"Археологические вести". Спб., 2009. Выпуск 16. Аннотации
«Археологические вести» № 16 — очередной выпуск ежегодника ИИМК РАН. В выпуск вошли статьи, посвященные изучению искусства малых форм от палеолита вплоть до средневековья. В частности рассматриваются «мобильное» искусство позднего палеолита, спиральные мотивы в орнаментации неолитической керамики Восточной Азии, художественный металл Боспорского царства, средневековая торевтика малых форм с территории Саяно-Алтая, мотив птицы в изделиях художественного ремесла Белоруссии XII–XIII вв. Анализируются вариативность конского снаряжения пазырыкского времени и серебряные монеты Пантикапея с надчеканкой. Публикуются материалы исследований верхнего культурного слоя палеолитической стоянки Гарчи I и уникальные находки тканей из Пскова. Представлены работы по актуальным проблемам археологии — на материалах каменных индустрий Южной Африки прослеживается направленность культурной динамики в среднем палеолите, а также рассматриваются актуальные вопросы исследования средневековых поселений Северного Киргизстана. Дается информация о важнейших международных конференциях и обозрение отечественных и зарубежных публикаций по археологии. Один из разделов посвящен истории науки. Среди авторов ежегодника ученые из России (Москва, Санкт-Петербург, Псков, Новгород, Анапа, Владивосток), Украины, Белоруссии, Киргизстана, Туркменистана, Франции и Германии.
Для археологов, этнографов, историков.
НОВЫЕ ОТКРЫТИЯ И ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ
П. Ю. Павлов. Стоянка Гарчи I — памятник костенковско-стрелецкой культуры на Верхней Каме (Северный Урал)
P. Yu. Pavlov. Garchi I – the Kostenki-Streletskian (Sungirian) siteon Upper Kama (Northern Urals
The site Garchi I (59o02´N; 56o10´E) is located at the shore of the Kama reservoir (Perm district, Russia). The find-bearing strata are exposed in a 200 m long cliff along the shore of the reservoir. Nearly 20 meters of Quaternary sediments are exposed in the section. The field investigations were carried out during the course of 3 summer seasons; 1990, 1991, 1995. Two adjacent find concentrations were investigated. Nearly 6000 artifacts were found during the excavations that covers a total area of 169 m2 .
A single radiocarbon date, conducted on charcoal from an excavated hearth, provided an age of about 29 14C ka (34 cal ka). This age is in fairly good agreement with the luminescence dating of the corresponding sediments (about 33 ka). The find distribution seems to correspond with dwelling structures and fireplaces suggesting that this was a camp site area. This interpretation is also supported by the artifacts assemblage that was uncovered. The primary flaking technique is characterized by fl at, parallel cores. Flakes form the dominant type of blank; there are virtually no tools on blades. Among the tools there are also numerous characteristic bifacial triangle projectiles with concave or straight bases (of Streletskaya/Sungirian type). The assemblage contains a high frequency of scrapers. In particular there are many scrapers with a characteristic sub-triangular shape and a ventral retouch, but circular ones with retouch along the perimeter of the blank are also common. The stone artifacts represent a typical Kostenki/Streletskaya, or Sungirian, complex.
В. С. Ветров. Искусство малых форм позднего палеолита степей Северного Причерноморья и Приазовья
V. S. Vetrov. Mobiliary Art of the Late Paleolithic Age in the Steppes of the Northern Black Sea Littoral and Azov Region
The Paleolithic art of the steppes in the Northern Black Sea region and the lowland of the Sea of Azov is represented exclusively by mobiliary art. The latter includes statuettes, various ornamented objects and tools, adornments (pendants made from drilled animal teeth or shells) and objects of unclear purpose (bones with indentations).
The available publications link the art of the northern Black Sea and Azov steppes with economic activities of the late Paleolithic communes of the region. An analysis of these publications leads us to the following conclusion. The differences caused by differing economic strategies and hunting of different animal species had resulted in variation of the types of the archaeological sites and complexes considered here. At the same time we must agree with the opinion P. I. Boriskovskiy and N. D. Praslov about a special character of the economy of the steppe zone during the late Paleolithic Age. Assuming that art is a reflection of the economic activities of people who created it we find certain uniformity of the art of the steppe zone. This uniformity is expressed firstly in the extreme poverty of that art. The ornaments are of the exceptionally primitive type and constitute the most representative group of the finds. Probably, the nomadic mode of life associated with regular contacts between populations, promoted the wide circulation of particular symbols and ornamental patterns throughout the entire steppe region. In fact, we are dealing here only with two more or less representative series of the symbolically ornamental arts, viz. at the site of Balin-Kosh in the Crimea and the group of the Rogalik sites which is the most distant to the north-east from the center of the steppe zone. The present author supposes that it is the extreme northeastern location of the Rogalik sites and their territorial affinity to the zone of the mammoth hunters with their variable and lavish mobiliary art that explains the presence of female symbolism at these sites. An indirect confirmation of this hypothesis may be found e. g. in records of female figurines found at the site of Minyevskiy Yar which lies further northwest of the Rogalik group. Finally, the Paleolithic art of the steppe zone differs essentially from that of the neighboring regions. In particular, there are significant differences from the southwestern zone of the Dniester River and Carpathian Mts represented e. g. by the advanced art of the Molodova sites tied genetically with Moustier epoch. Equally considerable is the difference from the northern and northeastern zones marked by the highly developed art of bone-carving covering a wide range of objects from beads and ornamented plates from mammoth ivory to anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines. Thus, it is proposed in the present paper to segregate the steppe regions of the northern Black Sea littoral and those around the Sea of Azov into a separate specific area of the Paleolithic art with its own individual features some of which are described here.
И. В. Калинина. Веревка в орнаментации дземонской керамики
I. V. Kalinina. Cord in Decoration of the Jōmon Pottery
Comparison of the Jōmon pottery with ceramic assemblages of Eurasian cultures demonstrates distinctly regional peculiarities in the development of the Neolithic traditions. However, certain general regularities are also traceable. In terms of a number of technological features, the pottery of the Early Jōmon (5000–3500 BC) displays typological similarity to the Neolithic Kama pottery (5000–4200 ВС).
The decorations of the Neolithic earthenware from the forest zone of Eurasia occasionally include, along with the so-called geometric designs, zoomorphic representations rendered in combed and pitted impressions or scratched lines. For the Neolithic epoch and Bronze Age, also vessels with relief plastics are known — zoomorphic appliqués around the outer or internal edge of the rim. Using experimental modelling, an additional special group of zoomorphic designs executed by means of bones of animals, birds and fishes has been recorded.
Studies of the technology of decoration of the Neolithic pottery have demonstrated that the ornamenter, or the tool for making decorations, was not just a casual object. Semantic meaning was intrinsic not only to the pattern itself, i. e. to «what was represented», but also to the tool for decorating. Moreover, an interrelation has been established between the ornamenters and archaic pendants — «amulets» or «talismans».
In the forest zone of Eurasia, zoomorphic semantics of the ornamenters were lost with time, but decorative motifs of «imprints of paws or teeth of animals» have survived until the ethnographically recordable period.
The links of the pottery of the Forest Neolithic with the image of beast are traceable not only in stamping the surface of vessels with animal mandibles and bones. Treatment of the surface with technological decorations and patterns continuously and monotonously covering the walls of the vessels is possibly rooted in the artistic techniques of rendering the hair of animal skin.
On the pottery of archaeological cultures where the patterns made with animal bones have been recorded, the imprints of cords are only secondary elements. However in Japan, the cord decoration covers the entire surface of the Jōmon vessels.
In the Neolithic cultures of Eurasia, it is possible to guess the image of beast behind the semantics of the pottery-decorating tool. On the Jōmon pottery, no animal «imprints» are found. In the notions of the Japanese there was no beast in its totemic conception. On the contrary, the cord held an important role as may be judged from evidence of different periods of the Japanese culture. In ancient Japan, cord, thatch and, later, rice straw substituted wood, birchbark and hides used by man in the forest zone, where a semantic function of «protection» was related with the animal skin. In Japan, the cord strengthened and tied the thatched roofs and house walls, thus «protecting» and «defending» humans. The primary semantic function of cord implying «strengthening» or «protection» coincided with its practical function. The cord decoration of the Jōmon pottery in ancient Japan seems to have originated from the semantic importance of cord and its wide use in the everyday life, including the making of pre-ceramic vessels.
