UD: June 2019

The Vojvodina (Српска Војводина) region of today’s northern Serbia has yielded a vast amount of archaeological material dating from the second half of the 4th to the 1st century BC pertaining to the Balkan Celtic (Scordisci) population who inhabited this part of Europe in the pre-Roman period.

Female inhumation burial, one of 18 Celtic burials discovered at Zrenjanin in eastern Vojvodina, Serbia. The burials, from the late 4th c. BC, relate to the first phase of Celtic settlement in this part of Europe.

The spectacular Celtic hoard from Židovar, a Celtic oppidum (settlement) on the eastern border of the Deliblato Sands (Deliblatska Peščara), in the Vojvodina region of modern Serbia. (2-1 century BC)

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2017/11/18/the-balkan-celtic-treasure-from-zidovar-serbia/

According to the archaeological data, one of the most important Celtic settlements in this region was that at the village of Čurug, situated in the lowlands of the south-eastern part of the Bačka area of the Vojvodina region.

Lead solar/ Taranis votive wheel from Čurug (2-1 c. BC)

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/taranis-the-thunder-god/

Ritual ceramic rattle discovered at Čurug (2-1 c. BC)

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/chasing-demons-celtic-ritual-rattles/

While most of the Celtic material recorded at Čurug dates to the late Iron Age/ immediate pre-Roman period, the most spectacular find, a hoard of silver jewelry, dates to the earlier period of Celtic expansion into the Balkans, i.e. the late 4th / early 3rd c. BC.

The Balkan Celtic silver hoard from Čurug

As with other major Balkan Celtic treasures from the area of modern Serbia (Hrtkovci, Židovar, etc.), the Čurug hoard consists of wonderfully executed silver jewelry – bracelets, finger- and arm-rings, as well as fibulae, notably the distinctive hinged serpent-head fibulae (below). The latter have been recorded in other Balkan Celtic hoards of this period and, as with numerous other examples of eastern Celtic jewelry, bear eloquent testimony to artistic influences of the native Balkan and Hellenistic cultures in Balkan Celtic art of this period.

Hinged serpent-head fibulae from the Čurug hoard

The origin of the silver that the Balkan Celts used for producing jewelry and minting silver coins has not yet been established with any degree of certainty. However, it is likely that a substantial amount came from the silver / lead mine at Kosmaj near the large Celtic settlement of Singidunum (today’s Belgrade).

Mac Congail

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