"Археологические Вести", СПб., 2002. Выпуск 9. Аннотация

НОВЫЕ ОТКРЫТИЯ И ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ

Н. К. Анисюткин. Проблема мустьерских жилищ с использованием многочисленных костей мамонта

Статья посвящена важной проблеме – жилым конструкциям с многочисленными костями мамонта, выявленными в единственном регионе Старого Света, который расположен на Юго-Западе Русской равнины, в долинах Днестра и Прута. Анализируются все известные до сих пор объекты, включая раскопанные автором (мустьерская стоянка Кетросы) в Среднем Приднестровье в 1974–1979 гг.

Рассмотренные и проанализированные материалы 4 стоянок (Молодова 1 и 5, Кетросы, Рипичени-Извор), на которых обнаружены остатки нескольких сооружений с использованием многочисленных костей мамонта и крупных камней, позволили сделать ряд существенных выводов. Основные из них следующие: 1) все данные жилые конструкции существовали в течение летне-осеннего сезона, среди них нет долговременных и сложно организованных жилищ; 2) большинство следует рассматривать в качестве типичных ветровых заслонов, приспособленных к суровым условиям приледниковой Европы; 3) вопреки распространенному мнению, большинство имеющихся костей мамонта не являются продуктом охоты, а собраны на речных отмелях; 4) отсутствие подобных стоянок мустьерского времени на территории Евразии подчеркивает уникальность данного явления (учитывая специальный отбор крупных костей и бивней мамонта для строительства жилищ при обилии подходящего для этой цели камня). Возможно это был культурный выбор, указывающий на особую роль данного гигантского животного в жизни мустьерских людей этого региона Европы.

N. K. Anisyutkin. The Problem of Mousterian Dwellings with Large Amounts of Mammoth Bones

This article is dedicated to an important problem of dwelling structures containing numerous bones of mammoth. Such dwellings have been discovered only in a single region of the Old World, which is situated in the South-West of the Russian Plain – the Dniester and Bug valleys. We present here an analysis of all the sites now known, including those excavated by the author in 1974–1979 in the middle Dniester region (the Mousterian site of Ketrosy).

On the basis of materials from the four sites discussed (Molodova 1 and 5, Ketrosy, Ripicheni-Izvor), where remains of structures built with the use of mammoth bones and large stones have been discovered, we arrived at a number of important conclusions, of which the major are: 1) all the dwellings under discussion were occupied during a summer-autumn season and did not include any dwellings of duration or of a complicated construction; 2) most of the structures should be considered as typical wind shelters adapted for the rough conditions of near-glacial Europe; 3) contrary to a widespread opinion, most of the mammoth bones found were not products of hunting, but had been gathered in river shoals; 4) the absence of similar Mousterian sites elsewhere in Eurasia stresses the unique character of this phenomenon (the special choice of large mammoth bones and tusks for construction of the dwellings, keeping in mind the abundance of stones fit for the same purpose). This choice was possibly a cultural one, indicative of a special role of this large mammal in the life of Mousterian people in the region of Europe discussed.

Г. В. Григорьева. Исследования верхнепалеолитического населения Юдиново в 2000 г.

Продолжено изучение Юдинова – одного из крупных поселений охотников на мамонтов в Поднепровье.

Вскрыта площадь 17,50 кв.м. Культурный слой залегает на глубине 2–2,5 м в лессовидной супеси и связан с зольно-углистой прослойкой. В западной и центральной частях раскопа не обнаружено никаких скоплений. В восточной части на квадратах Е, Ж (53) и частично Е, Ж, З (54) собрано много костей песца. Преобладают кости конечностей, хотя имеются ребра, позвонки, челюсти, лопатки, тазовые. Возможно, на этом участке производили обработку шкур и тушек песцов. Наличие костей песцов и других хищников свидетельствует о развитии пушного промысла на поселении.

Собрана коллекция каменных изделий (рис. 3–5). Основными группами орудий являлись резцы, скребки, ретушированные пластинки. Комбинированные орудия, скребки-резцы и острия единичны.

Разнообразны костяные поделки, представленные готовыми изделиями и заготовками (рис. 6). Среди орудий: фрагменты стержней и наконечников, шилья, иглы, землекопные орудия из ребер (рис. 7). Найдены украшения: бусы-нашивки, подвески, фрагменты пластинок бивня с заглаженной лицевой поверхностью, возможно, браслеты или диадемы (рис. 8). Обнаружены пластины и обломки ребер с прорезанными линиями (рис. 8: 25, 26). Интересны обломок ребра с ромбовидным орнаментом (рис.9: 2) и небольшой фрагмент черепа с резьбой (рис. 8: 24).

Кроме раскопок, произведены очистка и консервация остатков жилищ из костей мамонтов внутри музейного павильона.

Юдиново – памятник с богатой материальной культурой, где огромное значение имела обработка бивней, из которых изготовлена основная масса костяных изделий.

G. V. Grigoryeva. Studies of the Upper Palaeolithic Site of Yudinovo in 2000

Investigation of Yudinovo (one of the largest sites of mammoth hunters in the Dnieper region) was continued. Excavated was an area of 17.50 sq. m. The cultural layer lies at a depth of 2–2.5 m as an ash/charcoal intercalation in loess-like sandy clay. In the western and central parts of the excavated area no accumulations have been found. From squares е, ж (53) and partly е, ж, з (54) in the eastern part, numerous bones of polar fox have been collected. Predominant are limb bones, though also ribs, vertebra, mandibles, scapulae and pelvic bones have been found. Presumably, this area served for cutting and skinning polar foxes. The presence of bones of polar foxes and other beasts of prey suggests a high degree of fur-hunting at the site.

A collection of stone artefacts has been gathered (fig. 3–5). The main types of tools included burins, scrapers, retouched blades. Combinated tools such as burins-scrapers and points were rare.

Quite various were bone objects which included both complete artefacts and blanks (fig. 6). Among tools there were fragmentary wands and points, awls, needles, and digging implements made of ribs (fig. 7). Adornments also have been found: clothing beads, pendants, fragmentary tusk plates with smoothed face surface — possibly bracelets or diadems (fig. 8). Also plates and rib fragments with carved lines have been uncovered (fig. 8: 25, 26). Of note are a fragment of rib with a rhomboid pattern (fig. 9: 2) and a small fragment of skull with carving (fig. 8: 24).

In addition to excavations, cleaning and conservation of remains of dwellings made of mammoth bones have been carried out in the museum hall.

Yudinovo is a site of a rich material culture in which working of tusks was of enormous significance as source of the most of bone artefacts.

А. Е. Матюхин. Михайловская балка – новый палеолитический памятник в устье Северского Донца (предварительное сообщение)

Статья излагает результаты предварительного исследования недавно открытого памятника Михайловская балка, расположенного в долине Северского Донца на территории Константиновского района Ростовской области. Стоянка связана с вершиной склона балки Михайловской. Культурный слой залегает на глубине около 1 м от поверхности в беловатом суглинке. Он состоит из кремневых и кварцитовых изделий, а также костей животных. Всего в ходе раскопок обнаружено 396 изделий. Среди них присутствуют нуклеусы (рис. 3: 11, 15, 17; 4: 5, 10, 13), отщепы (рис. 3: 14; 4: 2, 9), пластины и пластинки и микропластинки (рис. 3: 2–8; 4: 2–8, 12, 14), а также орудия, которые представлены скребками (рис. 3: 9, 12–13, 16; 4: 9, 12–13, 16), резцами (рис. 3: 10; 4: 1, 6), нуклевидными орудиями (рис. 4: 7), клювовидными орудиями (рис. 3: 1) и выемчатыми орудиями. Памятник является поселением позднего палеолита. С типологической точки зрения его индустрия близка к материалам стоянки Золотовка 1. Не исключено, что стоянки Михайловская балка и Золотовка 1 оставлены одной и той же группой палеолитических людей.

A. E. Matyukhin. Mikhailovskaya Balka – a New Palaeolithic Site

The current paper presents the results of preliminary investigations of the recently discovered Mikhailovskaya Balka site situated in Konstantinovsk District of Rostov Region in the basin of the Severski Donets (fig. 1). The site is associated with the top of the slope of the Mikhailovskaya ravine. The cultural layer lies in whitish loam at the depth of 1 m beneath the modern surface (fig. 2: IV). It contains flint and quartzite artefacts as well as faunal remains (fig. 2: I-III). In the course of excavations, altogether 396 artefacts have been found. Among these there are cores (fig. 3: 11, 15, 17; 4: 5, 10, 13), flakes (fig. 3: 14; 4: 2, 9), blades, bladelets and microblades (fig. 3: 2–8; 4: 2–8, 12, 14), as well as tools presented by scrapers (fig. 3: 9, 12–13, 16; 4: 9, 12–13, 16), burins (fig. 3: 10; 4: 1, 6), nucleiform tools (fig. 4: 7), beakform tools (fig. 3: 1) and notched tools. The site is a settlement of the Upper Palaeolithic. Typologically the assemblage of the site is similar to the inventory of Zolotovka 1. The sites of Mikhailovskaya Balka and Zolotovka 1 might have been founded by the same group of Palaeolithic people.

А. Ю. Тарасов, А. И. Мурашкин. Новые материалы с поселения Залавруга I и проблема датировки петроглифов Новой Залавруги

A. Yu. Tarasov, A. I. Murashkin. The new material from the site Zalavruga I
and the problem of dating New Zalavruga`s rock carvings

The 1997 excavation of Zalavruga 1 site provided new data for adjusting the dating of New Zalavruga petroglyphs. An exiguous excavated area of the highest part of the site yielded fragments of three types of ceramics: rhombic-pit, asbestos and porous ones. All types date back to the Eneolithic period, but rhombic-pit ceramics can be traced to the beginning of the III millennium BC, asbestos and porous types can be dated from the middle or the second half of the III millennium BC.

The fragments of rhombic-pit ceramics originating from the adjoining 1964–1969 excavation areas were rolled. The concomitant ceramics from the newly excavated area had no traces of water action, and the broken vessel was excavated.

All these facts give a sufficient reason to consider this part of the site to be divided in two cultural layers. The lower one is associated with rhombic-pit ceramics and with the rock carvings of New Zalavruga. The upper layer corresponds to the culture of asbestos and porous ceramics of the middle to the second half of the III millennium BC. It was formed after the regression of the river Vyg, when alluvial sands buried rock carvings.

А. К. Каспаров. Скелет лошади из захоронения на некрополя Нимфея

В статье описывается скелет лошади, найденный на некрополе Нимфея в 1999 году. Погребение лошади ориентировочно датируется серединой V в. до н.э. Индивидуальный возраст животного составлял примерно 4–4,5 года. Таким образом эта лошадь гораздо моложе, чем это обычно бывает, когда животное используют не как поминальную пищу, а погребают вместе с хозяином. Высота ее в холке была примерно 138–140 см. Таким образом наша находка, уступая по размерам лошадям, специально похороненным в курганах знатных скифских воинов, является средней по размерам для этой породной популяции и принадлежит к средней размерной группе хотя и несколько крупнее, чем средняя скифская лошадь лесостепной полосы. Индекс тонконогости пясти у нашей находки составляет 15,7%. По классификации А. А. Браунера она относится к средненогим лошадям. Сравнение пропорций костей задних конечностей так же показало почти полную идентичность нашей находки обычным средним пропорциям скифских лошадей.

Особенностью найденного животного, как особи, похороненной в индивидуальной могиле с ритуальными целями, является ее относительная молодость и не очень большая величина по сравнению с лошадьми обычно погребаемыми вместе с всадниками в курганах. Предполагается, что обряд погребения в этом случае был достаточно скромным. Лошадь была вполне стандартной, обычной для скифских табунов. Лошадей подобного типа, возраста и размера на похоронах знати как правило употребляли в пищу, а в могилы клали более рослых и старых животных, вероятно долго прослуживших знатному всаднику.

A. K. Kasparo.v Horse Skeleton from a Burial at the Nymphaion Necropolis

This article describes a horse skeleton uncovered at the Nymphaion necropolis in 1999. This horse burial is dated presumably to the middle of the 5^th century B.C. The animal was about 4–4.5 years of age. Thus it was considerably younger than those horses which were buried together with their master rather than used as funeral repast. Its withers height was 138–140 cm. Hence, our find, yielding in its size to the horses specially buried in the barrows of noble Scythian warriors, is of a size average for this breed, though it is slightly larger than an average Scythian horse at the forest-steppe zone. The index of slim-leggedness of the metacarpus for our find is 15,7%. According to A. A. Brauner’s classification it is a medium slim-legged horse. A comparison of ratios of hind limb bones also showed that they were almost identical to the common average ratios of Scythian horses.

