Apr 21, 2017
Danubian Bronze Necklace, C. 1500 BC
From Central Europe, Danube Region, possibly Ottomány (Otomani) culture, Late Bronze Age.
The necklace is composed of small, flat beads interspersed with six hanging double lunula pendants; the centerpiece is a large plaque with a punched line of stippling around its front edge.
The Danube, Europe's longest river, rises in the Black Forest in modern-day southern Germany, and flows through major cities like Vienna, Budapest, and Belgrade, before draining through a large delta into the Black Sea. The river's name is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word for river, "danu". During the Bronze Age, prestige items like this one would have been traded along the length of the river.