In their semantics, the ornamenters (cord and animal bones) are phenomena of a single typological rank reflecting the general regularities of the development of human culture. In ancient Japan, to the cord, like to the beast in the forest zone, a certain place was assigned in the world-view concepts of «Life–Death». The function of cord as intended to «tie together» → «to join» engendered its semantic function of «creating the new».
The evidence obtained through studies of the technology of decorating Neolithic vessels confirms the unity of technology and Weltanschauung in prehistory. The blending of the conceptual and properly technological aspects in the process of decorating defined the conditions and real mechanism of elaboration of the artistic language.
О. Н. Данилова, И. С. Жущиховская. Спиральный мотив в орнаменте неолитической керамики Восточной Азии и Дальнего Востока: формализованно-аналитический подход
O. N. Danilova, I.S. Zhushchikhovskaya. Spiral Motifs on the Neolithic Pottery of East Asia and the Far East of Russia
Herein we consider the spiral design on the pottery of Neolithic cultures of East Asia (China and the Japan Islands) and the Far East of Russia (Lower Amur River) (Fig. 1). The chronological frame of this study spans from the 6th to the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. The new approach to description and systematization of spirals as an ornamental motif consists of characterizing them from the point of view of geometry and algebra. There are four basic types of spirals differing in the method of their construction: the Archimedean spirals, logarithmic spirals, the clothoid and a spiral formed by superposition of semicircles (Fig. 2).
The studies under discussion have shown that all of the enumerated spiral types are present in the decoration of pottery of Neolithic cultures of East Asia and of the Russian Far East. Moreover, there are regional variations in the distribution of the types of spirals and in their artistic and compositional features. The predominant spiral type on the pottery of cultures of Eastern China (Yangshao, Majiayao, Dawenkou) is the clothoid constituting the «running wave» pattern (Fig. 3, 4). The pottery of the Jomon culture of Japan islands is characterized by the Archimedean and logarithmic spirals, occasionally there are clothoids, which however differ drastically in their artistic and compositional features from those on the pottery of Eastern China (Fig. 5, 6). The spiral decorations of the Neolithic cultures of the Lower Amur River (Malyshevskaya, Kondon, Voznesenovskaya) are peculiar for combining different types of spirals in a single motif and in a single composition, as well as for the presence of a figure formed by conjugation of semicircles (the «in-yang» symbol) (Fig. 7, 8). The variety mentioned above probably reflects regional cultural specifics of the artistic/aesthetic creative work of decorating ceramic ware.
Е. И. Гак, А. Н. Егорьков. Латунь Ергенинского могильника и ее историко-металлургический контекст
E. I. Gak, A. N. Yegor’kov. Ergeninsky Cemetery in Kalmykia: Additional Evidence of the Use of Brass in Antiquity
The evidence of the early use of zinc and brass is increasing rapidly over the world. Yet recently there existed some doubts concerning the authenticity of the brass specimens from museum collections since these were often acquired from various dealers rather than came directly from excavations. Information on the provenance of these examples was lacking while the reliability of their analysis was arguable. At present it is still uncertain whether the ancient production of brass was actually deliberate and controlled. For these reasons serious attention should be paid to the samples which come from archaeological excavations properly documented.
We have identified copper-zinc alloy by analysis of the metal of eleven tools from the Bronze Age Ergeninsky kurgan cemetery. The items analyzed are now kept among the collections of the State Historical Museum in Moscow. All the examples originate from excavations and each is provided with an inventory number and archaeological description. The cemetery is situated in the northern region of the Republic of Kalmykia (see map). Most of the barrows belong to the East-Manych Catacomb Culture. The burials, similar in their construction and the sets of grave goods, evidently composed an ancestral burial ground. The radiocarbon date of the graves is 25–22 century BC. All of the metal articles are typical to the steppe production: knives, awls, adze, chisel, hook. The results of optical emission spectroscopy are presented in table 2; in each case copper is the main component of the alloys.
All the eleven alloys analyzed showed a zinc content ranging from 0.5 to 11 %. In each sample the highest content of zinc corresponded with the lowest amount of arsenic (no. 5 in the table) or vice versa (no. 6). This fact suggests a deliberate introduction of the alloying metal. However, for a few specimens certain doubts that we are dealing here with the controlled alloying remain.
А. М. Новичихин. Бронзовый «терафим» с территории древней Синдики
A. M. Novichikhin. Bronze «Teraphim» from Ancient Sindica
In 1997, a bronze fi gurine was found by chance near the famous Seven Brothers barrows. In antiquity the figurine served as the head of a pin. It was cast in a two-piece mould and belongs to the circle of Caucasus/Near East/Mediterranean cult anthropomorphic plastic of the 2nd – first half of the 1st millennium BC. This is already a second similar find from the district of ancient Sindica.
А.Е. Терещенко. Серебряные монеты Пантикапея с надчеканкой
A. E. Tereshchenko. Panticapaeum Silver Coins with Countermarks
The paper of A. E. Tereshchenko is dedicated to the well-known type of Panticapaean silver dated to the fi rst quarter of the 4th century BC (Зограф, 1951. P. 172; Шелов, 1956. P. 217): Av — head of a bearded satyr right; Rv — lion head right, the legend ΠΑΝΤΙ below (fi g. 1, 1). The particular peculiarity of this series is the countermarks found on two of the coins from the collection of the State Hermitage (fi g. 1, 2, 3). The countermarks have the form of a impressed circle in the center of which there is the head of a beardless male (young man?) right (fi g. 1, 4). Possibly it is Apollo, especially as precedent representations of that deity on Panticapaeum coins have been known as early as the late 5th century BC (Анохин, 1986. Plate 2, 57–58). In the present author’s opinion, the appearance of such coins may have been connected with the «ruse» of Leucon I mentioned by Polyaenus according to whom Leucon counter-marked the coins brought to him doubling thus their denomination (Polyaen. VI, 9, 1). Noteworthy is that the value of the coins under consideration is defined as tribal so that after counter-marking they automatically became drachms. It seems that exactly such procedure did enable to get maximum profits in the shortest possible time in contrast to e. g. counter-marking of copper. We thus are dealing possibly with the earliest case of countermarking of coins throughout the entire Greek World.
М. Ю. Трейстер. Ремонт, «усовершенствование» инокультурных вещей в скифской и сарматской среде и использование инокультурного орнамента в декоре собственных произведений скифов и сарматов (на примере памятников художественного металла)
М. Yu. Treister. Repairs and Modifi cations of Imports and the Use of Foreign Ornamental Patterns in Decoration of Homemade Items in the Scythian and Sarmatian Milieu (by Examples of Artistic Metalwork)
The paper is devoted to imported items of Greek and Achaemenid jewellery and metal-ware with signs of ancient repairs or modifications. The finds from Scythian and Sarmatian barrows of Eurasia are considered.
1. Repairs.
1.1. Patched holes. Holes were often covered with metal patches riveted round the edges of the object (a gold conical object from the 4th century ВС Scythian barrow of Perederieva Mogila).
1.2. Fastening broken off parts together. Broken objects were put together with the help of strips of metal and rivets (4th century ВС bronze North-Greek or Macedonian kylix from Gaimanova Mogila; gold Achaemenid plaque found in a Sarmatian burial of the late 2nd-early 1st century ВС near the village of Verkhneye Pogromnoye).
1.3. Torn off parts «sewn» together. Absolutely different technique of «sewing» the parts together with narrow silver strips was used for repairing a 4th century ВС silver Achaemenid phiale from a Sarmatian barrow near the village of Prokhorovka in the southern Ural. The phiale was reused as a phalera. Another example is large silver-gilt phalerae of the late 3rd-early 2nd century ВС probably manufactured in Asia Minor. These were found near the village of Uspenskaya in the North Caucasus.