A peculiarity of the animal found, as one buried in an individual grave with ritual purposes, is its relative youth and rather small size as compared with the horses usually buried in barrows together with their riders. The funeral rite, presumably, was fairly modest. The horse was a quite standard one, common in Scythian herds. As a rule, horses of a similar type, age and size were used as food at funerals of nobility, while buried in the graves were taller and older animals, which evidently had served their noble rider for a long time.

А. Я. Щетенко. Археологические комплексы эпохи поздней бронзы Южного Туркменистана (по материалам Намазга-депе)

A. Ya. Shchetenko. Archaeological Complexes of the Late Bronze Age of Southern Turkmenistan (based on materials from Namazga-Depe)

A stratigraphical methods of R. Pumpelly and H. Schmidt (Pumpelly 1908) and idea of D.E. Mc Cown’s comparative archaeology (McCown 1942) were put down in the basis of an archaeological periodization of cultures South Turkmenistan, and later and all Central Asia, developed by B.A. Kuftin (Куфтин 1954, 1956) and entered in a science by V. M. Masson (Массон 1956, 1959).

Based on materials from five test excavations of the settlement Namazga-depe (Namazga) B.A. Kuftin has offered, instead of the scheme R. Pumpelly-H. Schmidt, new scale in which complex of Anau III he has divided into three: Namazga (NMZ) IV, V, VI, received name of cultures.

Namazga is situated 105 km to the east of hills Anau and 117 km of Ashkhabad and 6 km to the south-west of the Central-Asian Railroad station of Kaakhka (fig. 1).

This huge (46 ha) prolated with north on the south hill in the plan of the form of sub-triangle slightly (рис. 2: II). In northern part there is a high hill (8 м) – “vyshka” (watch-tower), where there are the layers of Late Bronze Age (LBA) – culture NMZ VI, dated the 2 half of the 2 thousand BC, were revealed (fig. 2: IV–V).

In the given article the new materials with “vyshka” are published which allow to interpreter on the more broad basis (architecture, item from a stone and metal, burials) B. A. Kuftin’s complexes as the archaeological rests of cultures the LBA and Early Iron Age, have cultural – historical connection with agricultural civilisations and steppe tribes of adjacent regions. “The Culture NMZ VI” is treated as series phases of development two archaeological cultures pre-emptive epoch of desolation of life on a settlement (fig. 2: IV–V). The materials of the settlement the LBA Tekkem-depe (Tekkem) located 2 km to the south of Namazga (fig. 1), supplement the data “vyshka”. It allows, as a whole, to correct the top part of B.A. Kuftin’s scheme, as such amendments are already offered (Kohl 1984; Щетенко 2000).

So the cultural layers of “vyshka” hide the rests on an extreme measure three archaeological complexes, demonstrating significant difference in material culture. If the transient period Vyshka II (fig. 2: II – hatched walls) has given only remains of walls, an early complex Vyshka I_1-3 (fig. 2: II – black walls) and late complex Vyshka III_1-4 (fig. 2: II – white walls) are characterised in essence different layout and architectural schemes. First period is shown by a part of the multiroom building (on a low platform) regular layout three times repeated at reorganisations. Second period demonstrates the scheme consisting from separate households (a separate living rooms with economic additions) divided by communication lines – streets, lanes and docks.

The material culture these complexes also demonstrates certain differences: in a dominance of that or other type of ceramics, forms of vessels, items from a stone and metal (fig. 3, 4, 5). The contacts with cattle-breeders’ tribes of steppe bronze of Alakul-Fedorovo type begin with period Vyshka II changed on final phases of existence of a settlement the stay or often visits of the tribes of Sargarino-Alekseevskaya of circle.

As a whole, the period NMZ VI takes the much greater interval of time than it was represented earlier: not less than 700 years, as a series of radiocarbon definitions (Долуханов, Този, Щетенко 1985: 122) and eight building periods eight-meter “vyshka” Namazga testifies. On Tekkem these layers reach 11 m. Important the detection of time gaps in cultural stratification of both monuments is also. All this definitely make more old the early complexes NMZ VI also pulls together thus chronological schemes of Russian and Western archaeologists. The absolute dates for chosen archaeological complexes demand special research.

Ю. А. Заднепровский (†), В. Н. Васильев, Ю. А. Морозов. Новые материалы по эпохе бронзы юго-восточного Башкортостана

В 1995–1996 гг. Сарматским археологическим отрядом ИИЯЛ УНЦ РАН под руководством авторов настоящей статьи проводились исследования ранее известных курганных могильников, расположенных в Башкирском Зауралье. Эти работы носили преимущественно охранный характер, так как раскопкам подвергались курганы, разрушаемые пашней. Среди разнообразного и интересного материала, имеющего широкий хронологический диапазон, было исследовано несколько курганов эпохи бронзы. В задачу настоящей работы входит введение их в научный оборот.

Ju.A. Zadneprovsky (†), W.N. Wasiliew, Ju.A. Morozow. New materials on the Bronze age in the South -Eastern Boshkortostan

During the years 1995-1996 excavations of unknown earlier burial hills situated in Bashkirian Zaural’e were conducted by the Sarmatian archaeological expedition of IIYL UNC RAS (by the supervising of authors of this article). These works were mainly safing, because these burials were under danger of destruction. Among materials which has very wide chronological range, some burial hills of the Bronze age were investigated archaeologically. The main purpose of the present article is the publication of burial hills, excavated near village Woskresenka (Zilair distr., Republic Bashkortostan) and in vicinity of town Sibai. Both complexes belong mainly to the Petrovsko-alakul’ times and could be dated in XVI–XIV cc. BC. Materials originated from these burial complexes have a large significant for the study of development of Andron’ cultural-historical community. The materials from the earliest group of Woskresensky’ burials are important, because the Petrov’ and Abashevo’ complexes in it could be traced. In the ceramics of Sibai burial hill the complex of Alakul of latest stages (when the Alakul’ pottery has some characters of Petrovka) could be discerned, that’s why this complex is very interesting. In the present state of the research the main problem to be solved, is the intensification of works in regions, in clarification of local peculiarities of co-existing cultures of the Bronze age of the region.

Г. А. Романова, Н. Н. Скакун. Исследование верхнего горизонта поселения Нагорное II в Подунавье

Многослойное поселение Нагорное II расположено на восточном берегу озера Кагул в Нижнем Подунавье у с. Нагорное Ренийского района Одесской области Украины. Со времени открытия поселения в 1964 г. и до начала спасательных археологических работ Причерноморского энеолитического отряда под руководством Н.Н. Скакун в 1983 г., территория поселения неоднократно обследовалась. Наиболее исследована северная часть, где в разные годы были раскопаны участки с остатками энеолитической культуры Гумельница и черняховской культуры. В археологической литературе поселение было охарактеризовано как двухслойное – нижний горизонт эпохи энеолита и верхний горизонт позднего периода черняховской культуры.

Раскопки Причерноморского энеолитического отряда уточнили стратиграфические особенности верхнего горизонта поселения. Наиболее ранние находки и часть хозяйственных ям верхнего горизонта на поселении датируются концом IV–III вв. до н.э. – периодом раннего эллинизма. Они безусловно составляют тему специального исследования.

Еще один хронологический период верхнего горизонта представлен находками из культурного слоя и ямой 3 и датируются концом II – первой половиной III вв. н.э.

Основная часть строительных остатков верхнего горизонта относится к IV в. н.э. Полуземляночная постройка по датирующим находкам может относиться к рубежу III– IV вв. н.э. Остатки наземных построек и часть хозяйственных ям принадлежат к позднему этапу черняховской культуры в Подунавье – второй половине IV в. н.э.

Обнаруженный к востоку от поселения могильник содержит погребения по обрядам трупосожжения и трупоположения. Отсутствие в инвентаре погребений четких датирующих находок, позволяет лишь синхронизировать найденные погребения с последней фазой существования поселения в IV в. н.э.

Работы Причерноморского энеолитического отряда выявили разнородность культурных напластований верхнего горизонта поселения Нагорное II. Уникальность памятника составляет наличие синхронного могильника и более ранние культурные напластования эпохи эллинизма и конца II – начала III вв. н.э.

G. A. Romanova, N. N. Skakun. Studies of the Upper Horizon of the Settlement of Nagornoe II in the Danube Region

The multi-layered site of Nagornoe II is situated on the eastern bank of Lake Kagul in the Lower Danube region, near v. Nagornoe of the Reniysky region of the Odessa Oblast, Ukraine. Since the discovery of the site in 1964 and until the saving archaeological works of the Prichernomorsky Aeneolithic detachment, headed by N. N. Skakun, started in 1983, the area of the site had been investigated several times. The best studied is northern part of the site where areas with remains of the Aeneolithic culture of Gumelnitsa and Chernyakhovskaya culture were excavated in the various years. The settlement is characterised in archaeological literature as a two-layered one, the lower horizon being dated to the Aeneolithic epoch and the upper horizon is assigned to the later period of the Chernyakhovskaya culture.

Excavations carried out by the Prichernomorsky Aeneolithic Detachment yielded a more precise information on the stratigraphic peculiarities of the upper horizon at the settlement. The earliest finds and some of the household pits in the upper horizon are dated to the 4^th–3^rd centuries B.C., – i.e. to the early Hellenistic period. These, certainly, should be the topic of a special study.

Another chronological period of the upper horizon is represented by finds from the cultural layer and Pit 3 which are dated to the 2^nd and first half of the 3^rd centuries A.D.

The major part of the building remains of the upper horizon are dated to the 4^th century A.D. A semi-underground structure on the basis of the indicative finds may be dated to the turn of the 3^rd and 4^th centuries A.D. Remains of the surface structures and part of the household pits belong to the late stage of the Chernyakhovskaya culture in the Danube area, i.e. to the second half of the 4^th century A.D.

The cemetery, found to the east of the settlement, contain burials with cremation and inhumation rite. The lack of reliably dating finds among the grave goods found in the burials does not enable to make any judgements except for the fact of the synchronous age of the burials found and the latest stage of the existence of the settlement in the 4^th century A.D.

Thus the studies of the Prichernomorsky Aeneolithic Detachment yielded a homogeneous structure of the cultural layers in the upper horizon at the settlement of Nagornoe II. A unique peculiarity of the site is the presence of a cemetery synchronous with the settlement and the earlier cultural layers of the Hellenistic period and those of the late 2^nd and early 3^rd century A.D.

С. С. Миняев, Л. М. Сахаровская. Сопроводительные захоронения «царского» комплекса № 7 в могильнике Царам

S. S. Minyaev, L. M. Sakharovskaya. Sacrifice Burials of “Royal” Complex № 7 at the Tsaram Cemetery

Systematic studies of Asian Huns (Hsiung-nu or Xiongnu) have been carried out already for more than a century. At present, materials of considerable value in the characterisation of settlement complexes (the Ivolga fortress, the Dureny settlement) and cemeteries of various types (the cemeteries of Ivolga, Cheremukhovaya Pad, Dyrestuy etc.) have been obtained. Today, the single gap in our knowledge is the almost complete lack of information about burials of the Hsiung-nu elite. Meanwhile, such burials (traditionally called ‘royal’) usually contain valuable information for characterisation both of the material and spiritual culture of a community and of its social structure.

In 1996, the Trans-Baikal Expedition of IIMK, RAS, investigated one of the Hsiung-nu cemeteries in the Tsaram valley situated 1.5 km to the south of the Naushki village (Republic of Buryatiya, Russian Federation), 2 km to the south of the Kyakhta–Naushki highway, and 5 km from the Selenga river (fig. 1). Burials in the Tsaram valley were discovered by Yu. D. Talko-Grintsevich in June 1899, he registered here at least 20 graves. In June 1903, he and Ya. S. Smolev excavated five of the graves (Талько-Гринцевич 1999: 117–118), which all were seen to have been robbed, and only few artefacts were found: an iron awl with a ring-shaped top, a fragment of bronze plate and several fragments of pottery. The peculiarities of the inner grave structures induced Talko-Grintsevich to assign them to the discovered by him type of “burials in timber-frames”, which intuitively he correctly linked with Hsiung-nu.

A detailed examination of the site, mapping it, drawing a topographical plan and surveys of overgrave structures, carried out by the Trans-Baikal Expedition, showed that the cemetery comprised about 30 barrows of different size, located in the middle of the valley throughout the area stretched for 600 m from north to south and about 400 m from west to east. The stone structures of the kurgans had been disturbed after many years of ploughing up and building country-tracks and eroded by wind and waters. Of most of the structures, only displaced accumulations of stones or isolated stones, seen in various places of the valley, were preserved. Throughout the entire cemetery, one may observe craters of grave pits of various dimensions. Only the largest barrow, located in the nothern part of the valley, was preserved undisturbed. It measured 32 × 32 m, and over its entrance, a trapezoid mound, about 20 m long, was clearly observable from the south. Throughout the distance of 300 m to the south and south-west of the central barrow, remains of a number of other large kurgans were traced.

