Database
Our database is free to use for all history and archaeology enthusiasts. If you use our database, please do not forget to cite correctly:
Mägi, Marika; Palm, Piia Sandra. Archaeological Artefacts of Saaremaa. Foundation Osiliana / Tallinn University. Accessed: date.
The Osiliana Archaeological Database presents artefacts from Saaremaa and the surrounding small islands.
The database contains mainly Iron Age and Medieval finds that can be classified.
Undated metal or other pieces were generally excluded from the database.
Ceramics are represented by isolated examples.
The database is a work in progress and is constantly being updated.
Muhu
Fragment of knife, iron.
Muhu
Mount, copper alloy. Circular, decorated with repoussé ornamentation.
Mount, copper alloy. Circular, decorated with repoussé ornamentation. At Siksälä, such examples occur, for instance, in burial CCL, dated to 1350–1475 (Valk et al. 2014, 276).
Valk, H., Ratas, J., Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme II. Matuste ja leidude kataloog. Tartu Ülikool.
Bell, copper alloy. Circular. Most likely from the 12th-13th century, but it can also originate from later period.
Cubic chain distributer, copper alloy. Chain distributors held together belts composed of metal rings, which have been found in several 13th-century inhumation burials, for example at Valjala (Mägi et al. 2019, 98–99). Such chain belts have been recovered mainly from women’s and children’s graves, and both the chains and the associated cubic chain distributers have been dated to the 12th–13th centuries (Kurisoo et al. 2023, 220–221).
Mägi, M., Malve, M. & Toome, T. 2019. Early Christian burials at Valjala churchyard, Saaremaa. – Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia, 2018, 93–118.; Kurisoo, T., Posti, M.-L., Jegorov, S. & Kangert, N. 2023. New public discoveries in 2022 against a backdrop of concerns about reporting and processing finds. – Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia 2022, 217–238.
Muhu
Mount, copper alloy. Rectangular, with five rivet holes.
Mount, copper alloy. Rectangular, with five rivet holes.
Cubic chain distributer, copper alloy. Chain distributors held together belts composed of metal rings, which have been found in several 13th-century inhumation burials, for example at Valjala (Mägi et al. 2019, 98–99). Such chain belts have been recovered mainly from women’s and children’s graves, and both the chains and the associated cubic chain distributers have been dated to the 12th–13th centuries (Kurisoo et al. 2023, 220–221).
Mägi, M., Malve, M. & Toome, T. 2019. Early Christian burials at Valjala churchyard, Saaremaa. – Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia, 2018, 93–118.; Kurisoo, T., Posti, M.-L., Jegorov, S. & Kangert, N. 2023. New public discoveries in 2022 against a backdrop of concerns about reporting and processing finds. – Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia 2022, 217–238.
Round pendant, tin or copper alloy. Medieval or Early Modern.
Muhu
Mount, copper alloy. With an attachment hole.
Mount, copper alloy. With an attachment hole.
Rhombus-shaped pendant, copper alloy. Such pendants were widespread in the 13th century and the early 14th century (Vaska 2017, 26). At Siksälä, they occur in the 14th-century burials and occasionally also in burials dated to the 15th century (e.g. Valk et al. 2014, 28, 126, 134–135, 249, 276). They are also known in considerable numbers from Courland, for example from the late 13th–early 14th-century burials at Vilkmuiža in Dundaga (e.g. Muižnieks & Žeiere 2021, 340), as well as from the Livs territory of the same period (e.g. Mugurēvičs 2008, pl. XX: 5–6, 203).
Vaska, B. 2017. Rotas un ornaments Latvijā no 13.gs. līdz 18.gs. vidum. Latvijas Nacionālais vēstures muzejs. Rīga.; Valk, H., Ratas, J., Laul, S. 2014. Siksälä kalme II. Matuste ja leidude kataloog. Tartu Ülikool: Tartu. ;Muižnieks, V. & Žeiere, I. 2021. Dundagas Laukmuižas 13. – 14. gadsimta senkapi. The 13th-14th Century Cemetery of Dundagas Laukmuiža. – Latvias nacionālā vēstures muzeja raksti nr. 30. Arheoloģija. Rīga.; Mugurēvičs, Ē. 2008. Viduslaiku ciems un pils Salaspils novadā. Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Apgāds, Rīga.
