Byzantine golden crosses of early medieval time from Kerch
Among the few Kerch fi nds of individual items of the Christian cult of the early medieval time, gold pate-sized crosses (Figures 1, 1, 2, 1), which relate to the objects of Byzantine jewelry art, deserve special attention. One of them, made in the form of a box with straight expanding ends (Figures 1, 1) belongs to a group of mass products by which Byzantium supplied its oecumene in the 6th - first half of the 7th centuries. The second cross, with its figured ends with an incised vegetative ornament (Figures 2, 1), was most likely made to order by the Constantinople jeweler in the 7th century. Both crosses belonged to noble Bosporan women, who wore them on their necks in necklaces, along with beads and other ornaments. Findings of this kind testify to the unity of culture in the Christian world and are clear evidence of the close economic and cultural ties of the region with the Byzantine Empire in the era of the early Middle Ages.