Cross necklace

The cross is four-pointed with a rectangular middle. On the front side there is a niello black field with the image of an equilateral oblique cross formed by four small slanting crosses with expanded blades in the center of the cross. The arms of the cross end with small polyhedrons. On the front side of each of them, an equilateral cross with diamond-shaped blades is depicted in a rhombic draft field. Belongs to the group of the so-called tilnyk.
Crosses of the pre-Mongol era are usually divided into two large groups: encolpion crosses and simple monolithic crosses of small sizes, which earned the name "tilnyk". Different variants of tilnyks, dated to the XII-XIII centuries, were found in the Kyiv region, in the Crimea, in the Kostroma and Vladimir burial mounds, in Beloozer, Old Ryazan, Tver region, in Latvia and Estonia. They were, as a rule, obviously really worn on the body under clothes. However, in the ancient Rus burials among other costume decorations, there are known finds of body crosses as part of necklaces, which were worn openly. As a rule the cross stood out because of its central position, but burial materials also demonstrate the wearing of crosses in several pieces, or together with icons and pagan amulets.