1.4. Addition of the lost or broken parts to an object. Further discussion is concerned with examples of ancient alterations of the original shapes: imported Greek jewellery in the Bosporan Kingdom of the 4th century ВС (temple pendants with the image of Athena Parthenos from Kul-Oba, a necklace from a female burial at the Elder Three Brothers barrow) and South Italic jewellery of the 3rd century ВС (а necklace from the Nogaichin barrow).
1.5. Objects remade completely. Cardinal remakes of imported objects are illustrated e.g. by the Achaemenid sword found in the Chertomlyk barrow.
2. Modifications.
2.1. Additional facings decorated in the animal style. In the Scythian Kul-Oba barrow of the 4th century ВС in the Eastern Crimea was found a bronze mirror of the Attic type, decorated with engraved palmette with volutes. Its handle was covered with gold facing with hammered images of running animals in the Scythian animal style. Since mirrors were held to have magical properties, it is probable that certain
sacral functions of an object pertaining to the Scythian culture were thus transmitted to the imported article.
2.2. Engraved motifs of the animal style. Some of the disks of imported bronze mirrors decorated originally with engraved palmettes were later additionally engraved with animal designs. Three such mirrors have been found in the necropoleis of the Bosporan cities of Nymphaion and Pantikapaion, as well as in the Sindian 6th Seven Brothers kurgan in the basin of the Kuban River. As suggested by Z.A. Bilimovich, the animal images on the latter disk were engraved by a Scythian craftsman, whereas all the three mirrors were manufactured at a North Pontic workshop in the second quarter or the middle of the 5th century ВС. Dated to approximately the same period is additional decoration of a silver phiale from the so-called Maikop Treasure. The phiale has an omphalos encircled by a silver-gilt plaque with feather pattern. Afterwards it was ornamented with an incised head of a bird of prey which has numerous parallels in the Scythian art of the 6th-5th centuries ВС. A silver kylix with the graffito AYKO of the late 5th century ВС from the oldest burial of the Solokha barrow was also additionally engraved with two animal compositions. According to A.Yu. Alekseev, the grave belonged to the Scythian king Orik. Decorated with similar additional engravings showing animals gilded within their outlines are silver phialai of the 1st century AD from the Sarmatian burial in a kurgan near Novo-Aleksandrovka.
2.3. Additional handles or loops. Noteworthy the same Sarmatian burial near Verkhneye Pogromnoye where the repaired Achaemenid plaque was found yielded in addition two Hellenistic silver bowls of which one was of conical shape and a type widespread in the 2nd-lst centuries ВС. This had an attachment in the form of a silver loop riveted to the bowl. It is quite possible that both the repair of the plaque and modification of the bowl were executed by one and the same craftsman.
2.4. Additional handles ornamented in the animal style. These additions not only altered the function of the objects but also their symbolic meaning. Examples are a silver basin and a ladle from the abovementioned burial near Novo-Aleksandrovka. The two vessels both were transformed by soldering zoomorphic handles to them. The ladle was remade in this way from a late Hellenistic bowl. The position of the attached zoomorphic handle on the silver jug with engraved friezes from cache no. 1 at barrow no. 28 near Vysochino suggests that the handle was a later addition since it overlapped the subject of the frieze. This fact testifies moreover that the zoomorphic handle was more important for the customer than the figured frieze itself.
2.5. Insertions riveted to the central part of an item of jewellery possibly altering the latter’s construction, symbolic meaning and sacral function. An example of such a modifi cation is a torque (or a diadem) from the burial of a Sarmatian priestess (?) of the late 1st–early 2nd century AD in barrow no. 10 at Kobyakovo (outskirts of Rostov-on-Don). The central part of the torque showing a god or a hero sitting en face was manufactured separately and attached in the center of the body of the torque. To the left and right of the central piece, as well as on the back plate of the torque, there are openwork animal combat scenes executed in the Central Asian animal style and richly embellished with turquoise inlays. The central plaque with the image of a sitting individual is rendered in a style differing from the rest of the torque having probably altered its symbolic meaning and sacral function rather than its general construction.
III. Foreign patterns in decoration of objects.
Here analysed are the decorative patterns of the Scythian bronze cauldrons of the 4th century BC from Raskopana Mogila and the North Burial of Chertomlyk. The composition of the upper frieze of the cauldron from Raskopana Mogila (alternating bukrania and phialai) suggests a «citation» of the ornamental pattern used in Greek architecture and in decoration of the Apulian vases. Further examples are the decoration of the horse-bit from the horse burial in the Middle Three Brothers barrow (guilloche pattern) and the bronze pole-tops from Tolstaya Mogila (palmettes), Aleandropol and Krasnyi Kut barrows (ovae). Finally, considered are images and patterns on the so-called «bird-beak» cheek-pieces from the 4th century BC Scythian barrows, in particular the peculiarities of the cheek-pieces from the Southern horse burial of Tolstaya Mogila.
Conclusions. Analysis of imported Greek and Achaemenid objects, as well as those from Hellenistic Asia Minor, found in Scythian and Sarmatian burials shows that these articles of bronze or precious metals were often repaired or modifi ed by local craftsmen. This fact suggests the existence of local workshops in the 4th–2nd centuries BC where it was possible to repair the damaged bowls or belt plaques by primitive means using brackets, rivets or braces made of silver wire or metal strips. Similarly restored in antiquity were the wooden fi gures of deer covered with gold overlays from the 4th century BC Sarmatian barrow
at Filippovka in the Southern Ural. Furthermore, as early as the 4th century BC the Scythians and Sarma-tians knew a technique of repairing wooden vessels with gold appliqués. The parts torn off from such objects were «sewn» to them by means of narrow bronze, silver or gold strips which were passed crosswise through the holes pierced along the edges. The fact, that signs of repair were well recognisable on the front surface of the objects, made anxious, as it seems, neither the craftsmen nor their clients. Along with renewal of various objects, the handicraftsmen probably produced in addition certain simple modifications of the imports. In particular, new handles were riveted to silver bowls manufactured in the workshops of Asia Minor or cities of the northern Black Sea littoral.
As early as the 5th century BC there existed a practice of additional decoration of Greek metal imports by engraved images in the animal style. These alterations were executed probably by Scythian craftsmen. Specialized craftsmen appeared among the Sarmatians at least as early as the mid–1st century BC as attested by a Greek inscription on a silver vessel with engraved friezes gilded within the contours of the images. The vessel, along with some similar ones, came from a burial near the village of Kosika in the Lower Volga area. The craftsman Ampsalakos, a Sarmatian judging by his name, manufactured this set of silver vessels by request of Artevasdes, king of Armenia. The craftsman had mastered the complicated technique of decorating silver vessels with engraved gilded images probably when he visited Armenia with the Sarmatian troops of the Bosporan King Pharnakes during the latter’s campaign in Asia Minor in 49–47 BC. The author is informed of no traces of primitive repairs (such as we know from the plaque from Verkhneye Pogromnoye) on imported jewellery from the Sarmatian complexes of the first centuries AD nor about renewal of any objects by «sewing» together the torn edges during that period. Nevertheless, modification of imported silver vessels by addition of zoomorphic handles or their additional decoration by engraved animal representations gilded within their contours suggests (along with other evidence) the existence of specialized toreutic workshops among the Sarmatians in the 1st century BC–2nd century AD.
The considerations presented above enable us, in addition, to form an idea about the variety of mechanisms of introducing a sacral function to objects of foreign cultures. Moreover, they give us grounds to suggest that the foreign ornamental patterns used as «citations» on the objects of the culture that adopted them may have been used to communicate new information and to render them new sacral meaning.
Е. В. Степанова. Распределители уздечных ремней скифского и гунно-сарматского времени
E. V. Stepanova. Distributors of Bridle Straps of the Scythian and Hun-Sarmatian Period E. V. Stepanova Distributors of Bridle Straps of the Scythian and Hun-Sarmatian Period
During recent years there is a tendency in the archaeology of South Siberia to shift the dating of the Scythian sites which have a number of analogues of the early Scythian period back to the turn of the 6th and 5th century BC. At the same time, for the sites with Hun-Sarmatian analogues, a younger date i. e. that of the 2nd century BC is proposed. Meanwhile, the time span of the use of any group of artifacts is far from falling within the limits of a certain chronological stage.
