Prussian and Mazurian Derivatives of Two-plated Brooches

Abstract

The paper presents and analyzes all the array of derivatives of plate brooches found in the burial sites of the Amber Coast and the Mazurian Lakes on the south-western outskirts of the Baltic world. The author comes to the following conclusions: 1) double-plated, unadorned fibulae were made by Baltic masters at the beginning of the VI–VII centuries; 2) at the beginning of the VI century miniature copies of fibulae were often put in burials in Sambia. Copies of brooches with oval plates were intended for male military sets in the Prussian culture; 3) in the area of the Olsztyn group, along with reduced copies of plate brooches in the burials, their prototypes of all three stages of simulation were represented whereas for the Prussian area only copies of the plate brooches were relevant; 4) neither before nor after the VI century miniature copies of the major details of the attire from the Prussians are not known. It is important to note that after the turn of the VII–VIII cc. up to the pre-crusading period male burial sites separate from female burials were not made.