The dating of ancient jewellery is given by the archaeological context. Technology applied by the ancient goldsmith is traceable through archaeometallurgy. The aim of this research is to analyse historical jewellery and to construct copies based on the known technology of the era. Resultant laboratory constructions with their historical correctness and the new knowledge of jewellery structures will then be available for reworking to convey a contemporary visual relevance and a statement of history. The results of these analyses and reconstructions will form the basis of metalwork objects in which contemporary aesthetics are informed by historical practice. Jewellery offers a view into history, of cultural descriptions of stylistic, chemical and methodological correctness. For diagnostic purposes there is the expectation of an archaeological correctness within the fabric and manufacture of the jewellery object. From the vantage point of a contemporary goldsmith, t his has provided me with an arena for artistic interpretation-for 'play'. Historical jewellery becomes contemporary jewellery forms and the 'play' functions as a stumbling block and an upheaval within orthodox classification of authenticity. There is in this disturbance an intervention with coontemporary ephemeral materials into the jewellery artefact in which I manufacture a semblance of an identified 'correctness'. Jewellery remains in a better state of preservation when hidden or concealed-not exposed. The jewellery object once surfaced, discovered, excavated or plundered or even worn becomes part of our time for reworking. Knowledge and applications of technology become the vehicle for scrutinizing these objects. We live in an era where the ancient and the recent, the authentic and the bogus, have begun to mingle and interbreed in the corridors of hyperspace. Television stages Xena the Warrior Princess encountering the young Buddha in the entourage of King Arthur. Fakes with historical associations can s ometimes be considered authentic as a shroud of 'history' can encompass the object to the satisfaction of the naive connoisseur who wants to believe, wants to believe, wants to believe, wants to believe ... . Jewellery as document is available for interpretation-for'play'. There is potential to return to an imaginary history where ffictional detail has been confused with historic fact and this can be both intentional and unintentional. Jewellery of the past therefore exists in the present and the jewellery artefact becomes available for evaluation and for 'play'. In the analysing and categorizing of type, jewellery as vehicle conveying the past can become a mixture of one's own inventions and cultural inheritance. From the vantage point of a goldsmith, I am considering how formulated heritage is available for reference, questioning and modification. The option to copy, to replicate, or to modify the historic document jewellery is a possibility and new input can verify authenticity or engender falsehood throu gh the artistic reinterpretation.

Central Asia, crossroads of ancient trade routes known as the Silk Road, absorbed for centuries the pulses of travelling cultural influences and created an environment for the existence of original artistic expression, which can be seen in jewellery making as well. The dissertation thesis deals with analysis of the findings from excavation units and individual pieces of jewellery, in most cases made of gold, which were often largely inspired by the culture of the ancient Mediterranean. The historical - geographic perspective of the work is focused primarily on territory of ancient Bactria and Gandhara - southern part of the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, then northern and eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. These areas were in the past centers of military activities and political formations, followed up in many aspects on the Mediterranean traditions. These political formations contributed distinctly to the dissemination and preservation of some elements of ancient cultural heritage in Central Asian architecture, sculpture and other fine arts and crafts. Most jewelry findings come from a fairly turbulent period of the 1st century AD, when the territory of Central Asia saw the progressive formation of Kushan Empire. The main part of the thesis consists of summary of the...