The fascination of spirals: An Early Eneolithic hoard of decorative copper artefacts near Hrádok, West Slovakia

Abstract

An assemblage of few early Eneolithic hoard finds has been supplemented in 2009 by copper artefacts coming from a hoard discovered at Hrádok (Nové Mesto nad Váhom district), located in north-western Slovakia. The collection from Hrádok consists mostly of copper-wire jewellery. The presented study describes the results of typological and chronological analyses of spiral-shaped copper jewellery so far unknown in the region of Central Europe. The authors discuss the function of the artefacts, as well as their relation to the copper-wire industries of the type Malé Leváre, its variant Stollhof, and the type Hlinsko. Selected artefacts from the hoard from Hrádok were subjected to element (ICP-MS/ICP-OES) and isotope analyses. The results reveal additional information about the provenance and the type of copper present in hoard assemblages from the north-western part of the Carpathian Basin, dated to the end of the 5th Millennium BC. Contacts between the epilengyel Ludanice and Jordanów cultures are also discussed.