LATE-HALLSTATT BRONZE THREE-BLADED PROPELLER-SHAPED DEVICES

Abstract

This paper is aimed at describing the original bronze objects of the Late Hallstatt Period found in the North Thracian area of Eastern Europe. These artefacts are most likely to be of local origin and to have been used as pommels for pins. However, a study of such devices with three blades suggested that they had been associated with a quiver and had been attached to the front of the arrow to intimidate the enemy and their horses. According to the conducted analysis, these devices were divided into two groups: the first included massive and earlierdated items (7–5 centuries B.C.), which the second – small and later-dated items (4–3 centuries B.C.). In general, the objects under study can be dated back to the period from the middle of the 4th to the middle of 3rd centuries BC.