by Vladimir KULAKOV, Dr. Sc. (Hist.), RAS Institute of Archeology (Moscow)

The silver ornaments and money discovered in late 19th century in the vicinity of the small resort settlement Crantz (today the town of Zelenogradsk, Kaliningrad Region, Russia) came down to us in the travails of European history. The valuable articles were kept in Berlin museum vaults for more than 40 years, then they appeared in Moscow, and only now our contemporaries have an opportunity to see them. What can these findings relate to us?

COMPOSITION OF THE TREASURE

During 2003 and 2005 the author of this publication was honored to work in the stocks of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, participating in preparation of the exhibition: "The Merovingian Dynasty–Europe Without Boundaries". During inspection of the Findings, which were kept in the stocks of the Museum of Pre- and Ancient History (Berlin) till 1945 and now kept at the Pushkin Museum, my attention was drawn by a set of articles marked in Indian ink on the reverse sides "Crantz, Kr. Fischhausen", indicating the place of Finding. This place corresponds to the outskirts of the contemporary town of Zelenogradsk, a small

Fibula: 1-face and reverse sides; 2-a group of signs on its reverse side.

resort town on the Baltic Sea shore in the northern part of the ancient Prussian land Sambia. Only three years after the opening of the said exhibition (in 2008), due to the kind assistance of the Pushkin Museum workers I got an opportunity to publish the findings from this treasure.

This treasure (it can be called so quite justly not only because of a high standard of silver used for manufacture of its elements but also due to the elegance of its ornaments) came down to us through upheavals of four long years of World War II, i.e. through bombardments (it was kept in the basement of an anti-aircraft battery Flakturm Zoo in the western part of Berlin from the autumn of 1941), the assault of the German capital and multi-kilometer transportation from Berlin ruins to the historical center of Moscow, the Pushkin Museum. The treasure was kept in its vaults for 65 years and only now has it appeared in its full splendor before the eyes of amazed contemporaries.

The treasure includes the following articles made of high-grade silver: first of all, it is a fibula (a metal buckle for clothes serving as an ornament at the same time), 66 mm in diameter and weighing 38.392 g. It represents a disk-shaped figure stamped on a matrix in the form of an 8-painted star, made of a silver plate approximately 2 mm thick. The technology of applying ornaments (as in other artifacts)-filigree and granulation work*. The old fastening of the fibula to clothes was in the form of soldered silver brackets, fastenings of a needle and a needle receiver are broken, and the needle proper is absent (pulled out). Once, after the fibula was found, a new system of its fastening was developed. In such form the fibula was received by the Berlin museum. Cut through signs are seen on the inner surface between the modern needle receiver and the remainder of the ancient needle holder. They can be interpreted tentatively as a group of runes "kano", "hagalaz", "kano", "nautiz", "kauno".

Another artifact is a lamellar link bracelet weighing 46.053 g. It is flattened from the rod into the plate of 1.5 cm maximum width narrowing at the ends. The plate is bent to an oval with about 60 mm maximum diameter. There are hinges at the point of widening, which allow the bracelet blades to open, and a rhombic ornament is cut by a stichel** on the external side of the plate along its heated surface. Two notches are cut by a soft object (possibly by an axe or a sword) from above the fold with a mushroom-like pin. A silver chain is fixed on the opposite side of the edges of lamellar folds by means of two soldered rings, preventing them from opening too widely.

Besides, the treasure also includes another lamellar (more precisely, band) bracelet weighing 24.043 g, which is, in its turn, flattened from the rod into the plate of about 1 cm maximum width narrowing at the ends. The plate is bent to an oval with up to 67 mm maximum diameter. A zigzag-like ornament is also cut by chisel on its external side along the bracelet surface. No analogs of

* Filigree is a type of jewelry technique: an open-work or soldered onto a metal background design, made of a golden, silver or copper wire, smooth or twisted. Articles made of it are often supplemented with granulation work (small silver or golden beads) and enamel.–Ed.

** Stichel (chisel) is a narrow steel rod of different section and 10-11 cm long with a cutting edge sharpened at an angle of 45° (for metal they are sharpened at a more obtuse angle). The other end is inserted into a mushroom shaped handle. The lower part of the handle facing the board is flatly cut off. If the chisel with its handle is put on the board, its cutting edge can be slightly leveled up.–Ed.

