Fragments of a Chain Mail as Amulets in the late Roman Cemetery at Štrbinci near Đakovo

Abstract

Na provincijalno-rimskom groblju Štrbinci kod Đakova, iz druge polovice 4. i prve polovice 5. st., dosad je istraženo stotinjak kosturnih grobova. Među većinom priloga, prosječnih u smislu učestalosti pojavljivanja na kasnorimskim grobljima Panonije, zatečena je i nekolicina nalaza iznimnih po svojoj materijalnoj, statusnoj i/ili kulturnoj rijetkosti, dragocjenosti ili pak neobičnosti. Među njima su i dva ulomka željeznih lančanih prepleta, oba priložena u grobovima djece. Ti nalazi u ovom su radu protumačeni kao dijelovi karičastog oklopa, a njihova uloga u grobnom kultu kao ritualno-apotropejski postupak povezan s preranom smrću. Vjerojatno je običaj prilaganja takvih predmeta u provincijalno-rimsku sredinu dospio iz barbarskog kulturnog kruga, najvjerojatnije gepidskog ili gotskog.Around a hundred skeletal graves have been excavated so far at the provincial-Roman cemetery at Štrbinci near Đakovo from the 2nd half of the 4th and the 1st half of the 5th century. Among the majority of grave goods, average in terms of the frequency of presence in the late Roman cemeteries in Pannonia, there were several that can be considered exceptional by virtue of their material, status and/or cultural rarity, value or singularity. Among these finds are two fragments of iron chain mesh, both deposited in children’s graves. These finds are interpreted in this work as pieces of a chain mail, and their role in the funerary cult as a ritual-apotropaic procedure connected with premature death. The custom of depositing such objects in a provincial-Roman millieu probably arrived from the barbarian cultural circle, most likely the Gepid or Gothic one

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