Iron Age

Performing Identity

In the ancient world, as in the present, identification with a collective culture frequently informs a person’s individual identity—community membership and a sense of knowing one’s position within a group provides a grounding for understanding one’s place in the wider world. Throughout time, rituals have served to demonstrate such group and personal identities, and although the specific performances from Iron Age southeastern European cultures have been lost, the artifacts give material form to such ephemeral activities, both sorrowful and joyful.

A stone relief depicting a funeral procession offers a rare glimpse into an organized rite of mass mourning: the figure of the deceased is carried on a coffin or bier as mourners tear at their hair and stand in postures of grief. Opulent silver and gold drinking vessels unearthed in Borovo (present-day Bulgaria) convey the importance of feasting as a means of cementing social and diplomatic relationships. The astonishing gold, silver, and amber grave goods buried with an Early Iron Age elite woman in Novi Pazar (present-day Serbia) reveals the power of such celebratory rituals not only in life, but also after death.

Those rituals functioned in several ways: as ostentatious displays of wealth reinforcing social hierarchies, as acts of political diplomacy among different cultural groups, and as a means to secure social ties that reinforced a sense of belonging within a community.

Three roughly conical vessels, one with a bottom ending in the head and neck of galloping horse, one in the head and neck of a bull, and one in the head and neck of a sphinx. A two-handled bowl decorated with a bearded human face. A vessel with a wide lip, narrow shoulder and rounded bottom, decorated with scenes of human figures.

Treasure with rhytons, bowl, and pitcher, 350–300 BCE, silver gilt, Borovo, Bulgaria, Rhyton with a protome of a galloping horse: H. 20.2 cm, Diam. 10.3 cm (max.); Rhyton with a protome of a sphinx: H. 20.8 cm, Diam. (max.) 10.5 cm; Rhyton with a protome of a bull: H. 16.5 cm, Diam. 9 cm (max.); Bowl: H. 11.4 cm, Diam. 29 cm; Pitcher: H. 18.2 cm, Diam. 9.9 cm (max.), Rousse Regional Museum of History, Rousse, Bulgaria: II 357­–361. Photo © Field Museum, photographer Ádám Vágó

While many important Thracian archaeological finds were discovered as part of grave assemblages, a number of striking aristocratic hoards were buried intentionally in non-funerary contexts, either to hide the valuables for protection in times of danger or as part of a ritual offering. This suite of artifacts, the so-called Borovo Treasure, is one such hoard.

Discovered by chance by a farmer while plowing his field in 1974, this sensational grouping may once have belonged to the Thracian king Kotys I (383–359 BCE) or perhaps was presented as a gift from him, a provenance suggested by Greek inscriptions on the rhytons and pitcher that read: KOTYOΣ EГ BEO (Kotys from Beos). Beyond the language of the engraving, the hoard reflects the influence of Greek culture on Thracian elite in other ways: the bowl and pitcher depict Dionysiac scenes—the Greek god of wine, vegetation, theater, ecstasy, and ritual madness—and the set presumably was used during royal rituals or ceremonial feasts involving the consumption of wine.

Silver and gold Thracian archaeological discoveries reveal astonishing technological and aesthetic feats of metalsmithing, and hoards such as this were likely produced in Greek workshops, perhaps located along the coast of the Black Sea. Greeks in those regions paid tributes and taxes to Thracian kings, thus adding to the wealth of these rulers.

Twenty-five rectangular forms. Twenty-five arrow-shaped forms. Twenty-five triangular forms. Twenty-five rhomboidal forms. Twenty-five tubular forms. Two rings. Four bow-shaped pins with flat, pointed catches. One double straight pin. Sixteen carvings of human faces, birds, rams, wineskins, bottles, and other animals.
BAL-194-NMB-Belgrad-02032020-07333-BEST-SEL2_a
sixteen amber pieces

