Museum of: Athens
    Name of the artefact: Ring shaped amulet
   
Gold ring-shaped amulet of hammered sheet depicting a very schematised female figure. It is the largest of its type found so far on Greek soil. Possibly it is one of the largest ever found in the Balkans and Anatolia. This object together with other 69 objects constitute a ‘treasure’, the so-called Neolithc Treasure of the National Archaelogical Museum of Greece.
                                 
 
WHERE IS IT AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
  
STATE
Department:
Prehistoric
Preservation:
 Very good
Inventory number:
16640
Restauration:
 No restored
Name of the artefact:
Ring shaped amulet
Completeness:
 Complete
Object type:
Amulet
  
Material:
Gold
Methof of manufacture:
Hammered
Decoration type:
Excision
Distinctive mark:
Large size
DIMENSIONS
  
PERIOD OF USE
Length (mm):
-
Epoque:
Neolithic
Heigth (mm):
155
Culture:
-
Diameter (mm):
12
Period:
Final Neolithic
Width (mm):
-
Face:
-
Thickness (mm):
-
Absolute chronology:
4500-3300BC
Weight (g):
80.6
DISCOVERY
Date:
1997
Country:
Greece
District:
Athens
Town hall affiliation:
-
Village:
-
Discovery findspot:
-
Condition of discovery:
Unknown
Discovery type:
Other
 
ANALYSES – DETERMINATIONS
 
FILLED IN BY
Type:
Xray - Sem - Xrf
Name:
Alexandra Christopoulou
 
Laboratory:
Laboratories of Archaeometry and Material Analysis
Institution:
National Archaeological Museum - Greece
No./Code:
-
Date:
21/11/2005
 
DEEPENINGS

Morphology of the object:
Gold ring-shaped amulet of hammered sheet depicting a very schematised female figure. It is the largest of its type to have been found so far on Greek soil. Possibly it is one of the largest ever found in the Balkans and Anatolia. The object has been modelled from a single golden sheet. The central round core and the trapezoidal upper part were cut off and leveled also by hammering. Then, the three holes for suspention were opened with a sharp implement and the remaining gold from this action was also hammered, creating thus the main and the back / unvisible faces of the amulet (photo). This distinction was further established by the formation of the two protrusions on the ring below the trapezoidal stem. These were formed with a sharp tool by bitting (without piercing through) from the back side. These protrusions indicate female breasts, and in consequence the amulet represents a female figure in absolute abstraction: the stem is the head with the neck and the ring is the body of the woman.

Decoration:
-

Inscription:
-

Analogies:
-

Interpretation:
-
Bibliography:
-