Page 43 - Kavur, Boris. Everything counts (in small amounts) … Koper: University of Primorska Press, 2015.
P. 43
A warrior and a lady 43
Story of the presumably double burial
from Brstje near Ptuj
First Late Iron Age finds were discovered already in 1959 in a gravel pit near the village of Brstje to the east
of Ptuj. Persons present at the discovery reported that all the finds were discovered in a single pit allow-
ing the possibility of a wealthy double burial of a male and a female. Iron weapons were almost complete-
ly lost, only minor fragments of a sword, spearhead and a large head of a nail fixing the shield boss have survived
- still enough to recognize a warrior. With him was buried a female with few in numbers, but interesting grave
goods. She had two glass finger rings, a massive bronze bracelet with a knob, a bronze fibula and a bronze belt
chain. Several isolated finds were discovered later during the extension of the gravel pit, while in 1970 was un-
earthed a male grave with weapons and pottery.
A rare find is the bronze fibula of the so called Zvonimirovo type named after a site in Croatia where a larger
number of them was discovered. Their form is denoted by the decorated thickened clamp at the end of the foot
and with oblique incisions decorated thickening on it. Consequently it is assumed that their production center
could be located in their eponymous site.
A more often present find is the massive bronze bracelet with a single knob. Similar examples are known from
sites from Dolenjska region where they are most numerous in Novo Mesto. Individual examples are known
also from Koroška and Štajerska.
By far the most interesting finds are the remains of the belt chain. The belt was composed from numerous el-
ements shaped into three forms. The initial part of the belt, beginning with a plate with two horse protomes,
is composed from joints which have in the middle a square field divided in two and filled with reddish glassy
mass. The middle part of the belt is composed from simple profiled joints, while its end is composed from larg-
er square plates decorated with impressed circles with a point and smaller triangular depressions also contain-
Story of the presumably double burial
from Brstje near Ptuj
First Late Iron Age finds were discovered already in 1959 in a gravel pit near the village of Brstje to the east
of Ptuj. Persons present at the discovery reported that all the finds were discovered in a single pit allow-
ing the possibility of a wealthy double burial of a male and a female. Iron weapons were almost complete-
ly lost, only minor fragments of a sword, spearhead and a large head of a nail fixing the shield boss have survived
- still enough to recognize a warrior. With him was buried a female with few in numbers, but interesting grave
goods. She had two glass finger rings, a massive bronze bracelet with a knob, a bronze fibula and a bronze belt
chain. Several isolated finds were discovered later during the extension of the gravel pit, while in 1970 was un-
earthed a male grave with weapons and pottery.
A rare find is the bronze fibula of the so called Zvonimirovo type named after a site in Croatia where a larger
number of them was discovered. Their form is denoted by the decorated thickened clamp at the end of the foot
and with oblique incisions decorated thickening on it. Consequently it is assumed that their production center
could be located in their eponymous site.
A more often present find is the massive bronze bracelet with a single knob. Similar examples are known from
sites from Dolenjska region where they are most numerous in Novo Mesto. Individual examples are known
also from Koroška and Štajerska.
By far the most interesting finds are the remains of the belt chain. The belt was composed from numerous el-
ements shaped into three forms. The initial part of the belt, beginning with a plate with two horse protomes,
is composed from joints which have in the middle a square field divided in two and filled with reddish glassy
mass. The middle part of the belt is composed from simple profiled joints, while its end is composed from larg-
er square plates decorated with impressed circles with a point and smaller triangular depressions also contain-