Burial assemblage with pectoral, fibulae, rings, appliqués, plates, double pins, and head-, bird-, ram-, wineskin-, bottle- and animal-shaped carvings, 550–450 BCE, gold, silver, and amber, Novi Pazar, Serbia, Appliqués, Rectangular: L. 6 cm, W. 1.6 cm; Appliqués, Arrow-shaped: L. 1.9–2.2 cm; Appliqués, Triangular: L. 2.9–3.1 cm; Appliqués, Rhomboidal: L. 3.6–3.9 cm, W. 1.8–2.1 cm; Appliqués, Tube-shaped: L. 3.9–4.9 cm, D. 0.5–0.7 cm; Rings (2): Diam. 2.7 cm (both); Beads, Human head-shaped: L. 1.9-2.4 cm, W. 1.5-1.8 cm; Beads, Bird-shaped: L. 1.2–2 cm, W. 1.3–1.9 cm; Beads, Ram head-shaped: L. 2–3.2 cm, W. 0.8–1.7 cm; Beads, Animal-shaped: L. 2.4 cm (both), W. 1.4-2.4 cm; Beads, Wineskin-shaped: L. 7.1-9.5 cm, W. 3.6-6.7 cm; Beads, Bottle-shaped: L. 1.4–2.1 cm, W. 1–2 cm; Fibulae (2): L. 4.2 cm (both), W. 2.7 cm (both); Beads, Rectangular: L. 6 cm, W. 1.6 cm; Beads, Arrow-shaped: L. 1.9–2.2 cm; Beads, Triangular: L. 2.9–3.1 cm; Beads, Rhomboidal: L. 3.6–3.9 cm, W. 1.8–2.1 cm; Beads, Tube-shaped: L. 3.9–4.9 cm, Diam. 0.5–0.7 cm; Rings (2): Diam. both 2.7 cm; Beads, Human head-shaped: L. 1.9-2.4 cm, W. 1.5 and 1.8 cm; Beads, Bird-shaped: L. 1.2–2 cm, W. 1.3–1.9 cm; Beads, Ram head-shaped: L. 2–3.2 cm, W. 0.8–1.7 cm; Beads, Animal-shaped: L. 2.4 cm (both), W. 1.4-2.4 cm; Beads, Wineskin-shaped: L. 7.1-9.5 cm, W. 3.6-6.7 cm; Beads, Bottle-shaped: L. 1.4–2.1 cm, W. 1–2 cm; Fibulae (2): L. 4.2 cm (both), W. 2.7 cm (both); Fibulae (2): L. 4.4 and 4.6 cm, W. 3.1 cm (both); Double: L. 8.2 cm; Pectoral: Diam. 19.4 cm, National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia: 08_706/I, 08_709–710/I, 08_721–08_725/I, 08_730–731/I, 08_664/I, 08_670/I, 08_673/I, 08_673-674/I, 08_676–677/I, 08_684/I, 08_687/I, 08_695/I. Photo © Field Museum, photographer Ádám Vágó

Astonishingly lavish grave goods were interred with elite members of Iron Age communities in southeastern Europe. One of the richest discoveries of this kind was found in a wooden chest in the foundation of a medieval church in Novi Pazar, Serbia. Originally a large tumulus grave, a type of monumental burial mound, for a high-ranking woman, the chest has been described by archaeologists as one of the most elaborate funerary discoveries from the period in the Balkans. These artifacts represent only a small part of this much larger find, which also comprised metal vessels, black-painted ceramic vessels, clothing adornments, and jewelry, with more than 1,500 gold appliqués of various shapes and over 8,000 amber objects.

Some of the metal and ceramic vessels were of Greek origin; other objects, including works made from Baltic amber and gold such as these, were likely crafted by Greek artisans in southeastern Italy or fabricated by indigenous Balkan craftspeople. Many of these works include decorations that combine regional Balkan design elements with Greek-style motifs, a synthesis that reveals intercultural interaction beyond the simple movement of raw materials and finished products, and illustrates the aesthetic tastes of the Iron Age Balkan elite.

Fragments of a large stone depicting males and females and one male in an open, box-like grave.

Stela representing funeral procession, 500–100 BCE, stone, Kamenica, Kosovo, H. 93 cm, L. 125 cm, D. 22 cm, National Museum of Kosovo, Prishtina, Kosovo: KA/2010. Photo © Field Museum, photographer Ádám Vágó

In this depiction of a funerary scene, a woman leads a procession followed by a man’s coffin—perhaps they were husband and wife—and a group of mourners. The relief was discovered at the Kamenica fort, and a ritual similar to the one represented in this carving is still practiced today by inhabitants of the mountainous region of Malësia e Gjakovës. This stela may thus represent a deep, long-standing spiritual tradition that connects rituals of the prehistoric past with our present time.

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