Fascinácia špirálou. Depot medených ozdobných predmetov zo staršieho eneolitu z Hrádku, okr. Nové Mesto nad Váhom / The fascination of spirals. An Early Eneolithic hoard of decorative copper artefacts near Hrádok, West Slovakia

An assemblage of few early Eneolithic hoard finds has been supplemented in 2009 by copper artefacts coming from a hoard discovered at Hrádok (Nové Mesto nad Váhom district), located in north-western Slovakia. The collection from Hrádok consists mostly of copper-wire jewellery. The presented study describes the results of typological and chronological analyses of spiral-shaped copper jewellery so far unknown in the region of Central Europe. The authors discuss the function of the artefacts, as well as their relation to the copper-wire industries of the type Malé Leváre, its variant Stollhof, and the type Hlinsko. Selected artefacts from the hoard from Hrádok were subjected to element (ICP-MS/ICP-OES) and isotope analyses. The results reveal additional information about the provenance and the type of copper present in hoard assemblages from the north-western part of the Carpathian Basin, dated to the end of the 5th Millennium BC. Contacts between the epilengyel Ludanice and Jordanów cultures are also discussed.