Thus the investigation of the Tsaram valley showed that it concentrated the largest of the now known burial structures of Hsiung-nu in Russia, and those of the largest in the world. It is quite clear, that in the Tsaram valley there was a cemetery of the Hsiung-nu elite; nevertheless, until present these burial structures remained practically unexplored.

During the season of 1997, the Trans-Baikal Expedition started systematic studies at the site. The archaeological evidence, accumulated at that time, suggested the presence of human sacrifices in the Hsiung-nu burial practice – the fact which is confirmed also by written sources. The planigraphy of Hsiung-nu cemeteries exhibits a clear tendency of aggregating graves in burial complexes, which consisted of a central barrow and sacrifice graves arranged around it according to a certain system. A number of excavations showed that interred in the latter burials were persons who died a violent death, and who, it seems, were ‘sacrifice’ their master to the other world (cf. for details: Миняев 1985; 1998: 70–71).

Studies in the Tsaram cemetery were planned with due regard for the above facts. The largest barrow, located in the northern area of the valley, was chosen as the focus of the investigations. The excavation, carried out here, included both the kurgan itself and the area surrounding it, where separate surface stones suggested the presence of small barrows with disturbed embankments. The total excavated area, including that of Kurgan 7, amounted to 7700 sq. metres. Taking into account that stone courses probably had been displaced during ploughing up, the entire area under investigation was excavated without gaps down to the virgin soil, irrespective of the presence of any signs of burials on the surface.

The excavations at the central Kurgan 7, where a complex inner structure was discovered in the grave, still are not completed. The purpose of this paper is publication of the data on sacrifice burials of Kurgan 7. They were found ranged in two lines, 5 graves in each, on the western and eastern sides of Kurgan 7 and undoubtedly formed a single burial complex with the latter (fig. 2).

The eastern group of sacrifice burials

In this group, in all 5 burials have been found, located 3–4 m from each other and 25 m from the eastern wall of Kurgan 7. The northernmost burial 10 of the group was 25 m to the east from the north-eastern corner of the overgrave structure of Kurgan 7, the southernmost burial 11 was 21 m to the east of the south-eastern corner of the central kurgan. Thus the line of these burials was directed north–south, deviating only slightly to the west in its southern part.

Kurgan 10. Located 25 m to the east from the north-eastern corner of the kerb of Kurgan 7 (fig. 2). The surface structure was disturbed by ploughing up; a rectangular grave pit; in the northern wall of the pit there was a catacomb where isolated disturbed bones (mostly legs) of horse, cow and small horned cattle were found (fig. 3: 4). The inner structure of the grave was a wooden coffin in stone cist. The grave had been robbed, separate bones of the skeleton were found displaced in the fill of the pit.

Finds (fig 3, 4). On the lid of the coffin, near the middle of the eastern wall there were a horse skull and mandible, a human tibia and a fragment of some iron object. Two small objects made of horn were found in the fill of the robbers’ passage. Inside the coffin: human ribs, sacrum and vertebrae, a riveted iron plate-buckle, a fragment of iron plate, a round riveted iron plate. In the NE corner of the coffin: a rectangular iron plate; in the NW corner of the coffin, behind the sacrum: an arrowhead made of horn with bifurcated extension; at the place of the upper chest: a round iron plate with rivets and a horn arrow-whistle. At the place of the right scapula: a round iron plate with rivets; near the sacrum: an iron rod rectangular in cross-section. At the place of the right pelvic bone: a bronze ring (ear-ring?) and a fragment of some iron object. In the centre of the coffin, near the eastern wall: fragments of red varnish and remains of an oxidised iron object beneath it. Between the left femur and the wall of the coffin: iron arrowheads with whistles. Preserved in situ near the left foot: an iron platelet with a ring-shaped end. In the SW corner of the coffin: fragments of some iron object. Under the left foot: iron rivets. In the SW corner, a figured dowel-bow, which had fixed the walls of the coffin, was traced in the earth. Also, a completely disturbed bow-plate was lying here. On the right foot: fragmentary iron rivets. Near the articulation of the calcaneum and shin: fragmentary iron object. Under the right foot: iron rivets. In the NW corner of the coffin: iron fragments and two arrowheads made of horn. In the NW corner of the coffin: decayed ring-shaped bow-plate made of horn. Close to the NW corner, under the sunken wall of the coffin: a fragment of horn eating-stick. Near the NE corner of the coffin, outside the eastern wall: a miniature trowel made of horn. Found in the catacomb: near the NE corner of the coffin – a fragment of leather covered with oxides of iron and bronze; behind the northern wall, beneath the layer of animal bones – a horn buckle.

Kurgan 9. Located 5.5 m south of Kurgan 10. The grave pit was of rectangular form, the inner structure of the grave was a wooden coffin in stone cist. The grave had been robbed, the bones of the skeleton found in displaced state on the bottom of the coffin (fig. 5).

Finds (fig. 5, 6). Between stones of the eastern wall of the cist: a central frontal bow-plate made of horn; in the NW corner, on the stones of the ceiling of the cist: a trilobate arrowhead with a whistle. On the bottom of the coffin: in the NW corner of the coffin – two strap ornaments made of horn, beneath the latter – a horn haft and a fragment of some object made of birch bark. Near the northern wall there was a fragment of ring and a fragment of rectangular iron buckle with a tongue; under a human scapula – a socketed arrowhead made of horn, nearby – a fragment of bone eating stick and a fragment of ring-shaped bow-plate. Near the eastern wall of the coffin, under a pelvic bone: a fragment of leathern article and a fragment iron platelet with a hole at the tip. Between the pelvic bones: fragments of two horn arrowheads with bifurcated extension; near the sacrum: a fragment of iron platelet. Near the western wall of the coffin: in the middle – fragmentary figured iron rods rectangular in cross-section; beneath them – a horn tip bow-plate and a fragment of one more bow-plate, and nearby – a horn arrowhead with bifurcated extension; fragments of a similar arrowhead were lying near the head of the left femur. Near the western wall of the coffin: a fragment of some iron object with remains of wooden part. Near the southern wall of the coffin, close to the calcanei: an iron knife with remains of wooden haft; in the SE corner of the coffin: an iron plate with remains of leather on it. Near the western wall of the coffin, at the sacrum: 2 horn arrowheads – one with a cut hole and a large one with bifurcated extension. Near the bones of the right shin: a horn arrowhead with a cut hole. Near the northern wall of the coffin: a pipe made of horn, half of which was cut off; on its front side, probably, there had been a hole. In the SE corner of the coffin: a tip bow-plate completely decomposed. In the fill of the robbers’ passage: fragments of a tip bow-plate made of horn and fragmentary iron objects. On the bottom of the coffin, near the foot bones: a bushing made of horn.

Kurgan 8. Three metre to the south of Kurgan 9. The surface structure was disturbed by ploughing up; the grave pit had a rectangular form; the inner structure of the grave was a wooden coffin in a stone cist. The grave had been robbed, the bones of the skeleton found in displaced state on the bottom of the coffin; only bones of the left leg were preserved in situ. The skeleton presumably had been lying with extended extremities on its back, oriented to the north with a deviation of 15° to the east (fig. 7).

Finds (fig. 7, 8). In the fill of the pit in the NW corner, on stones of the ceiling of the cist: 4 arrowheads made of horn with bifurcated extension; at the level of the covering of the coffin: tip bow-plate made of horn; four trilobate iron arrowheads; a flat iron arrowhead of rhomboid shape with two slits cut in the middle of it. On the bottom of the coffin: near the southern wall of the coffin, in the middle – an iron plate with a rectangular hole at the tip; near the left foot – an iron plate with a pin and ring-shaped tip; nearby – another iron plate with a rectangular hole. In the SW corner of the coffin there was a completely decayed horn buckle; between the left shin and the wall of the coffin: a strap ornament made of horn. Near the tip of the left shin: an iron plate with a pin and ring-shaped tip. Between the right femur and the wall of the coffin: an iron knife with remains of wooden haft; preserved around the knife there were remains of a leathern case; inside the case – remains of an awl. Near the western wall of the coffin: a fragment of some object made of horn; at the inner side of the right femur – a small bronze bell with a stone tongue; beneath it – a horseshoe-shaped iron platelet with remains of cloth on it and holes at its tips (in the holes, traces of iron rivets were traced), a fragment of another similar platelet, and fragments of some iron objects – presumably mouth-piece. Near the right femur: a rectangular iron plate with remains of leather on it; near the eastern wall of the coffin: remains of iron objects. Over the upper fragment of the pelvis: an iron figured buckle with a crosspiece and a fragment of iron plate with rivets at its edges. Near the northern wall of the coffin, beside the humerus: an iron belt plate, nearby – an oxidised iron object. Below the left scapula: an iron tongued buckle with its edge broken off. Lying in circle under the very scapula there were several beads: one globular made of carnelian and six globular glass ones; one more glass bead was lying in the NW corner of the coffin. In the NE corner of the coffin: remains of an object made from birch bark; in the NW corner of the coffin: a rounded birch-bark object completely decayed; lying upon the latter there were iron fragments. Near the western wall of the coffin, beside the forearm bones: an iron rectangular buckle with tongue, nearby a trilobate iron arrowhead completely oxidised. Near the western wall of the coffin, in the middle: fragments of red varnish, beside them – fragments of an iron object. Behind the northern wall of the coffin, a vessel was standing. Near the northern wall of the coffin, in the fill, there was a fragment of pottery. At the middle of the western wall of the coffin: fragmentary ring-shaped bow-plate made of horn, completely decayed; in the centre of the coffin: a central lateral bow-plate made of horn; in the fill of the eastern wall of the coffin there was a fragment of some horn object.

Kurgan 6. Located 2.7 m to the south of Kurgan 8. The burial had stone embankment disturbed by ploughing up. Inside the grave, there was a wooden coffin in stone cist. The deceased was lying on his back with his extremities extended, oriented to the north with a slight deviation to the east. Feet bones were absent; bones of the left arm were lying in inverse order, although they had not been disturbed by the robbers: the forearm bones (ulna and radius) were found at the place of the humerus, the latter being at the place of the forearm. Bones of the right hand have not been found. The lower jaw was lying outside the confines of the coffin, near its NE corner. Beside the northern wall of the coffin there were ribs and a tibia of small horned cattle (fig. 9).

Finds (fig. 9, 10). Under the bones of small horned cattle: a horn bow-plate and a trilobate arrowhead, a fragment of cheekpiece below. Beside the skull, upon the head of the right humerus: a horn bow-plate. Above the bow-plate: an iron platelet with a loop at its broader tip; beside the right elbow: fragments of an iron plate. Beside the head of the left femur and upon the head of the right femur: iron spoon-shaped clasps; below the left shin: horn bow-plate, completely decayed. Near the eastern wall of the coffin, close to the left forearm: a small case made of horn, hollow at both ends; one of the cavities was stopped with a “tap” with a hole. Beside the case, near the wall of the coffin: a fragment of horn arrow-whistle and fragments of flat iron rings. In the SE corner of the coffin: an iron celt with remains of a wooden haft; in the SW corner of the coffin: fragments of a bit.

Kurgan 11. 5 m south-east of Kurgan 6; the surface structure possibly had been disturbed by ploughing up. The grave pit was of rectangular form; inside the grave there was a wooden coffin in stone cist. The burial had been robbed, bones of the skeleton were found displaced on the bottom of the coffin; among the bones, a lower jaw with milk-teeth was found (fig. 11).

Finds (fig. 11). In the fill of the pit, in the NW corner, under stones of the cist, behind the coffin: a vessel lying on its side. In the fill of the coffin: a horn cheekpiece with two holes; near the eastern wall of the coffin: an iron belt plate-buckle. Found in the fill of the coffin also were small fragments of iron objects.

The western group of sacrifice burials

Before the excavations, to the west of the Kurgan 7, in the underbrush of bushes and low elm trees, it was possible to trace remains of barrows on the modern surface. They represented a depression 1.2 m deep, enclosed by a low earthen bank, and outcrops of large stone slabs and smaller boulders on the surface of the ploughed field. Similarly to the eastern group, during excavation of the entire area of the western group one found 5 burials ranged in a line, 3–4 m from each other and 25 m from the western wall of Kurgan 7. Burial no. 12 – the northernmost of the group – was situated 24 m to the west of the NW corner of the overgrave structure of Kurgan 7; the southernmost burial no. 16 was 28 m to the south-west of the SW corner of Kurgan 7. The line of these burials, in general, was directed north–south, the graves in the middle of it being ranged strictly from north to south and the outermost ones (nos. 12 and 16) slightly deviating to the east in the southern part. It is possible that these burials also have had overgrave structures, later disturbed and displaced during agricultural works. The grave pits of burials of this group were expressed in brown humus-containing sandy loam with inclusion of charcoals and fine gravel; they had rectangular form with rounded angles. In general, the western line of these burials is almost mirror-symmetrical to the eastern one, differing from the latter only by its greater length (the total length of the group was 46 m). The burials of this group are described here in the order of their arrangement from north to south (fig. 2).

