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| Editorial note | 4 |
| Tribes and Peoples | 6 |
| V.Ya.KiyashkoEneolithic Period. At the Cradle of History | 6 |
| Articles, Publications, Notes | 12 |
| I.V.Gudimenko, S.M.Ilyashenko . Inscriptions on the Late Antique amphorae of the Rogozhkino ÕØ Settlement | 12 |
| A.A.Glukhov Clay Censers from the Middle Sarmatian Burials of the area between the Don and Volga Rivers | 29 |
| A.A.Kudryavtsev, Ye.A.Kudryavtsev, Yu.A.Prokopenko Set of the Late Scythian Horse Harness Articles from Burial Ground No.2 of the Tartar Site (the city of Stavropol) | 40 |
| V.A.Larenok . 150 Moneyboxes and a Ceremonial «Dinner Set» from a Household Pit | 48 |
| F.Kh.Gutnov Duel of the Cimmerian «Kings» | 60 |
| Yu.Ya.Myagkova Tanais Osteologic Material Analysis | 64 |
| From the History of Don-land Archaeology | 71 |
| A.L.Boyko From the History of Field Research Methods in Pre-Revolutionary Russia | 71 |
| Archaeological Masterpieces | 86 |
| S.I.Bezuglov Towards the Composition Reconstruction of the Bosphorus Gold Hoarding of the Don Land | 86 |
| Critical Essays and Bibliography | 98 |
| Current News | 107 |
| Abbreviations | 109 |
| Contents | 111 |
V.Ya.KIYASHKO
Eneolithic Period. At the Cradle of History.
The Eneolithic Age on the Don lands was a time of crucial changes, an epoch
of Indo-Europeans’ settling. The agricultural economic crisis lead to the
gradual decay of the late Neolithic cultures, the Rakushechnoyarskaya culture
being one of them. The new, developing processes of nomadic stock raising and
metal spread attracted new inhabitants to the steppe lands, arriving from the
southern areas in particular. The newcomers brought with them different skills,
customs, ideology, which manifested itself in pottery, flint industry, funeral
ceremony changes. This was the time of the early burial mounds. An original
complex of the Konstantinovsk settlement witnesses the syncretic character of
the site that was a result of contacts between the tribes inhabiting the Kuban
lands (of the Maikop circle culture) and those steppe inhabitants who were close
to the Middle Stogovskaya culture of Ukraine.
I.V.GUDIMENKO, S.M.ILYASHENKO
Inscriptions on the Late Antique Amphorae of the Rogozhkino XIII Settlement
This publication introduces one of the most representative collections of
dipinti on those late antique light clay amphorae found in settlement Rogozhkino
XIII. The inscriptions of the kind can only be met on the type Å and F amphorae
across the whole territory of the north Black Sea coast. The similarity of the
marks allows the authors of this work to unite them under a single category:
inscriptions of the «α/π» type. A feature of the above inscriptions is the
standard placement of information in accordance with three positions. The first
position contains an «α/π» digraph, while the second and the third ones contain
Greek names probably belonging to the persons engaged in manufacture or
transportation of the amphorae contents in the second half of the IV century
A.D.
A.A.GLUKHOV
Clay Censers from the Middle Sarmatian Burials of the Area between the Don and
Volga Rivers
Clay censers are frequently found in Sarmatian graves. Double censers (one
inserted into another) became popular in the I century A.D. The double censers
were employed by the Sarmatians till the first half of the II century A.D. Since
the beginning of that century wide spread were small cubical ritual vessels,
which was due to the new traditions introduced by the tribes of the late
Sarmatian culture. The cartography results have shown that double censers were
prevalent among the Sarmatians at the lower Don reaches and the Aksai, but are
practically absent in those Sarmatian burial grounds which are located at the
Volga right bank, southward of Volgograd. This may mean definite originality (either
ethnic or chronological) of the sites of the discussed region, which has also
been noted in the newest anthropologists’ research works.
A.A.KUDRYAVTSEV, Ye.A.KUDRYAVTSEV, Yu.A.PROKOPENKO
Set of the Late Scythian Horse Harness Articles from Burial Ground N 2 of the
Tatar Site (the City of Stavropol)
In the 1990s the archaeological expedition of Stavropol State University and
Stavropol Museum of Local Lore undertook excavations on the territory of the
Tartar ancient settlement site at the southern end of Stavropol. Beyond the site
boundaries, in 50 – 70 m to the east, the expedition found a burial ground
consisting of stone covered barrows and a crypt with a dromos in its centre. As
the burial chamber and the stone cover were cleared, a number of artifacts were
discovered. Most notable were the following horse harness details: an iron bar
bit, iron snaffles, bronze front and pectoral (sidecheek?) plates, and an iron
bridle ring. Judging by these finds, one may suppose that the bridle set once
belonging to those horses whose fragments were buried on the barrow circle (dated
to the IV – turn of the III-II centuries B.C.), consisted of a crown piece, a
front, a noseband and a chinstrap. Besides, there was also a saddle harness.
