Znaleziska zapinek typu 216/217 VII grupy Almgrena na obszarze kultury Dollkeim-Kovrovo

The paper offers a detailed and comprehensive presentation of finds of brooches type A.216/A.217 currently recorded on the territory of Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture (Fig. 1). Brooches classified to the “monstrous” series of group VII were never mass produced and individual specimens are marked by evident eccentricity. The accepted view is that this form originated in Scandinavia and the Baltic islands and from this area spread even as far as Cherniakhiv Culture territory. Finds of these brooches are always something of a challenge to research, especially on the territory of Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture, where they are a non-local form. Three brooches type A.216/A.217 are recorded at present: a silver one discovered in 1886 at former Grebieten, Kr. Fischhausen (Fig. 2), another silver specimen discovered in 2000 in a female grave no. 78 in the cemetery at Bol'šoe Isakovo/Большое Исаково (former Lauth, Kr. Königsberg; Fig. 3, 4) and a silver and bronze brooch decorated with gilded foil, from a cemetery at Ušakovo/Ушаково 1 (Fig. 5, 6). Brooches of this type are interesting not only as unique works of a jeweller’s craft, they also add to our understanding of the exchange of the people of Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture with other areas of Barbaricum during the Late Roman Period.