Burial 12. 24 m to the west of the NW corner of Kurgan 7. The surface structure had been disturbed by ploughing up. A rectangular grave pit. In the pit, “backfill”, consisting of stone slabs and large shapeless blocks of bedrock loam, was found at the depth of 210–240 cm. The slabs were ranged meridionally in the middle of the pit, the loam blocks were at the edges of the pit. Under this backfill there was the inner structure of the grave consisting of a stone cist which contained a wooden frame and a wooden coffin inside the latter. In the NW corner of the pit, a human skull was found on the boards of the ceiling of the frame.

The burial had been robbed, bones of the skeleton were found displaced on the bottom of the coffin; only the pelvis and bones of the lower extremities were preserved in situ (as mentioned above, the skull of the deceased was uncovered in the NW corner of the pit on the boards of the ceiling of the wooden frame). The skeleton had been lying, presumably, on its back with its extremities extended, oriented to the north (fig. 12).

Finds (fig. 12, 13). In the NW corner of the wooden frame: a horn bow-plate; in the northern part of the coffin, not far from the eastern wall: a whetstone; near the western wall of the coffin, at the level of the right forearm: an iron knife with remains of wooden haft; on the right of the pelvic bones: three-feathered iron arrowheads (one “tiered” and the other with triangular section of the feather, beside the arrows there was an iron awl with a ring-shaped top) with remains of their wooden shafts and a small “scoop” made of horn; these objects were found beside each other under a thin layer of wood, and it is possible that originally they had been lying together in a wooden case. Found in situ between bones of the feet there were a rectangular iron buckle at the right calcaneum, and at the left calcaneum – an iron platelet with a ring-shaped tip, below which there was a rectangular iron platelet with a rectangular slit at its end. In the NW corner of the coffin, near its eastern wall, in the area of the pelvis and beside bones of the feet, unidentifiable fragments of some completely oxidised iron articles were found.

Kurgan 13. Eight metres to the south of Burial 12. The surface structure was a stone embankment, the central part of which was disturbed by a robbers’ passage and by stones slid down the slope of the crater. The preserved part of the embankment measured 7 x 6 m. The grave pit was of nearly rectangular form. In the southern part of the pit, remains of a wooden coffin were uncovered. In the fill of the pit, near its western wall, a fragment of bronze spoon-shaped clasp was found at the depth of 190 cm; there were no other finds (fig. 14).

The presence of a deep rectangular depression in the centre of the barrow, the inner grave structure considerably disturbed and an almost complete absence of finds suggest that Kurgan 13 was one of those graves which had been excavated earlier by the discoverer of the site Talko-Grintsevich (cf. Талько-Гринцевич1999: 117–118). Unfortunately, it is not possible to define this grave’s number because the plan of his excavation is lacking).

Burial 14. Five metres to the south of the embankment of Kurgan 13. The surface structure had been disturbed by ploughing up. The grave pit had rectangular form. The inner structure of the grave was a wooden coffin in stone cist. The burial had been robbed and separate bones of the skeleton were found displaced on the bottom of the coffin. In the SW corner of the pit, bones of the right shin were preserved in situ (fig. 15).

Finds (fig. 15). In the fill of the pit, near its northern wall, a fragment of the upper body of a vessel with a wavy decoration was found at the depth of 80 cm. On the bottom of the coffin, near the eastern wall: fragments of horn bow-plates; near the eastern wall of the coffin, in the area of the left forearm, completely oxidised fragments of some iron objects were found.

Burial 15. 7.5 metres to the south from Kurgan 14. No surface structure was traced, possibly it had been destroyed by ploughing up. Rectangular grave pit; the inner structure of the grave was a wooden coffin. Outside the northern wall of the coffin, three ribs of large horned cattle, each broken into three, were found; the fragments of ribs were piled on each other. The burial had been robbed, no skull was found, ribs and almost all of the vertebrae were uncovered displaced on the bottom of the coffin. However, the pelvic bones, both of the scapulae, and the upper and lower extremities were preserved in situ. The interred was placed on his back, oriented to the north, the left leg extended, the right one slightly flexed at the knee; the extreme phalanges of the feet were lacking. The right shoulder and forearm were extended straight, the right wrist was slightly flexed, lying on the right thigh. The left shoulder was straight, the forearm flexed at an angle to the latter; the left hand was clenched as a fist and lying upon the bones of the pelvis near the right hand (fig. 16).

Finds (fig. 16, 17). Near the northern wall of the coffin: a tip horn plate for bow; another one (composed of a base and extension) between the right shoulder and the wall of the coffin; nearby there were: a horn eating stick, an iron knife with horn haft, an iron awl with wooden haft, another iron article (completely oxidised) with a horn haft, and fragments of yet another oxidised iron object. Fragments of oxidised iron objects were found also at the right elbow and in the lower area of the chest. In the lower part of the pelvis, under the left wrist: round iron buckle with a tongue; on the right forearm: a poorly oxidised iron arrowhead. At the inner part of the right thigh: a small conical pipe made of horn with two holes and a fragment of a tiny barrel made of horn (possibly, what remained of a horn arrow-whistle). Between the knees, slightly above the latter: a cow’s knucklebone for game; upon the left knee and slightly below it: a saddle arch broken into three in antiquity; at the outer side of the left knee: a horn buckle. Upon the right shin: a small horn pipe; in the SW corner of the coffin: two tip plates for bow – one solid, the other composed of a base and extension. Opposite the left shin, near the wall of the coffin: a fragment of cheekpiece made of horn.

Burial 16. Seven metres to the south from Kurgan 15. It was impossible to trace the surface structure. Rectangular grave pit. A wooden coffin inside the grave. Under the bottom of the coffin, at its NW and NE corners, two small flat stones were lying; another larger stone was found under the bottom, 10 cm from the southern wall. Between the western wall of the coffin and the wall of the pit, two large stone slabs were standing vertically; between the latter, two small stones were lying. Three similar small stones were lying outside the coffin, near its SE corner, and another small stone was found outside the eastern wall of the coffin, near its middle (fig. 18).

The burial had been robbed, separate bones of the skeleton were found displaced on the bottom of the coffin, except for the right arm and the upper chest, which seemed to have been preserved in situ. The position of these bones suggest that the interred was lying on his back with extended extremities.

In the fill of the pit, small fragments of varnish coating of a wooden Chinese cup were uncovered; no other finds.

On the basis of the characteristic groups of grave goods, all the burials described above may be dated to the 1^st century B.C. – 1^st century A.D.

* * *

The practice of human sacrifices in the burial tradition of Hsiung-nu was recorded already by their contemporaries – ancient Chinese chroniclers. Ssu-ma Ch'ien (145–87 B.C.), who the first compiled information about Hsiung-nu in his “Historian Records”, mentioned that “the most beloved servants and concubines followed the deceased into the grave, and the greatest number of such persons amounted to several thousand or hundreds” (Таскин 1968: 40). It seems, a number of several thousand of such “servants and concubines” was doubted already at that time. It is not accidental, that Pan Gu, the author of “The History of Han”, when redacting the text of the “Historian Records” replaced “several thousand or hundreds” in the above phrase for “several tens or one hundred” (Таскин 1968: 136, Comments 108). These divergences show that Han historians had not have in their disposition the precise information about the number of humans offered in sacrifice during burials of Hsiung-nu elite.

The first reliable information on such sacrifices was obtained from the Dyrestuy cemetery. During excavations of this site by entire areas it was discovered that the burials were arranged into complexes consisting of a central barrow surrounded by sacrifice burials, the number of the latter varying from one to three. The characteristic injuries on skeletons in sacrifice burials suggested with a high degree of probability a violent death of the interred (for details see: Миняев 1998: 41, 70).

Excavation of Complex no. 7 at Tsaram essentially supplemented the data obtained from the Dyrestuy cemetery. Similarly to Dyrestuy, at Tsaram also characteristic injuries were registered on skeletons. Thus in Kurgan 6, the long extremities of the interred had not been disturbed by grave robbers, nevertheless bones of the feet and of the right hand were lacking; bones of the left arm were lying in the inverse order: the ulna and the radius in the place of the humerus, and the latter was in the place of the bones of forearm. In Burial 15, the extreme phalanges of feet were absent; an unnatural position of the wrists and left forearm suggest that the hands of the interred were bound. In addition, on the most of the skeletons from Complex 7, one may observe unnatural deformations of certain bones which possibly indicate that the interred had some physical defects.

Yet Complex 7 in terms of its major peculiarities differs principally from the Dyrestuy burial complexes. We shall now consider these differences more closely.

The number of sacrifice burials in Complex 7 amounts to 10, that exceeds several times the number of such burials in any complex at Dyrestuy. The planigraphy of the Tsaram burials also is different: if at Dyrestuy the sacrifice burials were located predominantly near the south-western or south-eastern corner of the central barrow, at Tsaram they formed two rows, 5 burials in each, ranged almost symmetrically relative the main kurgan at its eastern and western sides.

As it is seen on the plan of the complex (fig. 1), not only the principles of arranging the burials in different groups, but also the sex and age composition of the interred are identical. Both in the western and eastern groups, only males were interred, a certain dependence between the position of a burial within the group and the age of the interred being clearly observable. The oldest (and almost of the same age of 35 years) men were buried in the northernmost graves (Kurgan 10 in the eastern group and Kurgan 12 in the western). The age of the other dead consequently diminishes from north to south: the younger men and adolescents (aged 25–15 on average) were buried in the middle of each row, and in the southernmost graves (11 and 16) children of practically the same age (4–6 years old) were interred.

In both of the groups of burials of men and adolescents, i.e. in the four graves in the northern and central parts of each group, it is possible to trace a certain correlation between the position of the burial within the group, age of the interred and type of burial structures. The surface structures, as noted above, had been destroyed by ploughing up, so that we may point out only to a higher concentration of stones from disturbed embankments in the northern area of each group. The inner structures of the northern graves both in Kurgan 10 (a coffin in stone cist covered with several courses of slabs; an undercut in the northern wall of the pit; a charcoal make-up on the bottom of the pit) and in Kurgan 12 (the coffin inside a timber frame placed into stone cist and covered over with blocks of clay) in terms of their construction are the most complicated in each group. In burials in the centres of the groups, structures represented by wooden coffins inserted into stone cists are typical, the construction of the coffins and cists being simpler than that of the northern burials. The simplest constructions have been found in the next to last burials (if one counts from north to south) of each row; in Grave 6 (the eastern group) and Grave 15 (the western group) such structures are represented only by coffins.

Differences depending on the position of a grave in the group may be observed also in the composition of the food laid for the dead. Thus bones of several animals both of large and small horned cattle (for which a special catacomb in the northern wall of the pit was made) were found in Kurgan 10 (the northernmost burial of the eastern group), while in Kurgan 6 (next to the last in the eastern row) there were only bones of one sheep or goat (ribs and a tibia). One should add, that in Kurgan 10 the single horse skull was found.

All of the burials had been robbed. This fact makes the complete reconstruction of the composition and quantity of the grave goods impossible. We note, however, that weapons – bows (of which tip and central plates usually are preserved), iron and horn arrowheads and iron belt-plates were found practically in all of the graves of men and adolescents. Numerous are also parts of horse harness – cheekpieces made of horn in kurgans 6, 11 and 15, and a horn saddle bow in Kurgan 15.

Burials 11 and 16, the southernmost in each group, are an exception from the rule described above. Notwithstanding that the interred were children, the structures inside these graves were more complicated than those in the neighbouring burials of an adolescent and a young man located to the north. In the eastern group, in grave 11 (child 4–6 years old), a wooden coffin was found in a stone cist covered with several courses of slabs, while a 16 year old adolescent in the neighbouring grave 6 was buried only in a coffin. In the western group, the child in grave 16 (age-at-death 5 years) was buried in a wooden coffin placed in an imitation of stone cist constructed of several large slabs, although in the neighbouring grave 15, a man 25-30 years old was buried only in a coffin. The child burials practically all have been robbed, nevertheless the remains of the varnish coating of a wooden cup found in Kurgan 16 (reminding by the pattern of its decoration the one found in Kurgan 6 at the cemetery of Noin-Ula), a vessel and an iron belt plate from Kurgan 11, similar to those found in other burials, suggest that the grave inventory in these child graves did not yield, at least qualitatively, to the grave goods of adults.

