Pendant Cross

The small pendant cross has an intact vertical loop. This cross is identical to 2003.254 and was probably cast from the same mold. Incised circular decorations in each arm and at center of the cross are very faint but visible. The bottom of the cross has a small area that appears to have been broken—perhaps a casting flaw or flaw in the mold, as it is also seen on 2003.254. As with other Byzantine crosses, the ends of the horizontal arms are more curved than the vertical arms. The back is featureless. Comparable copper alloy pendant crosses are known from Byzantine contexts (1). Based on excavated examples, the crosses would have been worn as elements in necklaces, especially by women (2). NOTES: 1. S. D. Campbell, The Malcove Collection: A Catalogue of the Objects in the Lillian Malcove Collection of the University of Toronto (Toronto, 1985) 113, nos. 142-48; and E. A. Khairedinova, “Early Medieval Crosses from the South-Western Crimea,” in Byzantine Small Finds in Archaeological Contexts, eds. B. Böhlendorf-Arslan and A. Ricci, BYZAS 15 (Istanbul, 2012) 417-440, esp. 426-27, type 3, fig. 2.23 and 26. 2. Khairedinova 2012 (supra 1) 431-38. Lisa M. Anderson