Here an attempt is presented to discuss the above statement by the example of recently published finds from kurgans 2 and 5 at the burial ground of Chendek-6a (High Altai) excavated by S. M. Kireev in 1999. In terms of the burial rite and grave goods these sites belong to the Pazyryk culture (Киреев, Шульга, 2006). Items of the bridle and saddle accessories from kurgan 5 and saddle accessories from kurgan 2 are typical to the later sites of the Pazyryk culture such as e. g. kurgans 3–6 of Pazyryk and burials of Shibe and Karakol (Руденко, 1953; Степанова, 2006). However, in the horse gear from kurgan 2, a combination of late saddle with shieldlike pendants, as well as of bridle with bronze dividers and links for criss-crossing straps have been fi rst encountered (fig. 2, 1; 3, 12). The presence of the bronze distributors in the bridle set from kurgan 2 at Chendek-6a, gives us grounds to place the latter among the early sites of the Pazyryk culture with the date of the 6th century BC.
Distributors of bridle straps really are more typical for the early Scythian period. Nevertheless they continued in use later in the Scythian and Hun-Sarmatian Age although without their former diversity of forms and careful execution. Two main forms of late links for crossing straps are noteworthy: 1) cross-like ones with loops on the back side, and 2) those with a round shield (either hemispheric or flattened cone-shaped) and a square base (smaller than the decorative shield) with a lozenge-shaped slit.
Cross-like distributors with loops on the reverse side go back to the distributors in the form of crossing pipes of the 7th–5th century BC — fig. 1, 1–4. Distributors with loops on the back side have been found in the Minusinsk Basin (a chance find), on the Oba River near Barnaul (Rogozikha-1 kurgan 2), in the Altai mountains (Yaloman-II, kurgan 51) and trans-Baikal region, and at the Xiongnu burial ground of Dyrestui (grave 5) — fig. 1, 5–7. The bridle sets from Rogozikha are dated to the late 6th– early 5th century BC, whereas the date of those from Yaloman and Dyrestui cemetery is the 2nd–1st century BC. Furthermore, along with the strap-distributors, the sets from Yaloman-II included two-hole iron cheek-pieces with round or «oar-like» terminals similar to the wooden cheek-pieces from the 1st, 3rd and 5th Pazyryk kurgans.
The strap-distributors from kurgan 2 of Chendek-6a (fig. 2, 1) belong to another late group with a round flattened-cone shield and a narrow base with a lozenge-shaped slit. In N. L. Chlenova’s opinion, such examples appeared in the Minusinsk Basin in the 5th century BC and continued in use until the Tashtyk period. In addition to chance finds they have been uncovered in the late Tagar barrows — the Bolshoy Tesinsky kurgan and kurgan 2 of the Beresh burial ground, as well as among the items of the Znamensky hoard (fi g. 2, 2–4). For the Bolshoy Tesinsky kurgan, dates within the span of the 2nd–1st century BC to 1st–2nd century AD were proposed; kurgan 2 of the Beresh cemetery is dated to the 3rd century AD and the Znamensky hoard to the 2nd century BC – first centuries of the 1st millennium AD (Дэвлет, 1961; Вадецкая, 1999; Подольский, 2002; Пшеницына, 1992).
The dividers of cheek straps (B- or 8-shaped, either with a decorative shield or without it) became widely distributed in the Altai, Minusinsk Basin, in Kazakhstan and the Ural region in the late 6th – early 5th century BC. Moreover, some similar objects have been reported also for pre-Scythian times, e. g. those from the late Novocherkassk kurgan near v. Kvitki in Porosye (Иванчик, 2001. Fig. 106, 63–64). In the mid-6th – first half of the 5th century BC, 8-like dividers with a shield in the form of doubled hemispheric plaques were in use (Maima-19; Kaindu kurgan 7; Novyi Sharap-1, kurgan 19) — fig. 3, 1, 5, 9. During the same period, dividers devoid of a decorative shield appeared; these were either B-shaped or «eight-like». Dated possibly to the 6th–early 5th century BC are the iron B-shaped divider from kurgan 63 in Southern Tagisken, B-shaped bone ones from kurgan 27 at the cemetery of Tytkesken-VI, B-shaped bone items and an iron 8-shaped divider from kurgan 93 near v. Turan, bronze 8-like examples from robber excavations at kurgans of the Vtoryye Pyatimary
group (fig. 3, 3–4, 6–8). To the 6th–4th century BC belong the bronze B-shaped dividers from the Smaller Tuekta kurgans (Киселев, 1951. Pl. XXVIII, 4, 7, 11, 18). In general, the bridle trappings from the barrows enumerated are typical to the sites close in time or directly precedent to the early Pazyryk kurgans (the 2nd Bashadarsk, 1st and 2nd Tuekta).
The dividers without a decorative shield were continuing in use even later. The bridle with bronze B-shaped dividers (fig. 3, 2) from grave 1 at the cemetery of Kuznetsk-1/5 is dated to the 4th–3rd century BC. Iron 8-shaped dividers have been found among the horse gear at the Xiongnu burial ground of Ilmovaya Pad of the 1st century BC–1st century AD (fi g. 3, 16) where in addition complicated side-rein blocks characteristic of the late Pazyryk kurgans were uncovered (Степанова, 2006. Fig. 9, 16; Руденко, 1962. Pl. XXII, 5).
For the standard sites of the Pazyryk culture, even so early as the 2nd Bashadar or 1st and 2nd Tuekta, neither dividers nor other distributors of straps are typical, although in some ordinary barrows they indeed have been found. For instance, at the early Pazyryk sites of the 5th–early 4th century BC — kurgan of Taldur I and kurgan 26 of Koksu 1, the bridle furnishings include bone distributors with a hemispherical shield and B-shaped dividers without a decorative shield (fig. 3, 10, 11). The B-shaped bone divider from kurgan 17 of Koksu 1 has a fl at shield shaped as an «eight» (fig. 3, 13). In that barrow, a bone buckle of a one-piece clasp with a bill in the plane of its frame was preserved of the saddle — such buckles were used as girth fastenings since the 4th century BC.
Very interesting are the silver dividers from the Znamensky hoard. These three sets all have a fl at shield in the form of doubled trefoils — fig. 3, 14–15.
Although there are no exact parallels to the bronze dividers from Chendek, noteworthy is their similarity to the late dividers — the bone example with a fl at shield shaped like an «eight» from kurgan 17 at Koksu 1 and the silver Znamensky ones which also have a fl at shield and a loop of an analogous shape on the back side.
Although dividers and distributors for crossing straps are thus more typical for the early Scythian Age, some of their forms continued into the Scythian and Hun-Sarmatian periods. Moreover, while in some regions they went out of use completely, in other (particularly in the Altai) they remained. Bridle distributors from kurgan 2 of Chendek-6a have parallels both in the Pazyryk kurgans and at sites of the Hun-Sarmatian period (fig. 2, 1–4, 3, 13–15).
The possible belonging of the distributors from kurgan 2 of Chendek-6a to some other culture is suggested by the composition of their bronze — it is tin-containing in contrast to the dagger from the same barrow which was cast from arsenical bronze typical to the Pazyryk culture (Хаврин, 2007. P. 280). The belonging to another culture is also suggested by incompleteness of the set of distributors (only three items) in the unlooted burial. However, the incomplete assemblage may be connected also with the burial rite (Очир-Горяева, 2006. P. 119). In any case, damaged or lacking items of horse gear among the grave goods are characteristic exactly of the late Pazyryk sites (Степанова, 2006. P. 141–143).
According to the last dendrochronological and radiocarbon data of high precision, such early site as kurgan 1 at Tuekta was constructed in c. 442 BC, kurgans 1 and 2 at the Pazyryk burial ground — in c. 300 BC, and the Pazyryk kurgan 5 — about 250 BC. Most of the excavated ordinary barrows are dated to the late 4th–early 3rd century BC (Евразия в скифскую эпоху (Eurasia during the Scythian Age), 2005. P. 165–169).
Most of the grave offerings from kurgans 2 and 5 at Chendek-6a are peculiar to the Pazyryk culture in general. The horse gear from these sites is typical for the late Pazyryk.
Summarizing all that is stated above it seems that the most probable date for kurgans 2 and 5 of Chendek-6a is the 3rd century BC.
