2463 Brass strand made of Berlock pendants

A strand made of Berlock pendants and brass beads. Restored according to examples found in Marvelė burial site. The Northern Germans used to wear golden, round, so called pear shaped Berlock pendants. The earliest Berlock pendants at the turn of ages and the 1st century after Christ were prevalent among the Northern Germans living in the Elbe basin region. In the Germanic tribes the Berlock pendants appeared suddenly in already well-established forms; they were manufactured using sophisticated grain soldering and filigree technologies. The Germanic Berlock pendants are found in the graves of rich, high socially- held men and women‘s graves. The first imitations of Berlock pendants in the area of Western Lithuania graves with stone wreaths could only be made by jewelers during the B2 period. But then the Baltic jewelers still did not know how to solder, produce pellets and stretch a thin filigree wire. Consequently the Baltic jewelers were forced to fundamentally change filigree and bead making technologies and try to preserve the image of the article or even a common idea by using available means. Therefore the Baltic Berlock pendants and beads were molded. The changes in the style of wearing of the Berlock pendants made by the Balts, are unexpectedly strange. This was because the Germanic golden Berlock pendants were worn one by one and could be easily seen from all sides. The Balts began put them into strands, therefore the round shape did not suit anymore, so the Balt Berlock pendants become flat from the back side, but emphatically raised on the visual side.

The changes in the style of wearing of the Berlock pendants made by the Balts, are unexpectedly strange. Usually jewelry worn by men and women in Germanic tribes as prototypes taken in the Eastern Baltic Sea region became jewelry worn by men. However this time it happened that the Berlock pendants in the Bolts cultural environment become almost exclusively women‘s jewelry. Berlock pendants and their strands belong to the rich burials. Both Marvelė graves with Blatic Berlock pendants belong to a category of rich graves.