Necklace

Necklace of thin gold elements, presumably funerary. 23 gold pendants of three different forms: (1) frontal face with element below decorated with vertical lines; (2) suspended convex disk; (3) grape (?) cluster, stylized if so. Between the pendants are flat rectangular strips. At each end is a pair of acorns with a hook at one end and a loop at the other.

The necklace is composed of fourteen hollow, half round, backed pendants of two types. 1) with fluted bottom and 2) with plain bottom. They have a female face surmounted by a rosette on top of either a fluted or plain bottom with a globe at its apex. Type 1 rosettes have a granulated center and 8 rays. They all seem to have been beaten into a mold and then backed. As presently strung, between each pendant is a group of spacers in two rows. the top row has a single flat sheet of gold beaten over a mold to simulate granulation (squares in parallel rows), with its edges bent over to form two stringing tubes. The bottom row consists of two pieces similar to those described above flanking a third which supports a fourth (these two are connected by interlocking tubes). This bottom bead supports a flat, beaten, backless pendant of which there are three types; seven hemispherical discs, four grape clusters, and one palmette. The clasps are in the form of two acrons, one with a hook, the other with a loop. The loop is made of thick plain wire ornamented with a line of beaded wire and is joined to the acorns by two S curves. The curves are ornamented by a large coarse granule surrounded by granulated wire on each of the four tight curves. The hook has a granulated wire running down the center and has a few coarse granules at the tip. This form of gold leaf necklace is quite common in late antiquity and was made to be buried since it is quite attractive, but of low cost.