bavarikon4UDescription
In contrast to gold, the production of silver is not attested in the Celtic region of Central Europe. The Celts only used silver on a larger scale for the minting of coins in the second and first centuries BC. The main source of raw material consisted of silver coins from the Mediterranean region, such as coins from the Roman Republic. The two silver fibulas from the oppidum (fortified iron age settlement) of Manching, together with other silver fibulas north of the Alps, are very rare pieces of jewellery. They were discovered together with an amulet ring and an iron key in 1955 in a pit. At the time of discovery, the fibulas, i.e. a bowl brooch and a knot brooch, hung entwined within one another. This pair of brooches of excellent quality probably once arrived as part of a noble robe, perhaps from northern Italy, at the Manching oppidum. Plinius (Naturalis Historia XII, 88) provides a vivid example of the trade in these goods, when he calls glass and bronze vessels, garments and all kinds of jewellery such as fibulas the counterparts of the spice trade with Arabia.
Author
Archäologische Staatssammlung München