PENDANTS OF ST. ANTHONY CROSS WITH THE CRUCIFIXION FROM ESTONIA – POSSIBLE BADGES OF A FOLK PILGRIMAGE

Abstract

Pendants from and Ojaveski and their find contexts In 1950 a stone grave known as Aseri kalme (Aseri grave), was partly damaged in Virumaa, in north-east Estonia, while digging a trench for the Tallinn-Narva road (see Fig. 4). During the work human bones and bronze objects were found, including an oval brooch (RM A 5: 269) but also bronze chains, ornamental pins, rivets, etc. In the following year salvage excavations were organised at the site by Osvald Saadre (Saadre 1952). In the course of the excavations it was discovered that the stone grave had originally been founded at the buried edge of the klint. The inhumations, three of them preserved in situ, were buried together with shepherd's crook pins. Some of the burials had been damaged, therefore single pins or parts of them were found all over the grave. Even though the constructions of the grave were partly disturbed by later burials and the road trench it was still possible to follow some rows and cists made of stones. According to the find material the grave was erected during the 1st-2nd century AD and classifies as an early tarand-grave. Finds from the next period, the Roman Iron Age (50-450 AD), are generally well represented in Virumaa, but could not be found here, except for a single closed ring (RM A 5: 293). The next period of grave use is marked by several finds from cremations. Bracelets with thick terminals, cross-headed pins, bronze chains, rivets, etc. were found from the site. This is the period of grave use most discussed in academic articles. Marika Magi-Lougas has dated the bracelets to the Pre-Viking Age (1995, 277), controversially Toomas Tamla placed the artefacts to the end of the 11th century-beginning of the 12th century (1991, 141 f.). Some bracelets have been in fire (e.g. RM A 5: 77, 80, 88) and some were deliberately broken (RM A 5: 71, 81, 86, 95). Two pins have also been deliberately broken, one into two (RM A 5: 76, 83) another into four pieces (RM A 5: 74, 75, 78, 79). The latter was in the same set together with two broken bracelets and other similarly treated objects. From the same period of use a skull was found together with a headgear made of bronze spirals and rings (RM A 5: 45). So it seems that at the beginning of the Late Iron Age cremation burials with grave goods that had been in fire and were deliberately broken, were brought to the stone-grave. Later some inhumations, of which a skull with the headgear is preserved, were added to the grave. Bones from cremation and inhumation burials were found all over the stone setting. The third period of use belongs to the Early Modern Period. At least one inhumation of an adult has been preserved with a bronze spiral ring and a tin signet ring (RM A 5: 219) around its fingers. In addition, another signet ring (RM A 5: 176) was found. The shield of the latter continues seamlessly to the ring and according to the typology based on the south-Estonian rural cemeteries could be dated to the end of the 16th century-early 17th century (Valk 1991, 191). So the stone-grave has been used for burying after its initial founding also in the Late Iron Age and Medieval-Early Modern period. Thus, the burials have been brought to the stone-grave, which had later perhaps turned into a heap of stones, during one and a half millennia. The most unique find--a pendant with a T-shaped cross--has not been previously discussed in Estonian archaeology (Fig. 1). It is a rather small item, 2.6 cm in diameter and 2 mm thick, with a loop of 5 mm in diameter. The pendant is made with a double-sided mould and casting residues are not cut off. As a result, the form of the central cross remains vague and the whole item gives an unfinished impression. Similar pendants, which are not primped, are known--such as cross-pendants from the 12th-13th century inhumation cemeteries (see Kurisoo 2012, 216 for examples). Because the pendant lacks the final finishing touch, it seems that unpolished ornaments were suitable for using and for selling as well. …