Clothes Adornments
This type of jewelry can be divided into two groups: ones worn on the items of clothing, and the ones sewn onto them. The first group included various pins and clasps. Gold pins, the first of which is made to resemble an Ionic column, the other – an unusual cupola. Most of these articles  are made out of bronze; two medallions are made out of lead. Techniques used include casting and engraving.

The articles made of gold illustrate a more complex technique, such as inlay, granulation, stamping, insets; as a result, they appear more sophisticated. In general, these items reflect the influence of Early Eastern, Hellenistic and Roman-Byzantine art.
 

Fibulae  
Two types of fibulae: one that resembles an arbalest (or a bow) and another that is shaped like a bent arm or a head... The size of the items defined when and how they were worn. Fibula is a type of fastening for a man’s cloak, and its bow-shaped design is chosen on purpose – a bow, or an arbalest, is one of the oldest weapons known to men.

The most vivid example is bronze fibulae from Bethlehem, I century BC. Height – 2.15, length – 5.7. Judging by the length of the fibula and traces of gold on the bronze, it belonged to a youth of a middle military ranking. It is known that military hierarchy was recognized by the quality of the materials used in making belts for the warriors.
Another type of fibulas is shaped like a bent arm, resembling a bow. The arm is decorated with bracelets placed on its shoulder and forearm. The arm ends in a wrist and hand with bent fingers; the other end of the fibula is a human figure or a human head, or occasionally, a head of an animal.

Similar fibulae can be seen among the Urartian jewelry (cat. 23, 24, bronze and gold items) that belong to the same period. We would like to point out that the jewelry was wide-spread; its popularity is based on a mutual influence of ancient cultures. “O.W. Muscarel and Ogun have proposed three groups of Urartian fibulae: those following a Phrygian pattern, those with an Anatolian pattern and original Urartian types. According to Ogun, who studied some of hundred Urartian fibulae dispersed through museums in Turkey, most of latter also show a Phrygian influence.” In   Israelite period- VIII BC. Bent fibulae decorated with human images. Partly covered with green patina . Miniature fibulas probably belonged to boys or teenagers or decorated with images of two animals with human heads (in the shape of a Sphinx).


Pins  
Two types of pins: decorated and plain, for instance . Pins of that type were known in Urartu (Urartu, a Metalwork Center in the first mill.BCE”, by  R. Merhaw, Israel, 1990,  кат.â„–21). The book mentions  a female figurine as an example of how these pins were worn.

Some of the pins could be used as needles. Openings for a thread are seen, for example, on the H-1050. Similar items are found among the Urartian articles (see cat.3, p.326)

Fibulae and the Urartian pins prove that these items were highly popular among different layers of society. We must also mention two gold pins of significant artistic value.

Pin from Jerusalem (old city), II century BC. The top part of the pin is shaped like the top of an Ionic column.  This detail resembles top parts of the original columns found by prof. N. Avigad during his excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old city in Jerusalem. Below the column, the pin has an ornament shaped as a fruit made of white glass, gold frame and topped with a garnet. The pin itself is made out of silver. The materials are expensive, and the composition is complex enough to suggest that the owner of the pin was wealthy. Several techniques are used, such as inlays, faux granulation, and sheet gold. The scroll-like Ionic volutes are not incidental. The owner of the pin could be a wife of a temple cleric. It is possible that the top part, shaped as a sphere on top of a lotus flower, was also symbolic.

Similar pins are present in the later period of the Roman Empire; it is evident from the finds of the III century (see cast gold pin, ill 66 in “Roman Crafts” by Donald Strong, N.Y., 1976), where an Ionic column serves as a base for the figure of a goddess, possibly Aphrodite.

The second pin is intended for a headdress or a hairdo. Only the top part survived.

Gold, Pearls. Height- 5.0, weight-5.450, Phoenician, bought in Paris, at “Mouseon F. Antonovic.” II BC, Phoenician gold ornament, inlaid with pearls and decorated with a flower. This ornament was made using complex techniques, such as partitioned incrustation, which resembles scales or a certain kinds of hairdos, which allows us to consider this one of the most significant examples.

The next two items represent another type of clothes’ adornments.