Ю. Г. Семенова. Кенотаф Гая Цезаря в Лимирах. К вопросу интерпретации памятника
Yu. G. Semenova. The Cenotaph of Gaius Caesar in Limyra. The Problem of the Identifi cation of the Monument
This paper is concerned with one of the grandiose monuments erected in Asia Minor — the cenotaph of Gaius Julius Caesar, grandson of the emperor Octavian Augustus. The cenotaph was uncovered in the Lycian city of Limyra during the excavation conducted by Austrian archaeologists in 1974.
On the basis of the evidence obtained from the excavations the author discusses the architectural solutions and sculptural decorations of the monument, and the iconography of the frieze representations. Some tentative hypotheses are presented concerning the style of the sculptural frieze and the relation of the memorial structure under consideration to the earlier Lycian monuments.
The monument is considered within the frame of the studies of local sculptural schools in Asia Minor which appeared due to the existence of numerous independent states in the region. Probably, in the art of these schools, the local traditions interacted in different ways with the oriental and Greek ones, and later with the Roman influences.
The cenotaph of Gaius Caesar in Limyra as an architectural work, and the stylistic features of the reliefs with which it was decorated attest the preservation of the Hellenistic traditions in Lycia during the Roman times.
А. А. Липатов. Заметка о соотношении толщин плинфы и растворного шва в кирпичных кладках памятников византийской архитектуры
A. A. Lipatov. The Ratio between the Thicknesses of Plinthoi and Mortar Joints in Byzantine Constructions
The subject of this article is concerned with the quantitative parameters of brickwork in Byzantine architecture: the thicknesses of bricks-plinthoi and of mortar joints between them. For a long time the author has been impressed by the excessive (as it seems from the modern technical point of view) thickness of mortar joints often found in Byzantine constructions. The thickness of mortar, which separates two layers of bricks, is sometimes equal to the thickness of the plinthoi themselves, and occasionally is even greater. In order to elucidate whether this correlation was a normal practice in Byzantine architecture or it was related only with monuments of a certain period with an unusual brick/mortar joint thickness ratio, the data on the thickness of plinthoi and mortar joints were summarized in a table. The constructions, mentioned in the table are arranged in the chronological order.
The tendency to enlarge the thickness of mortar joints is known from the Late Roman period becoming especially expressive in Middle and Late Byzantine times. During these periods, the thickness of mortar joints was increased from 10–15 mm to 60–70 mm amounting occasionally to 120–150 mm. The motives for this process are hardly known even now: probably it was due to some economical reasons and/or the local building traditions and availability of the raw materials. It was stated that the increase of mortar joint thickness was directly linked with the increase in the quantity of the aggregates introduced into the lime mortar, i. e. crushed brick, limestone, pebble and gravel (Papayianni, Karaveziroglou, 1993. P. 493–500).
Taking into account the character of the additions to the mortar and their quantities, we are dealing in some cases rather with a conglomerate of coarse pieces of brick than with lime filled with the powder of crushed brick. With the quantitative increase of such mortar in the composition of the brickwork its brick component becomes rather a reinforcing element in a concrete monolith, i. e. the material bonding the brickwork may be regarded as monolithic concrete.
When the thickness of the mortar joints reaches 40 mm, the size of the brick aggregates grows up to 20–25 mm. Any pozzolanic reaction in such mortar is possible only within the contact zone between the lime binder and brick inclusions. With the increase of the mortar joints in Byzantine constructions the pieces of crushed brick became of fundamental importance. The reaction which was taking place in the contact zone between the lime and brick aggregates was not affecting the inside of the brick fragments. Instead, a stronger cohesion between the lime and bricks arose while the so-called «hot lime technology» (simultaneous slaking of lime and tempering of the mortar) was contributing to the process. In addition, the presence of coarse porous brick fragments in the mortar accelerated the hydratic cementation. All these factors quickened the rate of the construction works: the mortar was hardening faster allowing thus to proceed with the next layers of the brickwork earlier. Besides, large fragments of crushed brick prevented shrinkage of the mortar layers and deformation of the hardening mortar.
The strength characteristics of mortar and brick in such brickwork are nearly equal, the mortar sometimes showing even a greater vitality (Moropoulou et al., 2000. P. 45). Another important feature is the elasticity of this brickwork and its components — bricks and mortar (Çakmak et al., 1995. P. 125–133). Investigation of elasticity was carried out for structures of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: the modulus of elasticity is higher for bricks than for the mortar implying that exactly the mortar layers are the structural elements in the brickwork of this kind.
It is the nature of the bond between the lime binder and active aggregates on the boundary of their interaction that guarantees the high strength of such mortar and allows to classify it as a quasi-concrete material (Moropoulou et al., 2000. P. 35). Moreover, the use of thick vertical joints (up to 50–70 mm) with coarse brick aggregates in the brickwork of Hagia Sophia arches allows us to consider them as re-enforced quasi-concrete constructions, the entire building of Hagia Sophia having been one of the most ancient concrete structures (Livingston et al., 1992. P. 731; MacDonald, 1992. P. 12; Livingstone, 1993. P. 861).
Thus the characteristics of Byzantine buil ding mortars and peculiarities of the brickwork with thick mortar joints allow us to make an important conclusion: Byzantine constructions from Middle Byzantine times on and especially during the Late Byzantine period demonstrate the qualities peculiar to concrete monolithic structures (Moropoulou et al., 2000. P. 35; Moropoulou et al., 1996. P. 158–159; Binda, Baronio, 1986. P. 109–115; Livingston et al., 1992. P. 721–736; Çakmak et al., 1995. P. 128; Moropoulou et al., 2002. P. 543–552). Byzantine mortars based on lime and brick aggregates of different coarseness certainly are not a full analogue of the modern concrete. Nevertheless they may be considered as quasi-concrete in Byzantine architecture.
М. М. Казанский. Реки восточной части Балтийского бассейна и античные географы. Еще раз о Турунте и Хесине
M. M. Kazansky. Rivers of the Eastern Part of the Baltic Basin and Ancient Geographers. Once Again about the Turuntus and Chesinus
The geographic work of Ptolemy written in the first half of the 2nd century is believed by a number of scholars to have reflected the appearance of some new information about the eastern Baltics in the Roman Empire. That information possibly derived from slightly earlier times, perhaps, from Marinus of Tyre. Ptolemy was the first who is known to mention the rivers of the Baltic basin east of the Vistula and to enumerate the coastal peoples unknown before. In this paper, an attempt is presented to define to what territories did Ptolemy really refer. An object of particular controversy is the identification of the estuaries of the rivers Chronus, Rudon, Turuntus and Chesinus listed by Ptolemy from west to east beyond the Vistula. Thus the Chronus is interpreted as the Neman or Pregolya. The name of Rudon is attributed either to the Western Dvina or Neman. The Turuntus is thought to be either the West Dvina or the aquatic system of the Polota — Drysa — Velikaya — lakes Pskov and Peipus — the Narova, or, finally, it may be the Venta River. As to the Chesinus, it also was interpreted either as the system of the Polota — Drysa — Velikaya — lakes Pskov and Peipus — the Narova, or as the Pernova or Western Dvina rivers. One group of scholars agrees completely with K. Müllenhof localizing the rivers of Ptolemy in the south-eastern Baltic region between the Vistula and Western Dvina. A second group assumes that Ptolemy had information even on the remoter territories between the Western Dvina and the Gulf of Finland.
Possibly, of some interest concerning this problem would be to compare Ptolemy’s information about Baltic rivers with his description of the ethnogeography of the region. Indeed, Ptolemy’s «Geography» gives us not only a list of rivers in the region under consideration but also an enumeration of ethnonyms along the «Venedic Gulf» east of the Vistula where the mouths of the Chronus, Rudon, Turuntus and Chesinus are situated. If we define the most probable localization of these peoples we will understand where the rivers of Ptolemy should be searched for. Analysis of these ethnonyms has shown that all the peoples of the Venedian Gulf known to Ptolemy — Veneds, Veltae, Ossi, Carbones, Careotae, Sali — are identified as the population of the south-eastern Baltics in the area between the Vistula and Western Dvina. So, right are the researchers who place the Chronus, Rudon, Turuntus and Chesinus in the area south of the Western Dvina since there are no grounds to suppose that the hydrographic notions of Ptolemy on the Baltic region were more comprehensive than his knowledge of the ethnic geography of those territories.
