Metal Appliques in Bronze Age Europe – Searching for the Meaning Behind Tacks, Buckles and Lamellas

Metallic dcor is found in many different regions and has sparked a lot of interest, in particular regarding technological questions. Although much has been written about pottery with metal applications, the different techniques and ways of ornamentation in europe have never been related to each other. Besides, the origin of the custom and potential motivations behind it is barely discussed. The same is true about the relations between distant areas with metal-decorated pottery. This paper discusses the distribution and meaning of different types of metal decoration on ceramic and wooden vessels, with special regard to the 'rivet-like' dcor made of round bronze metal sheets. The finds enable us at least to reconstruct certain aspects of this custom. technical and stylistic analyses point once more to wide-ranging connections between northern europe and the carpathian Basin. it seems that the origin of the metal application might lay in northern europe.