Bracelet with a rhombic ornament: 1-general view; 2-bracelet in closed and open state; 3-design of ornament.

such decoration in late 1st and early 2nd millennia A.D. are observed in Europe. They are available only in the form of borders on Irish memorial stone crosses of the 11th-12th centuries. By the way, an 80 mm silver chain is fixed by means of two soldered rings on the opposite side of the edges of lamellar folds.

One more item of the treasure is an article soldered from two skewed cross-shaped figures weighing 7.318 g. A present-day hinge for a needle (unfortunately, the latter is lost) is soldered on the article from inside just between the cross-shaped figures. It stands to logic to assume that the whole article was formed from two miniature fibulas (or ear-rings?) and then fastened with only one clasp. Perhaps such "repair" was undertaken not before the end of the 19th century judging by specifications of "new needles". Contemporary specialists carried out virtual dismantling of the last article into two fibulas (ear-rings), due to which we now can imagine a general view of the preserved part of the treasure.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

How did we get to know about the treasure? It was found before 1898 (this date is the time of its appearance in Berlin), most probably in 1892, at the time of constructing a branch-line connecting the settlement of Crantz and a quay of the present town of Zelenogradsk.

The article of 1938 by the German archeologist Otto Kleemann was the first publication about this treasure. He wrote about the Garbik natural boundary 3 km southeast of the town of Crantz: "The role (of this natural boundary) in history is determined by the treasure kept in the stocks of the State Museum of Prehistory in Berlin. It consists of a silver washer-like fibula with a rich detail design (granulation) and a filigree ornament, fragments of another similar decorated fibula, a bead, a fragment of a Cufic coin, a silver bracelet decorated with a cut ornament and nine silver grivnas ("Lithuanian type".–V.K.) with multiple notches. These articles are only a part of a big treasure... This finding was sent to Berlin in 1898. The site of Garbik suits best as a place of the finding. The quests intersect in this place." In his another article the said Kleemann added to the above information, that, apart from this treasure, there "parts of circular ceramics, bricks and big stones were found in 1892. This site does no longer exist."

Thus, the German specialist dated the treasure from the outskirts of Crantz as the beginning of the 11th century. Though the analogs, available in the materials of Lithuania for the silver grivnas of the "Lithuanian type" from this collection, testify that this treasure was buried in the ground about 100 years later, i.e. somewhere in the first decade of the 12th century. By that time, Curonian pirates were rather active near the coasts of the southeast Baltia (Curonians–one of the western Baltic tribes, who lived on the lands of the present Lithuanian seaside in the early Middle Ages; their name is perpetuated in the name of the Curonian sand bar); they were real successors of severe warriors, namely, vikings*. It is noteworthy, that the ornaments in the Crantz treasure are made in the art traditions of these "lords of waves". It turns out that this treasure can be rightfully called a treasure of the last vikings, which got into the ground after the end of their heroic epoch. But what is the origin of this treasure? What dramatic events are connected with its collection and hid-

* See: V. Kulakov, "Image of the Ammon on a Ladies' Fastener", Science in Russia, No. 3, 2008.–Ed.

Bracelet with a zigzag ornament: 1-general view; 2-bracelet in closed and open state; 3-design of ornament.

ing in the ground? Can it be connected in general with any person known to us from historic evidence?

ORIGIN: FACTS AND GUESSWORK

The treasure elements are connected with different areas of Europe. For example, the fibulas have a purely Scandinavian origin and pagan ornament. The miniature cross-shaped buckles (ear-rings?) are unique and have been manufactured, most probably, somewhere in Western Europe. The "Lithuanian type" grivnas, as follows from their name, are typical, first of all, of the material culture of population that inhabited territories of the present Lithuania. Such silver sticks were used as a payment means both in Scandinavia and Rus; they were cut to pieces according to notches on them and smelted into different jewelry. Bracelets, in their turn, were made with account of English traditions (link bracelets were known in England in the 11th-12th centuries), but had the Irish ornament. Grivnas and pieces of dirhem (a silver Arab coin used in Northern Europe in the epoch of vikings) in this treasure presuppose that either these grivnas made a luggage of the travelers plundered by some robbers, who collected this treasure, or they were added by pirates to a pile of silver articles together with female decorations, perceived by them as scrap silver. It seems that the latter version has a right to exist and this is why.

