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Necklace with pendant

Unknown400 - 300 BCE

National Museum of the History of Ukraine

National Museum of the History of Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine

The necklace consists of 34 oval beads and 4 tube beads and is decorated with an exquisite crescent pendant "lunnytsia" with a floral decoration made of smooth and scarred wire and a miniature pendant in the form of a woman's head.
Golden lunnytsias are characteristic of Scythian burials, no older than the 5th century BCE. Lunnytsia symbolizes the moon (heavenly luminary, which is considered the patron of fertility and childbearing) and the feminine essence. They usually served as a pendant to a necklace and were considered an amulet. According to the ideas of the time, they were worn to protect themselves from evil forces, demons and witchcraft, but especially from the evil eye.
Lunnytsias were common throughout the Pontic and Mediterranean region.

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  • Title: Necklace with pendant
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: 400 - 300 BCE
  • Location Created: Unknown
  • Physical Dimensions: Намистини: l 13, w 9 мм; лучниця: l 41, w 24 mm
  • Type: Jewelry
  • Rights: National Museum of the History of Ukraine
  • Medium: Gold, faience or dull glass, forging, embossing, molding, gilding, filigree
  • Place found: Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine
  • Period: Early Iron Age
  • Culture: The Scythians
National Museum of the History of Ukraine

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