V.A.LARENOK
150 Moneyboxes and a Ceremonial “Dinner Set” from a Household Pit
A gas line trench was dug in 1984 in the town of Azov, Tolstoy Street,
leading to house No. 2. The trench destroyed the north-eastern part of a
household pit. The pit was oval in plan and slightly expanding to the bottom.
Its upper part was filled with clay loam and contained no finds. The lower 0.5 m
of the filling consisted of greenish organic remains and ash. It was in the
lower part where all the finds were concentrated.
Three copper coins originate from the pit. Two of them could
not be read due to poor condition. The third coin was identified by
N.M.Fomichyov as a Janibeg pulo of 1352 – 1353. Thus the complex is dated from
the middle of the XIV century.
Our attention was attracted to a peculiar set of artifacts
comprising a large number of money-boxes and tableware of various shapes.
The ceremonial tableware was represented by glaze jars,
dishes, cups, a grey water bottle with a stamped ornament, Kashina cups, glass
beakers and a vase. Most of these had been imported.
There were 150 money-boxes in the pit, one third of their number covered with
one or several graffiti. Presumably, each money-box could contain about one
hundred coins, thus the total amount of money in the 150 boxes should have made
a sum roughly equal to 15,000 dirhems. What could be bought for this amount? We
can point at one event rather important for the Turco-Mongolian peoples:
effecting a marriage deal which was not a “do-at-once” action, but consisted of
several stages, which required great inputs from the direction of its
participants. The ethnographic sources permit to restore the approximate menu of
the festive board and the number of the nuptial feast participants.
F.Kh.GUTNOV
Duel of the Cimmerian “Kings”
This article is an interpretation of the story of the Cimmerian «kings’»
«suicide» included in Herodotus’ Scythian logos. Having considered the available
explanations of the above fragment of History, the author offers his own vision
of the possible events occurrence. In his opinion, Herodotus’ story reflects the
ritual judicial combat between the «young» aristocracy and the Cimmerian
«kings». The «young» aristocracy prevailed and headed their tribesmen in the
campaign to Front Asia. Therefore, although the Cimmerians «had buried their
kings by the Tyras river», they were regarded at the Near East as the people who
have «a king».
Yu.Ya.MYAGKOVA
Tanais Osteologic Material Analysis
The article is dedicated to the analysis of the bone spoils (39,521
fragments) found in the layers of the Hellenistic, Roman, Classical periods, and
one layer of the V – VI centuries A.D. of the city of Tanais. 13 species of wild
mammals and 8 species of domestic animals are noted. Noted also is the change in
the breed composition of the domestic bull in the Classical period and the
domestic sheep in the Roman period. Shown is the analysis age-sex structure of
the herd. Stated are significant changes in the proportion of agricultural
animals species within various periods of Tanais existence, the most noticeable
of those changes having occurred in the V – VI centuries A.D. Meanwhile, beef
was the major meat foodstuff during all the time of Tanais existence; horseflesh
and mutton were eaten much rarer.
A.L.BOYKO
From the History of Field Research Methods in Pre-Revolutionary Russia
The article is dedicated to the stages of formation of field archaeology in
the South of Russia within the period between the early XIX and the early XX
centuries. The author shows the evolution of methods of field archaeological
research within the above period of time. A definite synchronism of field
research development in Russia and Western Europe is noted.
S.I.BEZUGLOV
Towards the Composition Reconstruction of the Bosphorus Gold Hoarding of
the Don Land
This article is a publication of the results of the author’s work aimed at
the revision of the archive bibliographical data concerning the treasures and
separate antique gold coins found at different times at the lower Don reaches.
The coverage of rare archival documents enabled to specify quite a number of
circumstances associated with the Don-land treasures. Considered have been those
previously unpublished materials which are kept in the Don-land museums and
several private collections of Rostov and Taganrog. Restored are the ratings of
a number of gold coins found in the 1970s and 1990s. The undertaken research
permits to revise the system of currency circulation between Tanais and a group
of lower Don fortified settlements once located in the vicinity to Tanais.