The signs of violent death noted above lead to the conclusion that the described burials of armed men and adolescents, which surrounded the central Kurgan 7, may be considered as the burials of “servants” mentioned in written documents – a kind of the chief’s “body-guards” – killed during the funeral ceremony and “sacrifice” their master to the other world. It seems, that within such social group of “servants” a number of ranks existed, and this fact was reflected in the revealed differences between the burial structures in different groups of sacrifice burials.

The status of the children buried in graves 11 and 16 thus far is not quite clear. They were buried together with the adult “servants” in the southernmost graves of the groups, completing logically the sex-and-age structure of each line of burials (the age-of-death decreasing from northern graves to the southern). Possibly, these facts indicate that:

– by their origin these children belonged to the same social category of “servants” and were to inherit one of its ranks;

– the level of this inherited rank should potentially be higher in the other world than the actual lifetime status of the adolescent (eastern group) and young man (western group) interred in the neighbourhood of these children;

– for these children therefore, in correspondence with their potential rank, more complex burial structures than for the older servants, interred close by, were constructed.

Thus, in terms of the number of burials, their planigraphy, sex composition of the interred and sets of grave goods, the sacrifice burials of Tsaram significantly differ from similar burials at the Dyrestuy cemetery, where mostly women with various belt sets and adolescents were buried. One could suppose that these differences resulted of a differing status of the persons interred in central barrows of the cemeteries. While at Dyrestuy, burial structures and funerary sets in central kurgans suggest that the interred belonged to the ordinary society, the central Kurgan 7 at Tsaram, judging by its size and peculiarities of its construction, was a burial of some representative of the highest Hsiung-nu elite, or possibly even one of the chiefs (shan-yό).

Of course, the suppositions proposed above must be verified during investigations of other burial complexes of elite using the method of excavation by entire areas. Also promising seems employing of the palaeogenetic analysis for definition of the degree of kinship of the interred both in separate complexes and throughout the entire cemetery.

Ю. Е. Березкин. Керамика из района бухты Оля на острове Итуруп

Yuri E. Berezkin. Ceramics from the area of Olya bay on Iturup island

In 1979, during the small saving excavations at the shore of Olya bay (midnorthern part of Iturup, one of the southern Kuril islands) almost completely restorable vessel was found. It had been probably fallen from hands and broken against a stone (fig. 2: 1). The form of the vessel and the position of the ornamental band fit standards of Satsumon culture of Hokkaido but the use of the cord (and not incision) to produce the design is unusual for the post-Jomon complexes. Both the parallels and the difference with the typical Satsumon vessel found in the same area by Sakhalin archaeologist (fig. 1) is easily seen. Typical Okhotsk ceramics was recorded nearby and is either contemporary or somewhat earlier than the cord-impressed vessel (fig. 2: 2–8).

Satsumon is the culture of protohistoric Hokkaido Ainu dated to ca. A.D. 650-1200 at the southcentral Hokkaido but possibly up to A.D. 1600 at its northeastern part. Through the mediation of the so called Northern Fujivara polity, the Satsumon people (Ainu) adopted agriculture, iron tools and new type of dwellings and probably pushed the Okhotsk people (related to Sakhalin Mongoloids) out from the Hokkaido coast and from the southern Kurils. At the central and northern parts of Kuril archipelago, the Ainu were probably more seriously influenced by the Okhotsk substratum. The result was the differentiation between Hokkaido – Southern Kuril and Central-Northern Kuril groups of historic Ainu. Excavations of the proto-historic sites on Kuril islands demonstrate different types of ceramics and suggest more complex picture of cultural development in the area than it could be thought using the written sources alone.

Е. Я. Рогов, С. В. Кашаев. Чернолаковая керамика из раскопок поселения Вышестеблиевская 11

В 1999 г. Таманский отряд Боспорской экспедиции Института истории материальной культуры Российской академии наук совместно с семинаром “Греки и их соседи” Вестфальского университета начали раскопки поселения Вышестеблиевская 11 на берегу Кизилташского лимана на юге Таманского полуострова.

В процессе раскопок были выявлены хозяйственные ямы, засыпанные единовременно и содержащие разнообразную керамику. Части от одних и тех же сосудов были найдены в разных хозяйственных ямах. Комплекс находок из этих ям включает в себя большое количество обломков чернолаковых сосудов, значительную часть которых удалось отреставрировать. Изучению этой категории посуды и посвящена данная статья.

Самую большую группу сосудов килики различных типов. Найдено несколько экземпляров киликов типа delicate class (рис. 2: № 16–27), относящихся к третьей четверти V в. до н. э. Близки к этой группе и килики типа large plain, в выборке имеется нижняя часть такого сосуда (рис. 3: № 40). Один редкий для Причерноморья килик типа rheneia cup (рис. 2: № 28). Найдено несколько сосудов типа bolsal (рис. 2: 29, 30). Многочисленные аналогии датируют килики этих типов третьей или последней четвертями V в. до н. э.

Чаши полусферической формы на кольцевом поддоне – one-handler представлены двумя экземплярами (рис. 2: 34, 35), которые датируются последней третью V в. до н. э. Сравнительно небольшое число скифосов – scyphi, найдено только в обломках. Один из них коринфский скифос типа – subgeometric survivals относится ко второй половине столетия. Скифосы афинского типа № 31, 32 относятся к еще к третьей четверти V в. до н. э.

Интересны тарелочка типа – shallow wall and cjnvecx-cjncave profile (рис. 3: № 39) третьей четверти столетия, а также различные солонки (рис. 3: № 44, 45). Солонка № 44 saltcellar: echinus wall не аттического производства. Оба сосуда датируются второй половиной V в. до н. э.

Встречены обломки лекан и их крышек (рис. 3: № 46, 47), светильников (рис. 3: № 48, 49, 50), ольпы (рис. 1: № 8), ойнохойи (рис. 1: 39), асков (рис. 1: № 10, 11, 12).

Довольно редкая форма сосудов для ароматических масел – амфориски со штампованным орнаментом по тулову (рис. 1: № 13, 14, 15). Сосуд № 13 украшен по тулову ионийским киматием, меандром, пальметками, в нижней части тулова оттиснута полоса меандра, над ней и под ней фризы из пальметок, соединенных дугами. По форме и штампу сосуд датируется временем около 420 г. до н. э. Два других амфориска имели иную орнаментацию, но дата их близка сосуду № 13.

Имеется целая группа лекифов и их обломков. Среди них выделим лекиф (рис. 1: № 4) украшенный по тулову канелированным орнаментом, датирующийся третьей четверти V в. до н. э. Фрагментированные лекифы (рис. 1: № 5, 6, 7), относящиеся к этому же времени. Лекиф № 7 украшен по плечам фризом из штампованных пальметок, скорее всего, изготовлен в Ионии.

Два цилиндрических белофонных лекифа восстановлены из обломков (рис. 1: № 2, 3). Один из них почти целый и сохранил большую часть росписи может быть связан с мастерской мастера Beldame. Оба сосуда датируются серединой – третьей четвертью V в. до н. э.

Набор керамических сосудов, как мы видим, весьма разнообразен, однако, наряду с этим, и весьма стандартен. Здесь нет сосудов с краснофигурной росписью. Отметим в керамическом комплексе наличие сосудов изготовленных не только в Аттике, но и в иных частях греческого мира. В хронологическом отношении комплекс достаточно однороден, сосуды за редким исключением, датируются второй половиной V в. до н. э. Целый ряд признаков указывает на то, что засыпка ям произведена в начале последней четверти V в. до н. э., что подтверждается и многочисленным амфорным материалом.

Мы благодарим за поддержку нашего проекта и за поддержку работы Боспорской экспедиции Института истории материальной культуры Российской академии наук компанию “Diversified Joint Ventures, LTD” USA и надеемся на дальнейшее плодотворное сотрудничество.

E. Ya. Rogov, S. V. Kashaev. Black-glazed Pottery from Excavations of the Settlement of Vyshesteblievskaya 11

In 1999, the Taman Detachment of the Bosporan Expedition of the Institute of the History of Material Culture, RAS, jointly with the “Greeks and their Neighbours” Seminar of the Westphalian University started excavations at the settlement of Vyshesteblievskaya 11 on the bank of the Kiziltash Liman in the South of the Taman Peninsula.

During the excavations, household pits, which had been simultaneously covered in and contained various pottery fragments, were discovered. Parts of the same vessels were found in different pits. The assemblage of artefacts from these pits included numerous fragments of black-glazed ware, a considerable number of which it was possible to restore. This paper is dedicated to the study of this type of pottery.

The most numerous group of the black-glazed ware were kylikes of various types. A few examples of kylikes were found which belong to the type of delicate class (fig. 2: no. 16–27), dating to the third quarter of the 5^th century B.C. Close to this group are large plain kylikes of which there is a lower body in our collection (fig. 3: no. 40). There were also a kylix of the rheneia cup type (fig. 2: no. 28), which is rare in the Black Sea area, and several bolsals (fig. 2: 29, 30). On the basis of numerous parallels these types of kylikes are dated to the third or the last quarter of the 5^th century B.C.

One-handled hemispherical bowls with ring-foot are represented by two examples (fig. 2: 34, 35) which are dated to the last third of the 5^th century B.C. A relatively small number of skyphoi have been found only as isolated fragments. One of these — a Corinthian skyphos of the subgeometric survivals type — is dated to the second half of the 5^th century. The skyphoi of the Athenian types nos. 31 and 32 are dated to the third quarter of the 5^th century B.C.

Of interest are a saucer with shallow wall and convex-concave profile (fig. 3 : no. 39) dating to the third quarter of the same century and various salt-cellars (fig. 3 : no. 44 and 45). Salt-cellar no. 44 with echinus wall is of non-Attic manufacture. Both of the vessels are dated to the second half of the 5^th century B.C.

Fragments of lekainai and their lids (fig. 3: nos. 46 and 47), lamps (fig. 3 : nos. 48, 49, and 50), olpai (fig. 1: no. 8), oenochoai (fig.1 : 39), and askoi (fig. 1: nos. 10, 11, 12) also were encountered.

A number of vessels for keeping aromatic oils belong to the fairly uncommon type of amphoriskoi with stamped decorations on the body (fig. 1: nos. 13, 14, 15). Vessel no. 13 is decorated on its body with Ionian cymatium, meander and palmettes; on the lower body, a meander stripe is stamped, below and above which there are friezes composed of palmettes linked by arches. According to its shape and stamp the vessel is dated to about 420 B.C. Two other amphoriskoi differed in their decoration, their dating is nevertheless close to that of no. 13.

The collection includes a group of lekythoi and their fragments. Among these, of note is a lekythos (fig. 1: no. 4) decorated with a fluted pattern on its body and dated to the third quarter of the 5^th century B.C. Fragmentary lekythoi (fig. 1: nos. 5, 6 and 7) are dated to the same period. Lekythos no. 7, decorated on its shoulder by a frieze of stamped palmettes, probably was manufactured in Ionia.

Two cylindrical lekythoi with white background were restored from their fragments (fig. 1: nos. 2 and 3). One of them, which is almost complete with the most part of painting preserved, is possibly connected with the workshop of artist Beldame. Both of the vessels are dated to the third quarter of the 5^th century B.C.

Thus the assemblage of the ceramic ware found, as one may see, is fairly diverse, though at the same time it is quite standard. There is no ware with red-figured painting. Of note is that the collection comprises not only the ware manufactured in Attic, but also that from other parts of the Greek World. In terms of its chronology, the assemblage is fairly homogeneous, almost all of the vessels being dated to the second half of the 5^th century B.C. Quite a number of signs indicate that the pits were covered in during the beginning of the last quarter of the 5^th century B.C., that is also confirmed by numerous amphorae finds.

We are grateful to the “Diversified Joint Ventures, LTD” company, USA, for supporting our project and the works of the Bosporan Expedition of the Institute of the History of Material Culture, RAS, and hope for our further fruitful co-operation.

К. А. Михайлов, Е. Н. Носов. Новые находки наконечников ножен мечей на Рюриковом городище

K. A. Mikhailov, N. E. Nosov. New finds of chapes of sword scabbards from Rurik Gorodishche

Rurik Gorodishche, is a settlement located two kilometers off Novgorod. In the 9^th-10^th centuries it was a major craft and trade centre. It was also administrative and military settlement located on the main crossways of Eastern Europe. Among the objects indicating wide international relations of its population there are oriental and Byzantine coins, beads, amber, walnuts, objects from Scandinavia and other countries, among them three hoards of dirhams. Scandinavian objects appeared on the site in the second half of the 9^th century, however, their major part is attributed to the 10^th century. Some cult objects, like neck-rings with “Thor’s hammers”, two amulets with runic inscriptions and a female figure of a Valkyrie could not reach Rurik Gorodisnche as objects of trade, but obviously indicate that Scandinavians were living there. The collection of Scandinavian material is growing every year. Especially significant and numerous are objects belonging to “a males’ culture” (to the culture of warriors).

