The Chronology of luxurious women's jewellery in the Early Medieval period and its historical significance

The Chronology of the luxurious women's jewellery in the Early Mediaeval period and its historical significance. This PhD thesis deals with the dating of women's luxurious jewellery in the area of South Moravia in Early Mediaeval period. The aim of the thesis is ordering of women's jewellery sets into relative chronological sequence. The impetus for the analysis of jewellery was the recognition of some discrepancies in the relative chronology of the cemetery at Staré Město "Na valách", which was the basis of relative chronology of 9th century material culture in previous decades. After the division of women's jewellery assemblages into three relative-chronological phases, the author tries to define these phases in the terms of absolute chronology. New insights into the dating of the woman jewellery open the question of its origin and new views on its historical interpretation and significance. Keywords: Women's jewellery, earrings, "gombíky" (spherical pendants), classification, relative and absolute chronology, Early Mediaeval period, burial place, Christianization, Early Mediaeval elit