This article deals with 29 Early Medieval finger-rings found, mostly in cemeteries, in Moravia (Czech Republic). They are made of gold, silver, gilded silver or gilded bronze. Each finger-ring consists of two parts – hoop and bezel – made of sheet metal and soldered together, and decorated with granulation, filigree, inlays of glass or semi-precious stones; only two finger-rings are cast as one piece. The finger-rings are classified into 8 types (A to H), some with subtypes. The author outlines the current state of chronology of Early Medieval jewellery in Moravia and discusses the dating of finger-rings: most of the precisely-datable pieces fall into the older period of the Great Moravian Empire, i.e. the first half of the 9th century. The main concern of the study is the question of the origin of Moravian finger-rings. The author sketches the current state of research of Early Medieval finger-rings in Central and South-eastern Europe (ca. 6th–12th century) and searches for parallels in the Moravian types. In Moravian material, he tries to identify structural and decorative elements that could distinguish imported pieces, their imitations and local products. However, in large measure the sorting of Moravian finger-rings into these three groups remains hypothetical. On the whole, it is evident that the finger-rings found in Moravian cemeteries are based on Mediterranean models. Probably the first specimens (or their immediate producers) came to Moravia in the 8th century, from Byzantine cities on the Adriatic coast, and local production of similar finger-rings in Moravian workshops followed soon afterwards.
Práce se snaží přispět k odstranění diskrepance mezi datováním mužských a ženských hrobů na velkomoravských pohřebištích, její příčinou je mj. pozdní datování veligradského šperku. Zabývá se několika stratigraficky nízko uloženými hroby ze Starého Města Na valách, které obsahují vyspělý veligradský šperk. Některé jeho typy vykazují podobnost se šperkem známým z pozdně avarského prostředí, což ukazuje, že veligradský šperk existoval již od počátku velkomoravského období a zřejmě ještě dříve. Vedle Starého Města lze i na některých venkovských pohřebištích (Dolní Věstonice, Prušánky) vyčlenit skupinu ozdob, které tvoří náplň tzv. předköttlašského horizontu, známého z pohřebišť typu Sopronkőhida-Pitten-Pottenbrunn a datovatelného do 4. čtvrtiny 8. století. Sledováním výskytu ozdob typických pro tento horizont lze na raně středověkých pohřebištích na Moravě a jihozápadním Slovensku vyčlenit ženské hroby, které byly uloženy v průběhu staršího velkomoravského období. and On the female jewellery of the Early Great Moravian period. This article aims to contribute to removing the discrepancy between the dating of male and female graves from Great Moravian cemeteries, amongst the causes of which is the late dating of the Veligrad jewellery set. It considers several, stratigraphically low-lying graves from Staré Město – Na valách that contain mature Veligrad jewellery; several of the types display similarities to jewellery known from the Late Avar milieu, which indicates that Veligrad jewellery existed at the beginning of the Great Moravian period and apparently even earlier. It is not only to Staré Město but also to several rural cemeteries (Dolní Věstonice, Prušánky) that the group of decorations comprising the fill of the “pre-Köttlach“ horizon, known from cemeteries of the Sopronkőhida-Pitten-Pottenbrunn type and dated to the last quarter of the 8th century, can be assigned. By following the appearance of decorations typical of this horizon it is possible for Early Medieval cemeteries in Moravia and South- West Slovakia to distinguish female burials interred during the Early Great Moravian period.