The aim of this article is to give new information about scabbard chapes from the site, which have never been mentioned before in the publications about Rurik Gorodishche. Such scabbard chapes have been widely spread in Scandinavia and on the territories around the Baltic and in Eastern Europe in the 9^th-11^th centuries under the influence of Scandinavian culture of the Viking period. Two scabbard chapes from Rurik Gorodishche are preserved rather well and about the third we may judge only on the basis of it’s fragment. One openwork bronze chape (Fig.1: 2) was found during excavations (1996) in the black cultural layer dated to the second half of the 10^th century. In the centre of the chape a bird of prey with wide wings is depicted. The chape belongs to subgroup b according to J. Petersen or to type B-II-1 according to the classification of N. Eniosova. A small fragment of a bronze chape which was picked up on the site in 1968 has the same depiction of a bird (Fig.1: 1). It belongs to subgroup d according to J. Petersen or to type B-II-2 according to N. Eniosova. In 2000, the third scabbard chape was found by the members of the expedition on the main hill of the settlement. It is decorated with Borre style elements, especially the animal mask on the upper part (Fig.1: 3). The closest parallel to this chape is known from Gotland.

А. В. Плохов. Лепная керамика Рюрикова городища и Новгорода

В статье рассматривается лепная посуда центральных памятников Новгородской земли конца I тыс. н.э. Ее исследование показало, что основой керамического набора этих памятников являются грубые кухонные горшки, а остальные формы посуды немногочисленны. Эта особенность, свойственная синхронным древностям других славянских регионов, обусловлена широким распространением посуды из органических материалов и спецификой приготовления пищи в печах.

Своеобразный облик керамическому комплексу этого района придает присутствие значительного числа сосудов с четко выраженным изломом, часто ребром, при переходе от плечика к нижней части туловища, так называемых горшков “ладожского типа”. Происхождение этого типа посуды остается дискуссионным. “Ребристые” сосуды, появившись в VIII в. в Нижнем Поволховье, в дальнейшем становятся характерными для поселений Северного, отчасти Западного и Восточного Приильменья. Эта территория представляет собой древнейшую и центральную часть Новгородской земли и следует признать, что для конца I тыс.н.э. тип посуды присущ приильменским славянам.

Керамические находки, их форма и орнаментация позволяет проследить не только связи населения Верхнего Поволховья с соседними территориями, вошедшими в дальнейшем в состав Древнерусского государства, но и его контакты с народами балтийского региона.

A. V. Plokhov. Handmade Pottery from Ryurik Gorodishche and Novgorod

This article deals with handmade ware from central sites of the Novgorodian Land of the end of the 1^st mil. A. D. Studies showed that the pottery assemblage from these sites is based on rough cooking pots, the other forms being relatively few. This feature, peculiar also to synchronous antiquities in other Slavic regions, is called forth by the spread of ware made of organic materials and the specificity of cooking in ovens.

A distinctive peculiarity of the ceramic assemblage from the region under study is imparted by the presence of a considerable number of vessels having a very sharp bend, or often a carination, in the area of transition from the shoulder to the lower body – the so-called pots of the “Ladoga type”. The origin of this type ware remains debatable. The “carinated” vessels having appeared in the 8^th century on the lower Volkhov, later on became typical to settlements in the northern (and partly western and eastern) Ilmen regions. This territory is the oldest and the very central part of the Novgorodian Land; one must therefore admit that this type of ware is peculiar to the Ilmen Slavs.

Pottery finds, their shapes and decorations enable us not only to trace the links of the population of the upper Volkhov with the neighbouring lands which later made part of the ancient Russian state, but also to study contacts of this population with peoples of the Baltic region.

А. В. Курбатов. Погребальная обувь средневековой Руси

Автор рассматривает один из элементов погребальной обрядности – обувь как показатель внедрения в широкие народные массы норм православного религиозного сознания. В средневековых погребениях на территории Руси археологи находят только кожаную обувь. В статье привлечены материалы раскопок в разных городах и местностях на территории Руси, а также позднесредневековые находки из Сибири, сохранность которых позволяет восстановить покрой и форму изделия. Это раскопки А. В. Арциховского в Тушино (Подмосковье), А. И. Черепнина в Монастыре Пронского у. и Маливе Егорьевского у. , в кургане у ст. Матвеевской (раскопки Г. П. Латышевой), в погр. из Минска, из раскопок Мартирьевской паперти и Георгиевского собора Юрьева монастыря в Новгороде, грунтового мог. на Ижорском плато в Ленинградской обл. (Е. А. Рябинин), Антониева Краснохолмского мон. (А. М. Салимов), городских некрополей Петровский II и III в Пскове, с Троицкого V и XI раскопов в Новгороде, из раскопа 1998 г. в Тверском кремле (О. М. Олейников) и в некоторых др. местах.

В статье особенно подробно разбираются материалы из псковской "скудельни" и из раскопок Твери в 1998 г. Основываясь на этих и других находках, автор выделяет формы погребальной обуви специфического покроя, появляющейся в комплексах не ранее XVI в. В погребениях до XVI в. встречены только формы обыденной обуви, аналогичные моделям, известным в различных средневековых русских городах. Однако "повседневная" обувь продолжает использоваться при захоронениях и позднее. По мнению автора, появление специальной погребальной обуви, а вероятно, также и одежды, используемой при захоронении мирян, отражает этап укоренения в практике широких слоев населения норм поведения, внедряемых православной церковью.

A. V. Kurbatov. The Funerary Footwear in the Medieval Rus

In this paper, one of the elements of funeral rites – footwear – is considered as an indication of the wide propagation of norms of Orthodox religious views among the population. In the Medieval burials within the territory of Rus, archaeologists find exclusively leathern footwear. Here we are dealing with the materials from excavations in various towns and areas in Rus, as well as late Medieval finds from Siberia which have preserved well enough to restore the cut and shape of an article. These excavations include those conducted by A. V. Artsikhovskiy in Tushino (near Moscow), by A. I. Cherepnin in the Monastery of Pronsky Uyezd. and of Malive Egoryevsky Uyezd, at the barrow near the railway station of Matveevskaya (excavated by G. P. Latysheva), excavation of a burial in Minsk, those of the Martiryevskaya Parvis and St.-George’s Cathedral in the Yuryev Monastery in Novgorod, burial field on the Izhora Plateau in the Leningrad Oblast (excavated by E. A. Ryabinin), the Antoniev-Krasnokholmsky Monastery (A. M. Salimov), urban necropoleis of Petrovskiy II and III in Pskov, excavation areas Troitsky V and XI in Novgorod, excavation area of 1998 in the Tver Kremlin (O. M. Oleynikov), and elsewhere.

Discussed in particular detail are the materials from the Pskov ‘skudel'nya’ (collective grave) and the excavations of 1998 in Tver. On the basis of these and some other finds, the author has identified forms of funerary footwear of a special cut which appears in funerary sets not earlier than the 16^th century. In burials dating to the previous periods, only forms of the usual footwear, similar to the types known from various Russian Medieval towns, have been encountered. In later periods however, also the use of the ‘everyday’ footwear in burials is continuing. To the author’s opinion, the appearance of special funerary footwear, as possibly also of special clothes, used when burying laymen, reflects the stage of a deeper intrusion of the norms of behaviour inculcated by the Orthodox Church into the practice of wide strata of the population.

АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ АРХЕОЛОГИИ

Е. Ю. Гиря, Ана Ресино Леон. С. А. Семенов, Костенки, палеолитоведение

E. Ju. Giria, Ana Resino Leon. Semenov – Kostionki – palaeolithic science

A jubilee conference commemorating Professor Sergei Aristarkhovich Semenov is unique both for the number of participants and their composition. Nevertheless, is traceology really generally recognised nowadays? Can we say with certainty that ancient artefacts use wear studying has become an obligatory and normal archaeological practice? No, we cannot. Till now, a position of traceology in science is far from being as such, neither in Russia, nor in other countries.

S. A. Semenov himself had never exclusively narrowed his method down to use wear. Traceology is the principal component but not the only one of his experimental-traceological method. According to S. A. Semenov, experimental-traceological analysis means the use of a single method for studying both traces of use and traces of manufacture (knapping included). That is, he did not differentiate between traceological and technological analyses. Nevertheless, his method of experimental-traceological analysis can be subdivided into a traceological method proper and a technological one. Both home and abroad, S. A. Semenov is known primarily as a traceologist probably due to the fact that his technological reconstructions had been either wrong or much less innovative as traceological ones. Sometimes, these two components of S. A. Semenov’s method contradicted each other: traceological data refuted his own technological reasons. For instance, S. A. Semenov misinterpreted the purpose of abrasion in prismatic blades making (Semenov 1970: 3), denied a possibility of manual pressure blades making from flint (Semenov 1968: 46). The reason of those mistakes rested in the method itself. The origin of traces of use and that of traces of manufacture is so different, they simply cannot and should not be studied according to one and the same method. Practically, in all the cases S. A. Semenov favoured traceological data. Basing on the results of traceological studying of edges of the core platform of upper Palaeolithic nuclei with abrasion (overhang removing), he stated the use of a pressure tool or punch technique. Besides, his dislike and probably inability to knap flint can explain the reason of S. A. Semenov’s mistakes in the technological part of his experimental-traceological analysis. He mostly preferred a functional approach.

A functional interpretation of both typological and technological problems undoubtedly dominates A. Semenov’s works (Semenov 1957: 5–13; 1970: 4–5; 1968: 5; 1983: 6–7). For him, the function had a specific, determining meaning in defining types of tools. He even insisted on giving the types double names, one for a function, the other for morphology (Semenov 1970: 6). In other words, he offered to classify not so much forms, as interpretations of traces.

One of the most well known Kostionki forms of artefacts is an item defined by S. A. Semenov as an axe (Semenov 1950; 1957: 150–155). Recent studying of this item and forms similar to it revealed they were all used as nuclei (cores), to be more exact, as precores. Presence of refitting blades confirms it. Separate blades when put together restore the surface of a precore with flake scares removed from front and back ridges.

Semenov’s “axe” and other precores have very expressive traces of use at their lower part These traces had certainly not been left by chopping wood. It simply shows that, while studying the “axe”, S. A. Semenov did not make experiments. We managed to receive very close traces in the course of experimental loam digging. Kostionki “axes” rather accurately correlates with different actions: transportation, ground digging, prismatic blades receipt. The latter served as tools and preforms for tools, were used differently and were kept together, at least for some time, in specially prepared places. In this case we are dealing with a connection of one form of an artefact with several types of ancient behaviour, quite definite, but essentially different actions.

In the course of traceological and technological analyses it was found out that “Kostionki type knives” did not belong to a static shape of an item. They present a way to re-sharpen the tip of a blunt blade. That is, it was not so much a shape / morphology of an item as it is, but rather a way, a technology to change it, having a definite succession of its own. At the beginning it was just a blade used as a knife for carving meat and/or planing wood (the ratio of these function is still to be found out). When used, the tool got blunt, the working edge sharpness was refreshed simply by retouch. Apparently, retouch re-sharpening could be repeated two-three times, after that on truncating the edge of a blade a special platform was produced from which later on a flat burin spall was removed. Thus, the edge of a blade became practically fully restored, though the tool width somewhat reduced. A Kostionki 1 (upper horizon) collection includes hundreds of spalls from Kostionki type knives with well-developed wear traces. Retouch could as well be resumed after a flat burin spall had been removed, some greatly narrowed tips of knives can serve as an indication. Transformation of the form of a knife by retouch can be considered going in stages, since at one of the stages a predetermined flat burin spall is removed. Each preceding form of a knife was technologically stipulated for the manufacture of the succeeding ones. In other words, there is a technological connection between all the forms. Thus, based on the reconstructed behavioural types, a Kostionki type knife can be defined by correlation of a certain technology (a succession of item morphology transformation) and a function. While having analogous forms of working parts, these items have different morphology (depending on which stage of wear the tool hit a cultural layer).

All the knives of this type have a number of features in common: They are manufactures on analogous preforms – blades. They belong to analogous technological sequences. They have analogous working parts. They were used for analogous functions. Under a formal typological classification different forms of knives will fall into different categories. Only items with platforms or only items with flat burin spalls will be categorised as a Kostionki type knife, depending on the typology specialist’s taste.