Examination of the archaeological evidence for the population of the Baltics of the Roman period gives us grounds to associate Ptolemy’s peoples east of the Vistula Estuary with sites of the Wielbark culture as well as with the Baltic antiquities from Lithuania and south Latvia such as the fl at grave cemeteries on the Curonian seacoast, flat-grave burial grounds in eastern Courland, and barrows with stone circles and inhumations in Latgalia, Zemgale, Courland, north and west Lithuania, and perhaps the Finnish sites of the Tarand culture in western Courland.
The Veneds and Veltae are most probably to be placed within the territory of the Wielbark culture. According to archaeological evidence, the Baltic Ossi undoubtedly must be located if not in Sambia or at the Neman Estuary then at least no farther than the Curonian coast where, in the basin of the Bartuva River, the northern limits of the flat-grave cemeteries with stone circles lie. Higher along the coastline, in the basin of the Venta River, the zone of Finnish burial grounds with stone fences begins. On the Curonian coast, two compact groups of fl at grave cemeteries are distinguished. The southern one is possibly concerned with the Ossi. We should not however forget the possibility of a direct identification of Ptolemy’s Ossi with the Aestii of Tacitus (late 1st century AD) who inhabited the area directly to the east of the Vistula so that the two must both be localized in Sambia. The Carbones, northern neighbours of the Ossi, are then to be found either within the area of the mentioned Baltic flat-grave cemeteries on the Curonian coast (if the Ossi were the Sambia Aestii) or further on in the zone of the Finnish burial grounds with stone fences (if the Ossi are associated with the flat-grave cemeteries of the Curonian seaside). The seemingly inland Careotae may be associated either with the fl at cemeteries in eastern Courland or with the Letto-Lithuanian barrows with stone circles and inhumations. The latter hypothesis is more convincing since in the early medieval Curonian culture a component is distinguished connected by its origins with the tumulus culture. The Sali may probably be identified with the population of the same Baltic tumulus culture related perhaps with the basin of the Western Dvina known to have been inhabited afterwards by the historical Sels.
Naturally, all the above comparisons are only preliminary and hypothetical. It must be allowed for the fact that the names of the peoples mentioned in written sources may have been not tribal in some cases but corporative, as it has been already stated concerning the Carbones, or belonging to some polyethnical formations. Their lists by ancient authors often appear in a chance way. This is wholly true as Ptolemy is concerned. Nevertheless, it seems that consideration of Ptolemy’s ethnic geography of the Baltic coast gives us grounds to connect his information, in particular that about the Chronus, Rudon, Turuntus and Chesinus rivers, primarily with the area between the Western Dvina and the Vistula.
Г. Г. Король, Л. В. Конькова. Коллекции Отдела Востока Государственного Эрмитажа в исследованиях средневековой торевтики малых форм Саяно-Алтая и прилегающих территорий
G. G. Korol’, L. V. Kon’kova. Collections of the Oriental Department of the State Hermitage in Studies of the Medieval Toreutic Small Art of the Sayan-Altai Region and Nearby Areas
Over a period of years the present authors used collections of the State Hermitage, particularly of the Oriental Department, during their studies of horses and riders’ ornaments in medieval steppe Eurasia. In this paper, a discussion of two of the collections (and two items of a third one, in addition) is presented. The items were subjected to interdisciplinary analysis of their artistic features, including a review of their close parallels, macroanalysis of the technology of their manufacture, as well as analysis of the chemical composition of their metals. Interdisciplinary studies were concerned with 35 objects of which 34 were investigated not only in terms of their morphology, decoration and manufacturing technology, but also their chemical composition was analysed. Technology of the predominant number of the objects is peculiar to a large group of articles of the early medieval cultures of steppe Eurasia and adjoining territories. They were manufactured by casting in the technique of cireperdue which enables a wide range of artistic modelling of surfaces with creation of thin-walled three-dimensional objects with a relief decorative pattern. Analysis of the chemical composition of the metals was carried out by means of semiquantitative emission spectre analysis with the use of a series of special standards. The analysis was conducted by V. A. Galibin in the Chemical Laboratory of IIMK RAS.
Collection of P. N. (I. P.) Kornilov, 19th cent. (from the region of Minusinsk, south of Krasnoyarsk krai). Of 15 objects investigated, the metal compositions of 14 have been analysed. The peculiarity of these belt decorations is in the fact that they are really miscellaneous (probably fortuitous) finds composing no sets united by the provenience from some single disturbed barrow. Two plaques (fig. 1, 2, 3) are exceptions.
Group 1 (fig. 1, 1–5, 8) is composed of undecorated objects. All the items are cast with the use of one-piece mould with inserted cores (to form the ledges). The casting is mostly of poor quality with occasional defects in the form of holes. Only two plaques demonstrated a high quality of execution (fig. 1, 4, 8).
The documentary data on each item and the metal compositions are presented in tables 1 А and 1 Б. Two types of alloys have been distinguished — complex brass (fig. 1, 2–4) and multicomponent bronze (fig. 1, 1, 5, 8). For the second alloy, possibly re-melted metal was used. The difference in the metal composition suggests different provenience of the objects. The investigations of the composition of metals of the same period from the Minusinsk Basin conducted previously by the present authors attest that brass is related with objects distinguishable in their decoration and high quality of manufacture. Production of brass in the early Middle Ages was predominantly in India and Central Asia. In China, the production of brass presumably developed only in the 11th century during the Song epoch whereas before it was obtained as imports from other sources.
Group 2 is composed of articles with geometric designs. It includes three items differing in form and decoration (fig. 1, 6, 7, 10). The technology is casting in one-piece moulds with an inserted core. The castings are of fine quality. All the three objects are made from tin-lead bronze differing in concentrations of tin and lead.
Group 3. This is a group of articles with fl oral designs including four miscellaneous end mounts variously decorated. Two have the relief pattern characteristic of the late 1st–early 2nd millennium BC (fig. 1, 9, 13). The two other (fragmentary) mounts are decorated with a deep (carved) design (fig. 1, 11, 12) rather uncommon for the bulk of the belt decorations of the period under consideration. Possibly they are slightly younger and closer in time to the early stage of the Askiz culture of the Yenisei Kyrgyzs of the late 10th–early 11th century when replacement of non-ferrous belt decorations for the iron ones was taking place. The large leaf-like pendant plaque (fig. 1, 14) has not been analyzed for the metal composition. We are aware of no close parallels for it.
The four items of this group were manufactured with application of various techniques of treating surfaces all based on casting into a one-piece mould with an insert. Of note is the plaque (fig. 1, 9) as an example of fine casting. For execution of the design, a high-quality mould was used producing a relief image with a flattened surface. Such a relief may have been produced if the mould was made from a strong material (stone, wood). The plaque (fig. 1, 11 ), by contrast, was cast after a worn original on which, it seems, no image was preserved. The surface of the cast blank was covered with a carved design produced by means of carving tools and punches. As a whole, the composition obtained copied rudely the originals with cast fl oral designs and scalloped edges. The techniques of manufacturing the mounts with carved designs suggest a younger provenience of the materials discussed in comparison with the main part of the collections. The leaf-like plaque was damaged. It was manufactured by one-sided casting without the use of an insert for shaping ledges. In other words, the casting was fl at with a large circular hole in the center. It is of excellent quality and covered with a thick layer of gold (possibly produced with the use of a gold foil).
The composition of the metal vary in all the items described: tin bronze (fig. 1, 9); tin-lead bronze (fig. 1, 13); lead bronze (fig. 1, 11 ) — these alloys are fairly soft and well fit for working with burins, punches and other tools. The compositions of the metals (complex brass) and the techniques of their treatment are not common for the group of metals of the 9th–early 11th century from the Minusinsk Basin (fig. 1, 12).
