This season's most beautiful find at Pusty Castle is of French origin.

Archaeological research at Pusty (Deserted) Castle has been ongoing for 32 years. Every year brings new findings and surprises. As well as the joy of valuable archaeological finds. The most beautiful this season is a complete women's ring made of brass.

In recent years, they have also found other rare testimonies of life on the highest hill above Zvolen, central Slovakia.

An extraordinary find

"It's an extraordinary find, because they are rarely preserved in their entirety," says Jan Beljak, head of archaeological research, about the ring.

The ring dates from the beginning of the 14th century. It is an import from French-speaking lands. The luxury jewelry, which was not produced in Hungary at that time, is decorated with crosses on three sides.

On the fourth facet there is a symbolic stylized hand. The crosses are in shields filled with blue enamel.

"We assume that it could have belonged to some noblewoman. Maybe to the wife of the noble man or one of his daughters at the beginning of the 14th century," explains Beljak.

At that time, the Zvolen noblemen from the BalaA! family lived in the castle, first Demeter, then his nephew Donc.

A lot of rare finds have already been found at Pusty Castle. "For example, a treasure from the Bronze Age and various jewelry from the High Middle Ages," says the archaeologist.

"I always look forward to mediaeval coins, because they have beautiful iconography and at the same time help us to accurately date the locations where they were found, but I still consider the most valuable set of woods from the castle cistern, discovered in 2015. Thanks to the age of the rings, we can accurately date the creation of the cistern to the period after 1294 ", he explains.

"At the same time, they show us the skill of mediaeval masters. In addition to wood arising from technical construction, we also discovered unique wooden buckets and training swords from that time," he adds.

Tower two

The work at Pusty Castle is not only about digging in the ground and looking for the remains of what was hidden for centuries and the...