Metal Bracelets from Akşehir Museum

According to Strabon, in ancient age, the city of Aksehir which was named “Philomelion” , was within the borders of Phrygia Paroreia (Strabon XII, 62, 190) region. In all of its history, Aksehir, has housed many civilizations and therefore has a long established and rich culture. The archeological materials obtained that belong to these subject cultures, tells about the social and technological status of the societies that lived here and provides importance evidence about their existence. For this reason, for the sake of better understanding the history of the region, examination of the artifacts within the Aksehir Museum collection and promotion of these to the scientific community via publishing has a great importance. Indeed, the purpose of this study is, by examining the metal brackets that are brought to the museum via various methods and which are considered as gift of jewelry/ornament, first of all, by making their dating, at least partially help the researches that are aimed at the cultural history of the town. In every period that the humanity has lived, he has fondly used gifts of jewelry like bracelets, earrings, necklaces, bangles etc. for various purposes. These ornaments are preferred sometimes for rituals and sometimes for earthly purposes. Having said that, in time, the object used, started to serve both of these purposes. In the beginning, the tradition of wearing ornaments has started with influence of concepts like talisman, magic and luck, and later, from time to time, in addition to these meanings, it is used for the purposes like tomb gift, a present for the gods, a sign of privilege, an indication of richness and for looking beautiful. Of the thirteen bracelets in solid form examined in our study and that are recorded in the museum inventory, eleven was made of bronze and two of them was made up of brass. In manufacturing of these bracelets, in general, casting technique was used and in working the details, engraving technique was used. The head sections of some the artifacts was made by forging. The bracelets that are subject of the study are examined under two groups according to their form and decoration. The forms identified within the group of artifact group are as follows: lockable bracelets with strap-belt section, bracelets, which have ends that connect, and open-ended bracelets with animal heads. Of these bracelets, nine units have patterns and their ring clip is open. The remaining four bracelets that are apart from these, does not have any patterns and ring clip is closed. The examinations conducted have revealed that, the bracelet collection of the Aksehir Museum contains examples from a wide time interval between Mid-iron age and Byzantium