The fragment of a mirror belonging to the investigated collection has some poorly discernible images on its rear side (fig. 1, 15). It was cast with the use of a wax model. The material was tin-lead bronze with high percentage of tin. Similar compositions are characteristic of mirror bronzes from medieval China. Considered as the closest parallel may be a find of half of a mirror of the second half of the 9th– first half of the 11th century from the burial ground of Kirillovka V in the steppe zone between the Ob and Irtysh rivers (Altai krai). The latter item had a well-preserved decoration.
Collection from Western Siberia, late 19th cent. Investigated were eighteen objects all analyzed for the metal composition. The collection consists, as it seems, of composite ornaments from a single complex. These are 12 lunate plaques (fig. 2, 1); two mounts (fig. 2, 2) with a suspension loop; two clips (fi g. 2, 4); two large (one fragmentary) nearly rectangular plaques (fi g. 2, 6). The main decoration of all these items was represented by a common motif: diverse variants of a dragon. The group under consideration included also two similar objects from P. K. Frolov’s collection of the first third of the 19th century from the region of Zmeinogorsk (northwestern piedmonts of the Altai, Altai krai): a fragment of a mount (fi g. 2, 5) in high relief on the front side (dragon motif); a fragment of a thin plate (fig. 2, 3) with a carved «fish-scale» design. The image of a dragon was popular on the early Mongolian belts of the second half of the 13th–14th century. Parallels are reported mostly from the European part of the steppe. Furthermore, a similar carved «fish-scale» design is found on objects from Kyrgyzia.
The lunate mounts (fig. 2, 1) were manufactured with the use of a common technology and, possibly, in a single mould. The technology was that of pressing images on silver plaques resulting in a thin article in deep relief. The surface was gilded. In addition, the inner volume of the lunates was filled with some mass which ensured the preservation of the shape and representations of the mounts. As a variant, probably wooden inserts were used. The mounts with loops (fig. 2, 2) were manufactured by a combined technology based on casting in one-piece mould with an insert. The resulting ornament (fairly rough) is cast, however the rest of the decoration was executed rather finely with cutting tools. The clips (fig. 2, 4) were made from silver by casting, the surface gilded. The castings were rough, the additional details carved by cutting tools. The two large plaques (fig. 2, 6) were made of deeply stamped silver and gilded. The surface of the main decorative design (dragon) and areas around it were treated additionally. The two plaques were manufactured both in a similar way, but on the back side of one (fragmentary) a «lid» was preserved — a thin silver plate soldered to the basic mount. The lid was decorated with a «fish-scale» design in form of tripetalous flowers executed with the use of some special tool. A fragment of a precisely identical plate is represented by an item from P. K. Frolov’s collection (fig. 2, 3). The manufacturing technology of all the objects described is in accordance with their date (second half of the 13th–early 14th century).
The documents and metal composition for each item are summarized in table 2 А and 2 Б. All of the articles are made of sterling silver and gilded. Probably they all come from some single manufacturing center, perhaps even a single workshop, since the metals are practically identical. The presence of pure silver always attests the use of the primary (ore) silver got from some stable sources of raw materials rather than from accidentally obtained melting scrap. The latter usually gives a broad scattering of trace admixtures in the composition of metals that is not the case with our objects. Polymetallic deposits containing silver ore are found in the Rudny Altai Mountains, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
The collections described above represent different chronological stages of the history of the Sayan-Altai and the adjoining areas. These stages are clearly reflected in the artistic and technological peculiarities of the toreutic small art. It is further noteworthy that the collection from «Western Siberia» is absolutely uniform (even taken together with the items from Frolov’s collection) in all characteristics including the artistic and macrotechnological ones and the composition of the metals. The collection of Kornilov, by contrast, is an assemblage of fairly diverse objects which differ also chronologically (within the range of the 7th–11th century, some of the items are perhaps even younger) and in terms of their decoration, technology and metal composition.
К. А. Михайлов. Детские погребения в некрополе первых древнерусских городов
K. A. Mikhaylov. Child Burials at the Necropoleis of the First Russian Cities
In this paper, a series of uncommon child burials in ancient Russian funeral chambers of the 10th century is discussed. For analysis of that group of burials, the evidence of written documents and ethnographical sources on the status of child in early medieval eastern and northern Europe is used. The author presents the statistics of child burials from Christian and pagan necropolies of Scandinavia and Ancient Rus. The amount of child graves uncovered at pagan cemeteries of the 1h30th century suggest that only few children and adolescents were buried with the observance of funerary rites. At the majority of burial grounds, child graves amounted to c. 10–15 percent of the total number of interred. Among the ancient Russian funerary chambers the percentage of child burials has proved to be still lesser — only 7 percent. These numbers are of special significance taking into account the studies of anthropologists and demographers. These attest the 50 percent children’s mortality in countries of medieval Europe. The author therefore arrives at the conclusion that the sample of child burials in ancient Russian and Scandinavian chambers is of undoubtedly incomplete and artificial character relative to the medieval society.
Among 70 ancient Russian funerary chambers only fi ve child burials have been found. These include the graves in Kiev, Timerevo and Shestovitsy. All these had an ample wooden funerary structure and grave goods of various kinds, differing almost in nothing from funerary offerings in the graves of adults. Uncovered were weapons and ornaments. Child aristocratic burials similar in rite were excavated in Sweden.
For reconstruction of the social status of the children buried in chambers the evidence of written sources may be attracted. Thus in Saga of Gunnlaug the Worm-Tongue, Egils Saga and Saga of the Men of Laxбrdal, heroes 10–12 years old are mentioned nine times. This is the age beginning from which a hero from an influential and noble kin in the Icelandic sagas begins his self-dependent life. Of the most importance for the society of the sagas is that from the age of 12 a boy became a warrior and commenced his participation in the blood feud, i. e. from that age on the commune recognized him as its full member. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions the instance of the young Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich who headed the Kievan armed force and entered a battle with Drevlyane having thrown symbolically a spear in the direction of the enemy’s army. Numerous examples show that in the Middle Ages the age of 14–15 was that of an adult man and ruler. However, for the representatives of the nobility and Princely kins the age of manhood and entering the life of full rights may have commenced at 10–12. At least, that age was considered as the time of coming to rule. Of course, also extraordinary circumstances happened when that fraction or other needed immediately a symbol of legitimacy and in that case a child from a Princely kin could be declared the Prince or King even at the age of two or fi ve. Such examples are known in the history of both Norway and Rus.
In my opinion, the main conclusion on the above-mentioned is the fact that the sample of child burials in ancient Russian and Scandinavian chambers is without doubt artificially biased. On the background of other funerary rites at urban necropolies of the 10th century and the statistics of child burials, the unique character of the child graves under consideration, particularly the rich ones, is striking. In other words, a considerable number of deceased children came to no such graves. Given the high mortality, the majority of the deceased children, even those from noble and rich families, were undoubtedly buried outside the limits of the urban cemeteries. Only children of a certain age were interred in chambered tombs. This fact, in my opinion, is a weighty confirmation of the pagan rather than Christian nature of that funerary rite.
Е. А. Зубкова, О. В. Орфинская. Результаты исследования текстиля из раскопок в Пскове в 2006 г.
E. A. Zubkova, O. V. Orfi nskaya. The Results of Investigation of the Textiles from Excavation of 2006 in Pskov
This publication here presented sheds light on some results of investigations of the remains of textiles from a female chamber burial found in 2006 in the southern section of the Okolnyi Gorod (Roundabout City) of Pskov (Elena A. Yakovleva in charge of the excavation). The site excavated is dated to the mid-10th century.
During clearing of a soil monolith (0,3 × 0,26 m) under laboratory conditions there were found the remains of the bottom of a birchbark case, 11 details (in some cases fragmentary) of clothes, and two eggshell fi bulae.
