Previously Unknown Pagan Cult Symbol Unearthed in Central Europe

Archaeologists discover a bronze belt buckle depicting a serpent-like creature eating a frog, suggesting the existence of a widespread pagan cult in the early Middle Ages.

• Archaeologists have discovered a bronze belt buckle depicting a serpent-like creature, possibly a dragon, eating a frog, which they believe may be a symbol of a previously unknown pagan cult that was once spread across central Europe.
• The artifact was found near the village of Lány, about 20 miles west of Prague, and was initially thought to be unique, but similar artifacts have been unearthed in Germany, Hungary and elsewhere in the Czech Republic.
• The symbol of a dragon or serpent in conflict is a common motif in many creation myths worldwide, but the image of the snake and the frog could also be linked to fertility cults from central Europe.
• The artifact appears to belong to a group called the Avar belt fittings, which were produced in Central Europe around the seventh and eighth centuries BCE, and were part of the costumes worn by the once-nomadic Avars, who eventually settled in the Carpathian Basin, in modern Hungary.
• Technological analysis revealed that most of the bronze fittings were once heavily gilded and were produced using a lost-wax casting method, and chemical analysis of the lead isotopes contained in the bronze alloy allowed the team to isolate a common source of copper from which the fittings were made, which came from a mine in the Slovak Ore Mountains.

3 Articles

IFLScience The Daily Caller Live Science