Rankinės iš Karmėlavos kapinyno

The Karmėlava burial ground of the 15th-17th century is situated at a distance of 12 km away from Kaunas, about 300 m southwest from the Karmėlava settlement and 550 m north-west the road of Kaunas-Jonava. The burial ground has been investigated for six years. During that time 203 inhumation burials were investigated. Among the findings there are five leather handbags upholstered with brass. They are rare findings. All handbags were found in rich burials and show the social status of the owner. Their form is clear, the inside construction allows us to form the idea of other handbags of that time whose fragments with brass bindings were found in burial grounds of the later Middle Ages. The handbags contained not only coins but also other things. Leather handbags with round bindings were also found in a burial of a child. The handbags found in Karmėlava burial ground are dated back to the first half of the 16th century