The medallion depicts an eagle with spread wings, an inscription is located underneath the image. Stylized grapes adorn the back of the frame. Such medallions could have been made out of gold, since sometimes inexpensive metals were used to make copies of valuable objects of art. The connection between the Mediterranean of the Achaemenian era and the finds of the treasure of Oxus is evident. See, for example, the coins of Evagoras, the pearl frame from Cyprus, or gold plaques, cat.25. The image of an eagle, in its stylized treatment and heraldic attitude, is purely oriental (p.13-14 Dalton O.).

Another medallion depicts Ares on the left, Athena on the right, an image of an eagle above her.
This medallion possibly had a frame just like the first item . Both medallions are men’s clothes ornaments. Eagle as a power symbol and embodiment of strength is on the first medallion and god of war together with the goddess of wisdom and sciences, born out of Zeus’s head complete with gold armor (her iconography attributes are helmet, spear, shield, owl or olive branch in hands) are depicted on the second medallion. This scene could symbolize the Roman power or suggest wise wars.

 Chronologically earliest item is a fragment of bronze belt (cast, stamping) that bears the image of a winged sphinx. Urartu. Height- 8 cm, Width – 10 cm, Near East, 860-650 BC (see “Urartu” album, cat. 75, 76, p. 282). Fragment from the right-hand end of (probably) bronze belt, presumably fixed to leather in the ancient world, with a winged sphinx in repousee work with chasing. The motif is of Near Eastern origin and is firmly rendered (from letter to Mr.Antonovich in Paris,W.Laumbert. The University of Birmingham.

Among the many items we considered, some differ significantly from the others. In spite of that, we can still expose several common features.

Firstly, we suggest the following in regards to the integral cultural space of the ancient world. Art within it develops according to rules of syncretism and is part of the ritual-social consciousness. It reflects the social-craft commission of cults and other spheres of human activity. At the same time, its spiritual content expressed throughout symbolic-semantics aspects gives artistic quality to the items. By these common regularities jewelry articles from distinct cultural regions are close and have variety analogies.

 Figurine of a bull. Gold. Height -14 mm. Length -18 mm. Weight-0.10 gr. Ur in Chaldea, 2400 BC. A miniature of a kneeling bull, head turned to the side, has two horns and two ears are sticking out. This item was found in bituminous soil and is filled with it. An ornamental ribbon is traced along the back. A vertical gap is cut through the body. Orange patina and some fractures in the metal. This item was found and brought to Europe by a Christian family from Iraq. According to family tradition, it was acquired in the region of Ur after the First World War. This item could be a pendant, but other examples of Egyptian art suggest that it could be a top part of a ring (see ”L’dossiers de l’archeologie,” â„–40,1980, p.39, 40), or a decorative element for a fibula.  According to the Sysford Scheme of Symbolism, by P. Figesten (“The Eclipse of Symbolism, University of South California, 1970, p.132), here we deal with a symbolic depiction of Osiris, the key Egyptian deity, son of Earth and Heaven, who represented sunlight and goodness. Another reason to suggest that this miniature served as a top element of a ring is a similar item depicting a ram (see cat. .â„–4 “Objects of Adornment” N.Y., 1984 electrum, Syria, II mill. ВС). There is another theory regarding the bull miniature, made by Wooley (1934, p.375), as well as the attribution made in the collection’s catalog (see “Jewelry Through 7000 Years,” 1976, p.38): “Large animal-shaped pendants could be found in royal burial sites, where they were used as fastenings.”

In our case, the vertical gap on the body of the figurine could be made later; we suggest that in this particular case, is much more like to have been a top decoration of a ring, or a signet ring.

Integral space of the ancient world was unified despite continents or connections. It was similar to a life of a human being, who develops his understanding of the surrounding world, learns to walk and speak at a certain age no matter where he was born. Just as every human child is an individual, every ancient culture developed according to a different chronological schedule. That is where the difference between cultures becomes visible. However, many development milestones are similar and unavoidable; this results in a phenomenon of manmade art and its development. Analogies assist in reconstructing lost antiquities and cultural property artifacts, as well the connection between time periods and historical eras.