Lost in time? : Revisiting the Szentes pendant from the British Museum

Abstract

The interregional contacts between the cultures in the Pannonian Basin and the rest of Europe are a well-established research topic for virtually all archaeological periods. Sometimes the existence of past networks and entanglements is best captured by a narrow insight, such as a specific historical episode or a single object. This approach is adapted to a peculiar pendant from Hungary that remained marginal for the scholarly attention but has a complex background. By using data on the origin of the small brass object, archaeological and ethnographic analogies, its cultural connections and historical background can be reconstructed. With the help of these approaches the basic chronological questions related to this object are also re-considered.