The final group of Kostionki tools worth paying attention to is very unusual from the classification view point, besides, it has no definite name. Only a few of the tools have formal typological names “chisels” and “gouges” (Gvozdover 1961: 114). However, due to wear traces, these tools were used for bone, ivory and/or wood cutting (sawing). A corner and an adjacent blade served as a working part. Mostly, one or two, or sometimes four working parts were used on one and the same tool. We refer these items to the same group because of:Analogous wear traces. Analogous working parts (analogous elements of form). A certain similarity of form (they all are more or less rectangular). In this case we have no technological connection between different forms. These tools could be manufactured from flakes (seldom) or blades. In some cases, they were simply blade fragments without any deliberate retouch. However, for the most part, they are complete tools, created by means of: Simple edge retouch. Flat burin spalls from the prepared platform (similar to Kostionki type knives). Simple burin spalls. A Kostionki 1 (upper horizon) collection includes spalls from the tools of this kind with analogous wear traces. That is, these tools were also retouched, which, in some cases, changed their morphology very considerably. Thus, classification of this type is done on the basis of correlation of analogous wear traces with analogous elements of form and, partly, some analogy of the general form. Morphology of these items is different. It is not possible to classify this group purely by means of a formal-typological classification.

It is common knowledge that throughout his life in science S. A. Semenov had to defend his method prove its necessity. To defend who from? From his own colleagues, at least from those, who had never seen wear traces with their own eyes, did not believe they existed or did not wish to believe. These people are typology specialists. There is another term in the Russian archaeology, “pure typology specialists”. This term denotes archaeologists who consider that solving problems of artefacts analysis requires solely typology: traceology, experiments are treated as something additional, a decoration which is nice but not necessary, like a cream rose on top of a cake.

What are the reasons for non-acceptance of traceology, distrust to the results of traceological analysis? The reason is not that traceological analysis is labour- and time consuming, that there are very few traceologists, that special equipment is needed, etc. Nor are there mistakes that matter: both typology specialists and traceologists make mistakes; differences in opinion are very common as well. The real reason lies much deeper. Having created a method of experimental-traceological analysis S. A. Semenov discovered a way to attract well known but seldom used archaeological sources: traces of use and traces of use manufacture. Besides, it became clear very quickly that archaeological objects classification based on traces did not coincide with those based on form and morphology analysis. It was this circumstance which bewildered and keeps on bewildering “pure typology specialists”, they have got their hands full as it is. Let us just recall the attempts to bring materials of different epochs to the world unified type lists. At least thirty years were wasted at the Soviet Russian archaeology on it. The strive to work out a uniform type list brought typology specialists to a long lasting “genre crisis”. Apart from the fact that artefacts having analogous forms can have different traces, they can be differently manufactured. It means, the “types” created conveniently by the archaeologists, can be differently manufactured, depending what classification they are based upon. In this case only types classified on one and the same basis can be compared. Besides, the tools of early stages of use, like a blade or a flake, can have no additional traces of use manufacture. A formal typology specialist simply does not see them. We know an Arctic Stone Age site with practically no retouched spalls (Pitul’ko 1998). If it had not been for the permafrost, having kept wood, bone and other organic matter, we would have only nuclei and blades. What would a “pure typology specialist” do in this case? “Having excavated a site, a typology specialist can compare the found items, give names to them, refer to the items from other sites, speak about local differences, find analogues, guess about relative age of the found items. But he cannot explain why these similarities and differences between items occur, that is why the forms and types themselves change, as the formation processes are still left hidden… Consequently, the tasks of a typology specialist lie apart from what we call stating the causation of phenomena… ” (Semenov, “On Tasks and Methods of Archaeological Science”, a manuscript draft. Manuscript Archives of the Research Institute for the Material Culture, the Russian Academy of Sciences, depository 90).

If an archaeologist assumes his task to be research and reconstruction of the ancient behaviour, human actions really taking place in the ancient time, and not to create a formal type list, he (if he wants to escape self-deceit) has no right to ignore traceology and technology analyses data. When classifying types of artefacts it is necessary to find support in the data that absolutely reflect the ancient behaviour connected with the forms involved. Only after finding out the connection of certain forms and certain behaviour can one classify types, reflecting cultural norms of ancient activities. Norms among the forms of significant characteristics, not among “the pure forms”.

Ю. Г. Кутимов. Некоторые аспекты развития и абсолютной датировки тазабагъябской культуры Южного Приаралья (по материалам могильника Кокча 3)

Yuri G. Kutimov. Some Aspects of the Development and Absolute Dating of the Tazabagyab Culture of the Southern Aral Region (on materials from the Kokcha III burial-ground)

In the late 1930-s, on the right bank of the lower Amu Darya a number of scattered settlements were discovered by the Khorezm Expedition during archaeological investigation of the Southern Aral region. From the surface of this sites handmade flat-bottomed pottery with geometrical ornamentation was gathered. S. P. Tolstov denominated this culture as “Tazabagyab” and noted that the found artefacts have certain resemblance to material complexes of the Srubnaya and Andronovo cultures of the late Bronze Age of steppe zone of Eurasia (Толстов 1939: 174, 175; Толстов 1940: 70, 71).

At first, the origin of Tazabagyab culture was considered to be connected with the Kelteminar Neolithic culture, thus no one could rule out that some separate groups of Srubnaya and Andronovo population also took part in the formation of the Tazabagyab culture (Толстов 1948: 76). However, later the hypothesis was proposed that the emergence of the Tazabagyab culture in the Southern Aral is linked to the penetration of mixed Srubnaya-Andronovo tribes from the steppe zone and their amalgamation with the local Suyargan culture. Gradually, the Srubnaya-Andronovo tribes completely assimilated with the Suyargan population (Толстов 1962: 57, 59; Итина 1977: 139, 140; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 150; Кузьмина 1988: 50).

The burial complexes of the Tazabagyab culture in the region of the Southern Aral are known from excavations of the Kokcha III burial-ground which was investigated by the Khorezm Expedition in 1954–1955 and 1977 (Итина 1961: 3–96; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 123–152).

The Kokcha III cemetery is situated in the lower part of the ancient Amu Darya delta. In the area of the burial-ground 118 graves have been revealed, among which only 53 burials with 74 dead were preserved fairly well. The grave features of the Kokcha III are quite similar for whole number of the burials. These are simple earth pits of rectangular or square shape with rounded corners, devoid of any over-grave structures. Most of the graves contained a single burial (32 burials, of which 14 were male, 5 female and 13 children’s), but there were also 21 double burials, from which 15 were burials of adult pairs (mostly simultaneous), 2 female, 3 children’s and 1 burial of a woman with a child. All the dead were inhumed. The skeletons lay flexed — each man on his right side and each woman on her left. The bodies were oriented to the west with slight deviations to the south or north. The posture of the dead in paired heterosexual burials at Kokcha III was uniform: they lay flexed on one side (a man on his right and a woman on her left) turned to one another with their faces (fig. 1: 1, 2) (Итина 1961: 11–49, fig. 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 123–137, fig. 32, 36).

The grave goods from Kokcha III are represented by various forms of handmade pottery and metal objects. The ceramic assemblage includes 118 vessels. The pottery was made of clay tempered with great amounts of pounded shell and marl. The vessels were non-uniformly fired and had a spotty outer surface. The predominant part of the pottery were vessels with a bent or straight throat, a small slightly out-curved rim, a sharply curved shoulder and a narrow bottom. Other shapes also were found: can-like vessels with a smoothed ledge in the area of their shoulder (fig. 2: 1). The decorations were arranged in zones on the necks and shoulders. The ornamental elements were composed of isosceles and open-ended triangles, triangles with “eyelashes” and crooked lines. Some examples had a meander. The execution of ornamental decoration on the vessels is carved (Итина 1961: 63–74, fig. 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 142–147, fig. 33, 35, 37, 38). The collection of metal objects from Kokcha III consisted mostly of bronze women’s adornments, including temporal pendants (fig. 3: 1), convex–concave lamellate bracelets with open meeting ends decorated with small inlays along the outside edges (fig. 3: 2), and rings. In addition, various bronze, stone, paste and clay beads as well as a number of bronze needles were found in women’s burials. The inventory of the men’s graves, in addition to the pottery, included bronze awls with bone handles (fig. 3: 3). Adornments were found only in women’s graves: each of the dead usually had two bracelets on their wrists and two pendants located in the area of the temporal bones (Итина 1961: 74–89, fig. 23-28; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 147–149, fig. 34).

The datings of the Tazabagyab culture, proposed in the earlier works by authors of the excavations and by other researchers, practically have not changed in their later publications. M. A. Itina dated the Tazabagyab culture at first to the middle – the end of the 2^nd millennium B.C. (Итина 1959: 54), then to the middle – the second half of the 2^nd millennium B.C. (Итина 1977: 22), or the 14^th–11^th centuries B.C. (Итина 1998: 85). E. E. Kuzmina adheres to a similar dating of the Tazabagyab culture: the 15^th–11^th centuries B.C. (Кузьмина 1988: 50), or 15^th–13^th centuries B.C. (Кузьмина 1994: 229). According to M.A. Itina’s opinion the whole period of existence of the Kokcha III cemetery can be related to the 13^th–11^th centuries B.C. and she traditionally abides by such dates in all her publications (Итина 1961: 89; Итина 1977: 22; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 147, 150; Итина 1998: 85).

The tradition of burying in simple earth pits at Kokcha III has no direct parallels at sites of the late Bronze Age Srubnaya and Andronovo cultures in the steppe zone of Eurasia. The burial customs of these cultures were linked to a greater variety of structural elements. The nearest parallels to the simple rectangular pits of Kokcha III are known from the Alakul cemetery of Tasty-Butak (Aktyubinsk region, Western Kazakhstan). However there, all the burials had some over-grave structures e.g. stone enclosures, and were mostly collective with several graves united into groups (Сорокин 1962: 28). Thus, the tradition of burying dead in simple earth pits without over-grave structures found at Kokcha III should be considered as a local burial custom which was peculiar only to tribes of the Tazabagyab culture.

The westward orientation of the dead in graves, in general, is characteristic only of the Andronovo culture, therefore the similar orientation of the dead at the cemetery of Kokcha III may be explained by an Andronovo influence. Another question concerns the Kokcha III tradition of laying men on their right side and women on their left. Throughout Central Asia, beside the Kokcha III cemetery, this posture of the dead was often found in burial complexes of the local settled agricultural and cattle-breeding populations of the late Bronze Age, namely in the Sapalli culture in Southern Uzbekistan and the Bishkent culture in Southern Tajikistan. On the basis of this fact, M. A. Itina came to the conclusion that the agricultural population of the south of Central Asia exerted certain cultural influence upon Tazabagyab tribes of the Southern Aral which resulted in the adoption the described burial tradition by the latter tribes (Итина 1977: 214–216; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 149, 150; Итина 1987: 68). According to M. A. Itina’s opinion such conclusion is confirmed by finds of certain objects in Tazabagyab complexes which may be regarded as an evidence of direct contacts between the Tazabagyab population and southern agricultural cultures by means of which the Tazabagyab tribes could borrow such feature of burial custom from agricultural ones (Итина 1986: 132). However, the amount of these finds in the Southern Aral region is very insignificant, all of them having been uncovered in unstratified and mostly scattered layers of dwellings. That is why there are certain doubts in their Tazabagyab belonging (in burials of Kokcha III, for instance, similar things have not been found at all). Therefore, there are no reasons to regard these finds as an evidence of developed cultural relations. It is impossible to speak authentically about deep and versatile influence of local Central Asia cultures over Tazabagyab population of the Southern Aral, because no convincing enough materials are actually available.

In view of the absence of proofs of a cultural influence of Central Asian agricultural cultures over Tazabagyab tribes, it is possible to put forward the following hypothetical explanation of the appearance of the custom of burying men on their right and women on the left side in the Tazabagyab culture.

In single graves dating to the Alakul period of the Andronovo culture, the dead (both men and women) in most cases lay on their left side. However, burying the dead on their right side was also widespread in the Alakul society. For example, at the cemetery of Tasty-Butak, 73,6% of the total number of the dead were lying on their left side and 26,4 % were on their right (Сорокин 1962: 35). At the Alakul cemetery of Vetlyansk (in the lower reaches of the Ilek River, Ural region) most of the deceased also were lying on their left side, while only 22,6 % were on their right (Горбунов 1992: 27). At the same time, in double heterosexual Alakul graves women usually were buried facing the men. This burial rite was observed practically throughout the entire territory of occupation of Alakul tribes (Сальников 1952: 63; Сорокин 1962: 92; Евдокимов 1984: 11; Зданович 1988: 143). Accordingly, if in double heterosexual Alakul graves a man was buried on his left side then a woman was on her right, and vice versa, if a man was laid on his right side then a woman was on her left. For example, at the Tasty-Butak burial-ground, seven double heterosexual burials have been discovered, of which in five graves men were lying on their left side and women on their right, and in two burials men were lying on their right and women on their left side (Сорокин 1962: 92).

