gems, garnet

In the early Middle Ages a distinctive category of jewellery came to the fore, traceable in the gravefields of Europe’s peoples for more than three centuries: the “garnet-cloisonné” style. Characteristic of this jewellery, which probably has its roots in the Black Sea region¹ ², is the dominance of red almandine garnet applied as thin, often doubly polished wafers that cover broad surfaces on the objects. Notably, this gemstone³ appears not only on items from clearly princely graves but also adorns a large number of finds from row-grave cemeteries—dress fibulae, belt buckles, rings and earrings, as well as purse frames, sword pommels and riding tack. Early-medieval Europe thus required an immense quantity of raw material, yet where did people obtain red garnets? Neither written sources nor archaeological evidence give an unequivocal answer as to whether local European deposits were exploited or the garnet was a luxury import from distant lands. Beyond its purely trade-historical interest, the question of raw-stone sources is tied directly to the value of these stones as merchandise and hence to the social standing of the individual buried with a garnet-adorned object. Finally, retracing the old trade routes may also offer clues to the stylistic origin of this jewellery type and perhaps even explain its relatively sudden disappearance toward the end of the seventh century.