, and three vessels placed near her bare feet.

Burial assemblage with bracelets, pendants, pendant-rattles, belt fittings, cult wand, and beads, 700–650 BCE, bronze, Milci, Republic of North Macedonia, Bracelets with tapering ends (2): Diam. 8.9 and 9.2 cm, W. 4.1 cm (max.); Spiral bracelets (2): L. 12.2 and 13.8 cm, Diam. 7.7 and 10.1 cm; Pendant-rattles (2): H 6.9 and 7.9 cm (total), Diam. 3.8 and 4.4 cm (of rings), H. 4.1 and 4.5 cm (of pendants); Belt fittings (43): Diam. 1.3–1.7 cm; Cult wand pendant: H. 13.3 cm (total), Diam. 6.2 cm (of disc), L. 4.2 cm (of smaller pendants); Fittings (2): L. 4.3 and 4.4 cm, Diam. 3.4 and 3.6 cm; Triangular pendants (2): H. 11.5 and 11.8 cm (total), W. 5.9 and 7.3 cm, H. 3.7 and 4.0 cm (of pendants); Anchor-type pendant: H. 13 cm (total), H. 4 cm (of pendants), Diam. 2.2 cm (of pendants); Bead: H. 6.8 cm, Diam. 1.8–4.2 cm; Fitting: H. 6.5 cm, Diam. 3.4 cm; Pendant-rattle: H. 4.7–6.5 cm, Diam. 2.6–3.8 cm; Bead: H. 3.4 cm, D. 1.0–2.2 cm, National Institution Museum–Gevgelija, Gevgelija, Republic of North Macedonia: 8427–8434, 8437–8440, 8442–8446. Photo © Field Museum, photographer Ádám Vágó

Reconstruction of a female burial showing the position of artifacts relative to the body. Reconstruction by B. Husenovski, illustration by D. Gusev. 

This assemblage from a woman’s grave is one of 170 burials discovered in the large necropolis of Milci. The deceased was buried with an extensive set of personal pendants and a cult wand, although only its topmost ornament survives. The unique suite of burial goods suggests that she held a privileged position within her community, and the inclusion of a cult wand points to the potential ritual role that women may have played in southeastern European Iron Age societies.

These ornamental objects were produced in a style specific to the Paeonian cultural group, which occupied the regions of present-day North Macedonia and a small part of southwestern Bulgaria. Like their contemporaries the Iapodians and Thracians, the Paeonians left few textual traces, and much of what we know today derives from Greek writings or archaeological finds. Burials such as this thus provide a unique window into the cultural practices of elite Paeonian funerary rituals.

Above a rectangular base, the winged goddess Nike stands on a two-wheeled chariot pulled by a pair of horses. In one hand she holds a chain that serves as a harness. Four ropelike strands hang from the horses' necks. A long curved element extends from the back of the base to end in a small hook.

Earring, 250–200 BCE, gold, Sinemorets, Bulgaria, L. 8 cm (of chain), H. 4.5 cm, National Museum of History, Sofia, Bulgaria: 51269–51270. Photo © Field Museum, photographer Ádám Vágó

This earring was found in the tumulus burial of a Thracian elite woman, alongside other elaborate gold jewelry. On its surface is an extremely ornate depiction of the winged Greek goddess Nike on a chariot pulled by a pair of horses. The representation and style indicate that the earring was produced in a Greek workshop, possibly in the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast.

A bucket-shaped vessel decorated with a procession of stags and abstract ornaments. The handle is long piece of spiralized metal.

Situla with figural ornaments, 400–300 BCE, bronze, Valična Vas, Slovenia, H. 29.4 cm, Diam. 25.1 cm (rim), National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia: P 11790. Photo © National Museum of Slovenia, photographer Tomaž Lauko

Unearthed from separate tumulus burials that once belonged to wealthy members of the military aristocracy, this situla reveals the spread of foreign iconographical influence in this region during the Iron Age. The procession of stags represented on the situla draws on Scythian sources and represents the aesthetic influences transmitted to the Western Balkans from Central Eurasia, a practice that may have started as early as the seventh century BCE. The same animal motif was found on contemporary Scythian vessels and metal fittings designed for dignitaries.

A semicircle with four anthropomorphic figures hanging from its base by large wires. All of the elements are incised with circles, each with a smaller circle depressed in the center.
Multiple beads of various sizes strung on wires. One long beaded wire drapes to form a U shape and has large stones attached to pins at either end. The long wire is connected from left to right with eight parallel beaded wires.
Two round plaques incised with concentric circles are connected by two smaller circles with open centers. A human figure with upraised arms and wearing a helmet is connected to the bottom small circle with a heavy wire.

All of these objects were found in burial mounds associated with the Iapodian cultural group, which occupied the central inlands of Croatia and the Una River Valley in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The materials, ornament patterns, and representations present signature features of the traditional Early Iron Age Iapodian costume and culture.

The decorative patterns on the fibulae and pendants reveal important elements of the traditional Iapodian costume, such as the concentric circular decoration. The pendant with stylized female figurines might suggest that wide dresses and head ornaments were typical of local female attire, while the fibula has a rare depiction of Iapodian male warrior attire.

Iapodian culture was also shaped by exchange with neighbors. Some of the materials used for local production were imported, such as the amber and glass beads in these necklaces. The limited access to these goods is indicative of the elevated status of the owners.

ISAW Logo

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World 

15 East 84th St.
New York, NY 10028
212-992-7800

ISAW Logo. Institute for the Study of the Ancient World 15 East 84th St. New York, NY 10028 212-992-7800