Hollow rings of the Hallstatt period
Burial objects for married women
A small group of people has gathered at the grave of an old woman. In addition to her traditional costume adornments, she is buried with hollow rings made of bronze. The mourners hold torches in their hands. Their fire lights up the night, the flames are reflected in the shiny surface of the bronze rings. More than two thousand years later, archaeologists find these in the area of the grave where relatives placed them, at the hip of the deceased woman – and so offer us an insight into the bygone world of the Celts.
Hollow rings are found almost exclusively in Celtic women's graves, usually in pairs near the hip, and so it is in the Hallstatt graves of Traunkirchen. A distinctive feature is the rich decoration with circles and grooves. Traces of wear indicate their use in daily life – although reducing them to jewellery or traditional costume pieces may not go far enough.
The circle and its combinations and variations such as spirals and rings are deeply rooted in the mythology of the Celts. The circle in general and rings in particular appear in all areas of life in Celtic culture. Geometric circular symbols often refer to birth, life and death. And the hollow rings probably have a similar meaning. The circular shape itself can be traced back to the idea of beginning and end. It describes a perfect cycle of life, death and rebirth forever repeating itself.
The circle and its significance can also be found in the surviving buildings of the Celts. Just think of the stone circles that were erected throughout Europe from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages.
The technique of producing hollow rings is based on the lost wax process. In this process, a clay core is coated with a thin layer of wax and this in turn is covered with a clay mantle. After the wax has been melted out, liquid bronze is poured into the cavity and, after the metal has solidified, the clay mantle and core are removed. One can only speculate about the ornaments and decorations used, as the exact meaning and symbolism behind most Celtic symbols remain unclear.
Ring shapes vary in size, decoration and production, such as the torques, or spiralling open rings, often richly decorated at the ends. For the Celts, they were a sign of domination. A vivid example is the sculpture of the dying Gaul in the Capitoline Museums. The Romans also adopted the Celtic torques as military decoration. From the time of Julian the Apostate in mid-4th century, called the "apostate" because he fell away from the Christian faith, Roman emperors were crowned with a torque instead of a diadem.
