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I'm trying to find information on Germanic pendants and jewlery from the 1st cen. AD. I searched on the internet, but I only found plenty of Mjolnir pendants (which only became popular in the Viking age) as well as other neo-pagan pendants (which are also not accurate). I think many pendants could have been carved of wood, and would have rotten away, but others could have been made of bone or antler, and would have survived in burials. I checked
http://www.replik-shop.de/Replicas/Germa...10_11.html but the pendants they had were either Roman pendants from provinces bordering Germania, or were from later time periods. I'm sure some have been found from the 1st cen. in burials, so if anyone could direct me towards any information regarding this, I would be most thankfull.
Dan Dalby
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Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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I know there were a few boar tusk pendants found at the Batavian site Kessel/Lith. This is what
Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: the Batavians in the early Roman Empire has to say about them
Quote:A special find category comprises two bronze fittings of wild boar teeth, worn as an amulet (plate 26). The are the looped base fragment (nr. 125) and end o a pendant (nr.126). Remains of the tooth can still be seen in both items. The fragments are part of the same pendant type, but belong to two different examples. We know of a series of parallels from both grave and river contexts in the Middle Rhine region, as well as from the oppida on the Dünsberg and the Heidertänk-Tal (fig. 7.11). In addition, we know of a comparable fitting of a tooth amulet (from a wild boar?) from Norther France. They are generally dated to the Middle or Late La Tène period. Judging by their distribution, the pendants from Kessel/Lith are imports from the Middle Rhine region.
-Amalric
(Steven Bulman)
Member of Legio V Alaudae
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Those boar tusk pendants are very well done! My only problem is finding a tusk to use for a pendant (wild boars don't live on the west coast of Canada). They also look a bit big (and maybe a bit heavy), but I'm probably going to end up making one anyway! Have there been any finds of smaller Germanic pendants (perhaps out of antler, bone, or iron)? Those materials would be more readily available.
Dan Dalby
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Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
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I do not know certain historical information and I have no photos of Germans pendants, but I think pendants in horn or bone were used for this purpose, if you live in Canada surely have available a large amount of deer and elk horn ... I envy you :roll:
CIAO from Italy
Marco
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Yes, Canada has no shortage of anters :wink:
I've been talking with a Roman reenactor friend of mine about Donar's clubs. These were very similar to Hercules's clubs worn by the Romans. They appear in the 2nd cen AD, and they are popular during the migration period. They were made from wood, bone, antler, and more rarely, precious metals. She believes that the Donar's clubs are an indo-european tradition, and were not coppied from the Romans. However, they only appear after contact with the Romans, so it could be 'barbarian' coppied of the Hercules's club. The Germanic 'Donar's clubs' also appear exclusively in female graves, through they may have been worn by men ocassionly. Since I'm trying to portray a warrior, I think a boar's tooth pendant or a bear claw pendant would be more appropriate. There have been bear claws found in Germanic graves with holes drilled in them. This indicates that they may have been worn as pendants. Wolves and bears are important in Germanic/Norse lore, so their claws and maybe teeth were certainly worn as pendants, especially for battle. The Vikings wore bear claws as a sign of strength in battle, as did the Germanic tribes.
Dan Dalby
Group Leader Project Germani
Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
