| Description |
The study is a continuation of earlier studies on assemblages of jewellery, devotions and clothing accessories which were recovered during the archaeological excavation of a defunct cemetery near the former church in Šporkova Street in Prague-Lesser Town which was in use from the mid-17th century until 1784. Sixty-five buttons and their parts were found. Twenty-seven formed parts of grave complexes, the rest were found in secondary positions. Nine hundred and five buried individuals were examined but only 20 of them had buttons on their bodies. They mainly came from male graves. A large number of the analyzed buttons correspond to objects described by Diderot in 1772, both technologically and from the viewpoint of their formal appearance and materials used in their production. These were metal buttons with pressed wood or possibly bone inlays (nos. 15b, 15c, 24, 85, 176, 184), metal buttons which were first pressed and subsequently soldered (nos. 64, 83, 129b, 130, 133a, 149, 191, 235c, 237, 467, 1087, 1092a, 1092b, 1092c, 1097a, 1097b, 1097c and 1133), bone and antler buttons turned on the lathe, both flat buttons (nos. 167, 605) and cufflinks (nos. 140b, 150, 294, 367, 433, 568), but also fabric covered buttons (no. 15d) and braided buttons (no. 123d). Diderot's book classifies the production of a large part of the described buttons as dating from the second half of the 18th century. Also, the majority of the discovered buttons documented in grave contexts were similarly dated to the 18th century by chronologically more sensitive grave goods as well as by a comparison of mutual stratigraphic relationships between the grave complexes. Written sources inform us about the fact that Prague burghers were usually not buried in their everyday clothes but in special clothes whose existence is also confirmed by the low percentage of archaeologically documented button finds among their grave goods.
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