Dragoslava's Lunitsa Documentation | |
10th – 11th century Lunnitsa (Kievian Rus)
10th
century, Silver, Crescent Pendant (Lunnitsa) and Ring Pendants, Village of
Gnezdovo, Smolensk Region, Russia, 5.9cm
high (The State Hermitage museum) The lunnitsa is a pagan crescent shaped pendant worn from the 10th to 11th centuries (The State Hermitage Museum). Samples of this piece have been commonly found throughout Russian and Ukrainian burial sites and were rarely found in Viking-Rus sites. Archeological finds in Village of Gnezdovo, Smolensk Region, Russia and Chernigov, Ukraine have yielded numerous examples of lunnitsi. Lunnitsa are
exclusively found in the graves of women from all levels of society. The
majority of the pieces have been made of silver, but gold ones have rarely
been found. (The Odessa Museum of Numismatics). One
unique mother of pearl lunnitsa was found in the Boldinogorsk necropolis
in Chernigov (Shevchenko). The
designs of the crescents ranged from a flat undecorated silhouette to
pieces elaborately decorated with filigree, beading and granulation. (The
State Hermitage Museum).
Lunnitsi from the Kievan Rus period (X - XIII centuries), The
Odessa Museum of Numismatics The
piece I produced is has design elements drawn from several pieces. It was
made from a flat piece of sterling silver cut to shape, onto which were
soldered beads; and a loop made from rings of silver wire. The pieces was
cleaned and then polished with a fine grit to make it shiny. Bibliography Shevchenko, Yu. Yu., "Lower levels of the
Ilinsk underground monastery in Chernigov, hegumens of the Monastery, and
the “Jerusalem trace” in Cave Architecture" Journal Archaeology,
Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia; V.25, No. 1, pp.89-109 (2006) The
Odessa Museum of Numismatics http://www.museum.com.ua/expo/kult_izd_en.html
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