April 2020

Pyramid-shaped stone mould for jewellery

Pyramid-shaped stone mould for jewellery. © Ministry of Culture and Sports - AMTh

The mould with inventory number ΤΣ 1081 is made of whitish limestone and measures 5.3 x 4.9 x 3.4 cm.

It stands out for its pyramidal shape and the variety of carved patterns on five of its seven surfaces intended for the manufacture of cast jewellery.

The casting would take place through pouring funnels carved on its three surfaces. The absence of funnels on a fourth surface indicates that the metal could be casted directly in the curved pattern, while on the fifth surface is survived an attempt to engrave a pattern. Other grooves were intended as sockets of a shaft for the formation of a suspension hole.

The jewellery that could be manufactured using the mould are: a spectacle fibula, a double axe pendant, a pendant or earring in the shape of a disk with three pendent stems, two other disc-shaped objects, possibly pendants too, and a decorative element.
The mould is a chance find in Methone of Pieria Prefecture. It is dated to the later 8th or in 7th c. BC.

The mould is on display in the permanent exhibition "Macedonia from the 7th century BC until Late Antiquity".