The described custom is strictly observed at the cemetery of Kokcha III, where in all the fifteen double heterosexual burials, the dead were lying face-to-face — men on their right side and women on their left (Итина 1961: 56; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 138). By all appearances, the semantics of this custom is closely connected with the idea of an opposition between man and woman in the ancient society — it is an idea of two systems of initially opposite signs. This leads us to the assumption that the tradition of the male and female inhumations in the burial custom of Tazabagyab culture in the Southern Aral region, with its strictly fixed opposition of postures of men and women, is a transformation of the ritual norms of double heterosexual burials of Alakul culture. A new understanding of the old and steady notions which had existed among the Alakul population (probably, connected with the status of public relations of man and woman in the ancient society) became the reason for the appearance of a new burial practice among the Tazabagyab population, in the formation of which Alakul tribes took the basic part. In the steppe zone such postures of the dead are characteristic only of the Alakul culture; in double heterosexual burials of the Srubnaya culture the deceased (both men and women) lay mostly on their left sides — the women always buried behind of men’s back.

Some developmental features of the Tazabagyab culture are expressed in the ceramic assemblage from the Kokcha III possessing a certain combination of characteristics, which allow us to identify the chronological frameworks of this culture. First of all, one should note the complete absence of the shaft-type pottery which in the steppe zone is found from the beginning of the 14^th–13^th centuries B.C. It is during this period that in the steppe zone there appeared the so-called “community of cultures of shaft-type pottery”, tribes of Sargarino-Alekseevo and Ivanovo cultures being its basic representatives. Secondly, the presence of pot-like vessels with a smoothed ledge on the shoulder and herring-bone pattern on the body in the ceramic complex from Kokcha III allows us to date this tradition precisely to the late Alakul period (fig. 2: 1). The carved technique of decoration also makes the Tazabagyab pottery to resemble the Alakul’s one. Thirdly, on the pottery from Kokcha III cemetery, a small number of ornamental elements (e.g. slanting shaded upturned triangles on the rim, geometrical meanders, groups of triangles contiguous with their angles on the body, zigzags) are present which in a greater degree are characteristic of pottery of the Fedorovo cultural tradition (fig. 2: 2).

As to the women’s metal adornments found at Kokcha III, they all belong to the Andronovo culture. According to N. A. Avanesova who has carried out a typological analysis of metal artefacts of the Andronovo culture, the bronze temporal pendants are an “ethnic feature of Alakul sites” (Аванесова 1991: 54), and lamellate convex-concave bracelets with meeting ends also are encountered among artefacts of the Alakul period (Аванесова 1991: 68), though later they are fairly common also in Fedorovo assemblages.

Thus the analysis of burial complexes of Tazabagyab culture from the Kokcha III showed that these complexes possess a number of features which find parallels in cultural traditions of various related (Andronovo) steppe populations of the late Bronze Age Eurasia: 1) in Alakul (at the later stage of its development), and 2) partly, in Fedorovo. Separate elements of cultural traditions of these groups of steppe population, having mixed up, formed the unique originality of the Tazabagyab culture.

The relative periodisation of the Andronovo culture of the Eurasian steppe zone has at present steady chronological frameworks, on the basis of which the development of the Andronovo community can be dated in the following sequence: a) the Petrovo culture of the 21^st–18^th centuries B.C.; b) the Alakul culture of the 17^th–16^th centuries B.C.; c) the Fedorovo culture of the 15^th–14^th centuries B.C.; d) the Sargarino-Alekseevo culture of the 14^th–13^th centuries B.C.

Thus the evidence from Kokcha III burial-ground shows that the emergence of the Tazabagyab culture in the area of the Southern Aral should be correlated with the late Alakul – early Fedorovo period of the development of the Andronovo cultural community (i.e. the end of the 16^th – beginning of the 15^th centuries B.C.).

The entire period of the existence of the Tazabagyab culture in the Southern Aral region, to our opinion, was fairly short. This conclusion is confirmed, firstly, by the almost absolute identity of types of the pottery from the Kokcha III and that from Tazabagyab settlements; this fact, repeatedly noted by the authors of the excavations (Итина 1961: 72; Виноградов, Итина, Яблонский 1986: 143-147), allows us to synchronise these materials. The second argument is the absolute absence of any dynamics in the development of the burial rites at Kokcha III, a completely identical combination of ritual features being peculiar to all the burials. The stagnation of the burial custom is expressed in all its components: the shape of burials (common ground pit), postures of the inhumed (the man on his right side and the woman on her left), orientation of the dead (strictly westward), composition of the grave goods (bracelets and pendants in women’s burials, and awls with a bone handle in men’s graves), the spatial arrangement of the accompanying inventory (pottery put near the head of the deceased).

On the basis of the facts described above we can arrive at the following conclusions. Tazabagyab tribes (in that kind as their material culture has been reflected in the Kokcha III burial-ground) were occupying the region of the Southern Aral for an extremely short period. Their fate, in general, was similar to that of the Fedorovo tribes, which during their migrations penetrated to Southern Siberia, where, having been torn away from their basic territory and exhausted of their human resources, they soon disappeared, without having influenced significantly the local population. By all appearances, the tribes of the Tazabagyab culture underwent a similar evolution: a separate group of steppe tribes reached the territory of the Southern Aral and due to various reasons disappeared after a certain segment of time.

In Central Asia, archaeological complexes of the Tazabagyab type, besides the Southern Aral region, are found on the Lower Zarafshan (territory of modern Bukhara area), where over 20 scattered settlements and one small cemetery of Gudjaili (only 5 graves) have been discovered (Гулямов, Исламов, Аскаров 1966: 187–207). The greatest amount of pottery of the Tazabagyab type found in the inner areas of Central Asia. It is concentrated within south-east Turkmenistan, in agricultural oases of the Murghab delta belonging to Namazga VI period; here numerous fragments of the Tazabagyab type pottery were gathered from the surface around ancient agricultural settlements (Кутимов 1999: 321). Thus, the area of the Southern Aral must have been an intermediate point for Tazabagyab tribes on their migration route from the steppe zone to the internal areas of Central Asia – mainly, to agricultural oases of the ancient Murghab delta of Namazga VI period. It seems, that from the Southern Aral, the Tazabagyab tribes penetrated deep into Central Asia along the banks of the Amu Darya. Some of these tribes, having reached the mouth of the Zarafshan, further proceeded upstream towards the territory of modern Bukhara oasis; another group turned south-west and gradually reached ancient agricultural oases of the Murghab delta.

The late Alakul tribes were the basic cultural component of the Tazabagyab community. A small number of vessels of the Fedorovo type found among the Tazabagyab pottery suggest an insignificant inclusion of Fedorovo tribes as part of the Tazabagyab community, or, more probably, that it were just cultural contacts between the Tazabagyab and Fedorovo populations, which resulted in Tazabagyab people borrowing some elements of the Fedorovo tradition of pottery-making. In general, the dating of Tazabagyab culture should be placed within the end of the 16^th – the first half of the 15^th century B.C.

М. В. Скржинская. Какому божеству поклонялись ольвиополиты в святилище на Гипполаевом мысу

Согласно одним рукописям “Истории” Геродота на Гипполаевом мысу находился храм Деметры, согласно другим – храм Матери богов или Кибелы (IV, 53). В современных отечественных и зарубежных изданиях текста и переводах сочинения Геродота отдается предпочтение храму Деметры, хотя для этого нет никаких оснований, кроме наших сведений о том, что ольвиополиты чтили эту богиню.

В статье приводятся доводы в пользу храма Матери богов в ее ипостаси покровительницы мореплавателей. Для этого обращено особое внимание на новеллу Геродота об Анахарсисе (IV, 76), из которой следует, что скиф, находясь в Кизике, обращался к Кибеле как богине, могущей способствовать его благополучному возвращению в Скифию через опасное Черное море. Затем он справил в Гилее благодарственное празднество Матери богов.

Ольвийские граффити подтверждают существование алтаря Матери богов в Гилее уже в VI в. до н. э. Храм V в. до н. э. стоял на Гипполаевом мысу, где пересекались речные дороги в Скифию по Гипанису и Борисфену и путь вниз по лиману, ведущий в Черное и Средиземное моря. Здесь поклонялись Кибеле как защитнице всего живого на суше и на воде. Мать богов просили о благополучном путешествии по рекам и морям. Ее храм, воздвигнутый на мысу, уподобленному ольвиополитами корабельному носу, служил маяком для судов, прибывавших в Ольвию.

M. V. Skrzhinskaya. What Deity Was Worshiped by Olbiapolitians at the Sanctuary on the Hippolaus’s Cape

According to some manuscripts of the Herodotus’s “Historia”, on the Hippolaus’s Cape there was a temple of Demeter, according to other it was a temple of the Great Mother of Gods – Cybele (IV, 53). Both in Russian and foreign modern publications and translations of the Herodotus’s work, the version of the temple of Demeter is preferred, although without any grounds, except for our knowledge that Olbiapolitians did worship this goddess.

In this article, arguments are presented in favour of the temple of the Mother of Gods in her quality of a protectress of seafarers. In this connection, an especial consideration is paid to the Herodotus’s story of Anaxarsis (IV, 76), which tells that a Scythian, who came to Cyzicus, appealed to Cybele for his successful return to Scythia across the perilous Black Sea and then made in Hylea thanksgiving festivities in honour of the Mother of Gods.

Olbian graffiti confirm the existence of an altar of the Mother of Gods in Hylea already in the 6^th cen. B.C. The temple of the 5^th cen. B.C. stood on the Hippolaus’s Cape at the crossroad of river routes to Scythia via Hypanis and Borysthenes and the way down the liman, leading to the Black and Mediterranean seas. Here, Cybele was worshipped as the protectress of all living on land and in water. The Mother of Gods was appealed for a successful voyage by rivers and seas. Her temple, erected on the promontory which Olbialpolitians likened to a ship prow, served as a lighthouse for ships arriving to Olbia.

С. Д. Крыжицкий. Ольвия и скифы в V в. до н.э. К вопросу о скифском «протекторате»

S. D. Kryzhitskiy. Olbia and Scythians in the 5^th Century B.C. To the Question of the Scythian “Protectorate”

The 5^th cent. B.C. was the period in the history of the Olbian state, when the major changes in its policy, as actually in all other spheres of life, took place. Besides the changes firmly established archaeologically, there is an event in the history of Olbia, the reliability of which is not quite obvious and requires serious arguments to prove it. It is the problem of the existence of the Scythian “protectorate” in Olbia. There are two extreme points of view on this problem now. Some researchers assume that the “protectorate” did exist, others deny such a possibility. Since direct evidences of the existence of the Scythian “protectorate” are lacking, supporters of the first standpoint attract general historic constructions, based on numismatic data and Herodotus’s “Scythian Logo”, to prove their case. In addition to these sources they allude to the entire aggregate of archaeological facts. But these facts cannot be interpreted quite unequivocally and, as it seems, may lead to absolutely contrary conclusions.

The problem of the substance and chronology of the Scythian “protectorate” has three aspects. Firstly, it concerns the so-called Scythian threat, which, by the logic of events, must have forerun the “protectorate” and which, according to Yu. G. Vinogradov, arose about 510-490 B.C. This threat was continuing till the appearance of another “protectorate”, which is tied with the name of Ariapith (c. 480–470). The basic question here is to what extent this threat was actually real. The second aspect of the problem is connected with Skylos, whose activities took place about 470–450 B.C. We mean here the Scythian king, whose existence and certain contacts with Olbia are undoubted by the absolute majority of researchers (including the author of this article). The question is only about the form these contacts took. Finally, the third aspect is connected with the presumable existence of Eminakos — the king (or governor) of the “protectorate” (c. 450–440).

In the opinion of supporters of the “protectorate” hypothesis, the latter is confirmed rather by the entire complex of facts than by any isolated ones. However, a more careful examination of the archaeological facts taken separately (and this is the subject of this article) reveals a number of discrepancies and disputable questions, which subject to doubt the possibility both of joining these heterogeneous facts together and of their interpretation in favour of the existence of Scythian military threat in general and of the “protectorate” particularly. Thus the complex approach comes into contradiction with the very system of proofs.

The available archaeological evidence, taking into account the interpretational unfoundedness of historical reconstructions based on Herodotus’s Scythian Story, suggests with a fair probability that the second and third quarters of the 5^th cent. B.C. were a period of peaceful and independent establishment and development of the Olbian polis, as well as of its peaceful contacts with Scythians.