Page 80 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

munity, further manifested in the diverse com- The Iron Age community of Osor was not
position of grave goods. merely a passive recipient of external influences;
The most common element of female dress rather, it was an active participant in trans-Adri-
among the deceased was the Adriatic-type spec- atic networks of interaction, within which for-
tacle fibula, followed by the bow-shaped fibu- eign forms and ideas were selectively adopted
la with an amber bead on the bow, document- and creatively reinterpreted. Standardised el-
ed in various combinations. Based on these, four ements, technical features of advanced metal-
basic categories of attire can be distinguished: lurgical craftsmanship, and the repetition of
1) graves without fibulae, containing amber and certain morphological solutions indicate the ac-
glass beads or other forms of jewellery (Sv. Mari- tivity of workshops embedded within a wider
ja grave 1; Sv. Petar grave 6); 2) graves with a sin- communicative space, as well as the production
gle fibula alongside bronze and/or amber jew- of objects with distinct local characteristics,
80 ellery (Sv. Marija graves 4, 7; Sv. Petar grave 5; such as Osor-type fibulae, bracelets, pendants,
Preko mosta grave 8, Osor grave Zone C); 3) and others. Geochemical and isotopic analyses
graves with two fibulae and additional jewel- of the fibulae demonstrate regional homogeni-
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 2 / volume 13 (2025), number 2
lery (Sv. Marija grave 5; Mala Prepoved); 4) com- sation of tin exchange and the mixing of met-
plex attire comprising of multiple fibulae, jewel- als of European and Asian origin, most likely as-
lery, and other grave goods, represented solely by sociated with intensive bronze recycling (Powell
6
grave 6 at Sv. Marija. In the case of child burials, et al. 2026). Evidence for potential metallurgi-
the inclusion of amber and glass beads, as well cal activity at Osor itself will be provided direct-
as a single fibula, was generally assumed, where- ly by finds of ceramic casting spoons and ceram-
as male graves were mostly found either without ic furnace nozzles from the settlement, while
grave goods or with only a pin (Sv. Marija, grave geochemical analyses of sedimentary archives
2). Other elements are not currently attested in have confirmed intensive anthropogenic impact
the examined sample. from around 1500 BCE (Miko et al. 2025). Nu-
The association of spectacle fibulae with merous amber beads, particularly the distinc-
bow-shaped fibulae with amber bead on the bow, tive polygonal ones, as well as larger fragments
as well as with Osor-type fibulae, in various buri- of raw amber of Baltic provenance (Blečić Ka-
al contexts, reflects a rich inventory often accom- vur 2021, 538, fig. 3; Wojewódka 2024), further
panied by ceramic spindle whorls. Their presence support the hypothesis of local processing activ-
goes beyond sexual differentiation and indicates ities, which were most likely complemented by
concepts of social role, identity, and bodily ide- the working of bone, glass, and other utilitari-
ology (Arnold 2016; Rebay-Salisbury 2016, 78– an objects.
80). Interpreted in this way, the assemblage of Of particular interpretative value are the re-
objects fits within a broader European socio-cul- lationships between imported and locally pro-
tural discourse concerning women with signifi- duced material culture, which in the Osor graves
cant agency in household production, exerting are evident through deliberate and recurring
continuous influence and bearing multiple sym- combinations of jewellery types. Luxury and/or
bolic meanings, including within the religious prestige items set the standard in line with the
order (cf. Huth and Kondziella 2017). The mo- values of the wider cultural sphere’s social con-
tifs of rotation, interlacing, and cyclicality – vis- cept. However, beyond the adoption of foreign
ible in the iconography of the fibulae and in the forms during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE
practices of spinning and weaving – acquire a – such as certain types of pins, pendants, or ce-
clear semantic dimension. ramic vessels – there is clear evidence of selec-
6 Samples for tin isotope analyses were taken from 11 spectacle fibulae, 4 Osor-type fibulae, sanguisuga-shaped fibulae, bracelets,
pins, and Caput Adriae-type phalerae from Kavanela, Preko mosta, Sv. Marija, and Sv. Petar.