The point is that can clearly see a trace of a sword's blade or an axe on one of the bracelets, which once adorned a slim female hand. So, somebody tried to cut it to pieces for convenience of transportation or payment for some goods. However, the swift stream of events prevented rough hands, used to ropes and oars, to destroy the beautiful work of an unknown goldsmith. It looks as if everything, plundered by those fine fellows, who earned their living in shallow waters of the Curonian Bay and on adjacent roads, was quickly put into some packing (or bag?). But the fact that the treasure came down to our days, proves, in its turn, that the people, who had hidden it deep in the ground near the Bank fortifications of the Viking epoch (Schwedendamm, known from Prussian folk legends) or in the Garbik natural boundary, never returned for their treasure. Let's hope that their trial was not painful and lasted not long. But, unfortunely, we cannot know.

Meanwhile, the runic inscription, deciphered on the reverse side of a big disk-shaped fibula, shed light on the destiny of decorations from the treasure. A group of signs on its reverse side, which were determined and interpreted by Marina Travova (Kaliningrad), contains signs, which form an inscription, which can be identified in the following way: from left to right–k(g) h k(g) n e k(g); from right to left–k(g) e n k (g) h k(g).

This ancient inscription can be translated beforehand into the Russian language as "king". Seen above this inscription is a line of runes yet unreadable and indicating (probably) the name of some ruler. If we imagine the political map of Europe of that time, we will find out that the only European kingdom of the beginning of the 12th century spread from Ireland on the west to the borders of Rus on the east. It was the Kingdom of Denmark. Only its craftsmen could bring together norms of the Irish décor and traditions of the Scandinavian ornaments in their jewelry. But who was the king who ordered the ornaments included in the Crantz treasure and whom were they designed for? Let us try to figure out.

Article made of two soldered fibulas. Above-the face side, below-the reverse side.

The general view of the treasure from the vicinity of Crantz (today Zelenogradsk),

The written sources, first of all, the data of The Knütling Saga (written around 1260, it deals with Danish rulers from 950 to 1187), directly testify to an impending threat over North Sambia due to assaults of Curonian pirates (probably, it was they, who collected the above-mentioned treasure, buried near the present town of Zelenogradsk). In particular, the Sambian merchant Vitgaud (judging by his name he was a Scandinavian) carried out his business activities along the "Oriental Route", which connected Scandinavia with Rus and Oriental countries. When escaping from the Curonian sea robbers, he was compelled in a certain summer to turn his boat from the Curonian coast to Denmark, to the court of sea-king* Knut Lavard (1096-1131). Relying on good graces of the Danish sovereign, Vitgaud headed a wedding embassy to Novgorod** and tried to arrange a match between Ingebjorg, a daughter of prince Mstislav Vla-dimirovich and a granddaughter of Kievan prince Vladimir Monomakh, and Knut Lavard. According to the saga, his mission was successful, and their marriage took place in 1117. In 1131, the king Knut Lavard was treacherously killed and later on declared a saint.

Only in the manner of conjecture we can assert that in the early 12th century the robbers plundered the vessels, which carried wedding gifts of the Danish sovereign to Veliky Novgorod, not far from the Curonian Bay and the Baltic Sea. The "gift" character of this set of ornaments cannot be doubted as the grantor (a certain king) is indicated in a runic inscription. However, unfortunately, this gift of love did not reach the fair addressee. Nevertheless, the evil was punished and nobody touched the robbers' treasure prior to construction of the railway in 1892. It is unlikely that the matchmakers were frequent guests of the coasts of the Prussian land of Sambia early in the 12th century. It might be that the merchant Vitgaud, whose name has been preserved till our days in the Danish book The Knütling Saga, had a bearing on the treasure. If so, justice had nevertheless triumphed, and, despite the loss of one of the gifts, the dynastic marriage successfully took place.

* Sea-king is an ancient Scandinavian term originating from the pro-German "kuning-az" as "patriarch" (the Slavonic word "prince", being a German borrowing, is of the same origin). However, it can be also an original Slavonic word "конник аз" (?). Traditionally, a sea-king is a monarch possessing one or several ships, a detachment of warriors and an extensive land allotment. In some cases he had no possessions and led a strolling way of life on a ship. He and the like were called sea-kings. So far as Scandinavian monarchs of the mature Middle Ages are concerned, the term "Konung" is translated into Russian as "king".–Ed.

** See: V. Darkevich, "Veche Republic on the Volkhov River", Science in Russia, No, 5, 1998.–Ed.