On the basis of various analyses it came to be possible to distinguish several types of cloths identified as two groups — textiles from plant fibres and silken cloths, and to reconstruct a female costume consisting of two articles. The first was a blue fl ax-linen shirt with the collar sewn with fine pleats (fig. 4) and the sleeves and lap decorated with laid-on cuffs (fig. 1) and a sewn-on band (fig. 5) of red silk. The second article, also sewn of blue flaxen linen, probably corresponded to the Scandinavian apron. Related to that object is detail no. 6 of silken cloth (fig. 2, 1) on which the remains of a loop and traces of sewing-on two other were preserved (fig. 2, 2), as well as fibulae with preserved remains of loops. It was determined that the silken details were cut from silk of three kinds that differ in their quality. On silk of type I, a woven pattern was recognized which copied a subject of some early Sasanian textiles — the scene of hunting of the Persian prince Bahram Gur (fig. 7, 2). For cutting out parts I, III, IV and V of detail no. 6 an entire woven piece at least 46 cm wide was used. The piece had an ornamental element repeated twice (fi g. 8). It was possible to define the character of the seams and types of the stitches used to sew together the details and their parts and to trim the edges. Two kinds of connecting seams — plain seam pressed open with an iron and «lap seam» (fig. 9), — and a trimming «piped» seam (fig. 10) have been identified. All of the seams were executed by «needle backwards» stitches.
К. А. Лавыш. Мотив птиц в изделиях художественного ремесла XII–XIII вв., найденных на территории Белоруссии
K. A. Lavysh. The Bird Motif on Ornamental Articles of the 12th–13th Centuries from Belarus
The motif of birds was very popular among craftsmen and customers of the Western region of Old Rus. It decorated expensive articles of female jewellery (temple pendants, folding bracelets, rings) as well as more ordinary articles connected with the urban environment (various pendants). In most cases images of birds are distinguished by certain iconographic and stylistic features, which originate from Byzantine samples. The antithetic composition of two birds on the sides of the Tree of life is very popular. In most cases this composition decorates temple pendants (finds from Vischin, Minsk) in a very similar scheme. This iconographic scheme has very close analogies in many Syrian, Iranian and Byzantine art forms — textiles, manuscripts, artistic metal, jewellery. Single images of birds have similar stylization (finds from Polotsk, Vitebsk, Drutsk, Vischin). In many cases a characteristic feature is a double representation of the tail, the first of which corresponds to the usual position of a tail and the other goes up semicircularly and often ends with tendrils. The head of a bird is often turned backwards. Such iconographic peculiarities are also typical for Byzantine examples.
АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ АРХЕОЛОГИИ
Л. Б. Вишняцкий. К вопросу о направленности культурных изменений в среднем палеолите (на примере Южной Африки)
L. B. Vishnyatsky. On the Directionality of Cultural Changes in the Middle Paleolithic (with special reference to the MSA of South Africa)
It is quite obvious that during the Middle Paleolithic (MP) time culture did not remain immutable. In all the regions where there are known sufficient numbers of representative and more or less reliably dated sites of this epoch, one can observe the alternation of MP assemblages, differing from each other both in technological and typological respects. What is not obvious, however, is how and whether these changes relate to those marking the Middle to Upper Paleolithic (UP) transition. Whether the diachronic dynamics of MP assemblages can be regarded as the movement towards this transition, or the former has nothing to do with the latter, and the development of culture (or at least stone/bone industries) after the beginning of UP represents not the continuation of the earlier tendency, but rather its radical break, a sudden turn in a new direction? Put in other words, should we consider the formation of the UP culture as a revolution, a break of continuity, or as a piecemeal process preceded by a long and gradual accumulation of new cultural elements during most of the MP, which reached its culmination some 40 kyr bp?
On one hand, it is well known that all or nearly all traits, constituting the hallmark of the UP stone and bone industries, can be found (even if rarely and in somewhat underdeveloped condition) in the Middle and sometimes even Lower Paleolithic. On the other hand, however, it is extremely difficult to say if there was a trend towards the increase in numbers of such traits during MP, or no «onward movement» had taken place until the very end of this epoch and the beginning of the MP/UP transition.
According to a popular view, the pattern of industrial change revealed by the African MP/MSA record is very different from that characteristic of Eurasian MP. While the latter is thought to have witnessed «few if any novel behavioral developments» (Kuhn, Hovers, 2006. P. 7), the former is often interpreted as showing a gradual accumulation of various innovations associated with and indicative of what is often called «behavioral modernity» (Mc-Brearty, Brooks, 2000). This accumulation is said to have started with the Acheulean-to-MSA transition and continued during the whole of the MSA «over the course of the next 250,000 years» (McBrearty, Tryon, 2006. P. 270). However, whereas it is certainly true that Africa witnessed very early appearances of many important innovations in stone- and bone-working technologies during the MSA times, it remains yet to be demonstrated whether the continuous accumulation of such traits really was the case.
For the time being the southern Africa is the only part of this continent where we have a continuous record of numerous well studied and reliably dated MSA assemblages concentrated within a relatively small area. On the basis of stratigraphic observations and absolute dates these assemblages are usually divided into three or four chronological groups or stages: MSA 1 and 2 or Pre-Howiesons, Howiesons Poort (hereafter HP), and MSA 3 or Post-HP The industries characterized by the predominance of blades among blanks, the presence of tools with well pronounced preparation for haf-ting, and some evidence of symbolism existed in the early (MSA 1) and middle (HP) stages of the local Middle Paleolithic (MSA). At the end of this epoch (MSA 3) they were replaced by assemblages lacking any pronounced UP/LSA elements. Therefore the general impression is that contrary to what one should have expected if the continuous accumulation of novel traits really was the case, the materials of MSA 3 look much more archaic than those of MSA 1, let alone HP. To test this observation the author uses a simple method designed to evaluate the general degree of «advancement» of stone/bone industries of the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic by calculating what he suggests to call the MP/UP index (Вшиняцкий, 2004). The comparison of the MP/UP indices obtained for the early, middle and late MSA industries of South Africa (tables 6–8) leads to the conclusion that the available data give no grounds to speak of any gradual and continuous accumulation of novel traits during this epoch. The general pattern of industrial change in the MSA of South Africa seems to be as «recursive» as that described by Shea (2006) for the MP of Levant, where «blade production, exosomatic symbol use, and spear point production appear, fl ourish, then either disappear or decline markedly in frequency during subsequent periods» (Shea, 2006. Р. 199). Thus, it seems that in both regions the vector of cultural dynamics was not constant, and the turn it made during the MP-UP/MSA-LSA transition appears radical enough to be considered a revolution (fig. 8).
В.А. Кольченко. Средневековые поселения Северного Киргизстана: история изучения и актуальные вопросы исследования
V. A. Kol’chenko Medieval Settlements of North Kyrgyzstan: the History and Problems of Current Importance for their Studies
Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country lying between the native steppe nomadic regions on the north and traditional settled agricultural oases of Central Asia on the south. The Fergana ridge, fairly high and impassable, divides it into two — the northern and southern parts. The cultures of each part were developing concurrently influenced by their climate and historical surroundings and drawn together only during particular periods. Neither the territory of Northern Kyrgyzstan is homogeneous in terms of its history and culture. During the medieval period, each of its sub-regions — the Talas and Chui vales, the basin of Lake Issyk-Kul, small intermontane vales of the Inner Tien-Shan — had their own peculiarities and their dynamics of development.
Studies of medieval sites of Northern Kyrgyzstan began as early as the 19th century. By the middle — end of the 20th century the stage of the primary accumulation of information had passed to systematization of the evidence and regular surveys. On the current agenda is mapping of the antiquities.
In the late 1930s — 1940s, the historical scheme of developments of the culture of the region, proposed by V. V. Bartold as early as the late 19th century, was illustrated by archaeological materials obtained owing to A. N. Berstam’s efforts.
In 1950s — 1960s, regular excavations of particular sites were conducted (L. R. Kyzlasov, L. P. Zyablin) allowing a deeper insight into the cultural realities of medieval Kyrgyzstan. From the middle — end of the 1960s, the publication of the results tends to lag behind the field investigations in consequence of the large-scale construction works.
Since the 1970s — 1980s the purposefulness of the studies is lacking ever more. Instead of systematic fundamental excavations, archaeologists often fulfill rescue works which are necessary but should be only supplementary to the main studies. During the same period a series of works is published on the medieval history of Christianity and Buddhism in the region under consideration.
In the 1990s, due to the political and economical crisis and subsequent reconstruction of all spheres of life the archaeological studies were reduced to a minimum. Only in the end of the decade a certain revival connected mostly with the interests of foreign researchers shows itself.
One of the urgent problems of the present stage of the development of the archaeology of Kyrgyzstan is a qualitative and quantitative supplementation of the source-study base.
