Summary
Ye.V.Antonova, D.S.Rayevsky (Moscow, Russia)
Archaeology and Semiotics
Any ancient thing created by human hands, as well as any modern one, is a cluster of utilitarian and significative meanings. The principles of semiotics and its main concepts, such as - text", - context", - sign" (iconic, symbolic, index), - code", - language", seem to be very promising for the investigation of the latter. Semiotics providing various methods, the approach the authors adhere to is based on the theories of Ch.S.Peirce and Yu.M.Lotman.
Material things which archaeology investigates belong, as a rule, to the epoch of traditional cultures that could be divided into two stages: the period of non-differentiated or little differentiated societies, on the one hand, and on the other ( the period when ancient and medieval states existed. Semiotic characteristics of artifacts created in those periods had their specific features.
In the early period the culture was ultimately based on mythological world perception, when unified - structural configurations" modeling the world dominated. In the situation, when sign systems, specially designed for information preservation, were absent, the material code implemented in artifacts had become the most important medium of information. For an archaic man the significative value of a thing was one of the conditions determining the very functioning of that thing. At that stage any information was communicated just as the verbal one: it could be transmitted if only the sender and the receiver of information were at the same space-and- time point. The plane of expression of signs was condensed and could be revealed only in the process of direct operation with a thing. This explains why it is so difficult for a contemporary investigator to interpret the contents (meaning, semantics) of a thing. There are various techniques of reconstructing the meaning, namely: placing artifacts into their typical cultural context, taking into account their variability, and synchronous and diachronous analysis. The concepts of a universal character typical for the mythological world perception should be also taken into account while reconstructing the meaning.
At the end of the primeval period social cultures became more complicated, division of labour intensified and inter-community relations consolidated, and local (lites appeared. Nevertheless, at that period, and even later, the two aspects of the man's activity - that one based on positive knowledge and the one based on ritual and magic world perception (persisted as quite equal. Due to social differentiation the cultural sphere appeared, proclaiming ideas and conceptions formulated by the (lites. Although those ideas had circulated quite spontaneously within the ancient societies before, at that period they obtained new functions. Quite new concepts appeared, though still having mythological colouring.
Under conditions of social homogeneity disintegration the communicative relations started changing. The plane of expression of artifacts-signs -, at least in the ritual and (lite spheres, became more distinct. All this has given the researchers more opportunities for their interpretation. A written language that appeared at that period allows us to investigate not only the context and characteristics of artifacts, or else to resort to the mythological universalia analysis. The written texts of the culture studied, or of other cultures, contribute to the process of reconstruction of semantics of artifacts and fine arts monuments (e.g., the monuments of the Scythian culture and the written sources of the antiquity). Nevertheless, it should be taken into account that everyday life scenes and household utilities of that period still preserved mythological associations.
The culture being a multiplane semiotic mechanism, its complex character and various ways of functioning demand that further investigation of the monuments of that the epoch should become a common task for different humanitarian sciences.
Alexander A. Bauer (Philadelphia, USA)
Pragmatic Semiotic Model for Interpretation of Material Culture
All archaeologists, regardless of theoretical orientation, develop understandings of the past through the interpretation of material culture. A recent trend in some archaeological circles of embracing 'ambiguity' in meaning has arisen as the latest outgrowth of postmodernism and the 'linguistic turn' of the social sciences in general. This approach takes its inspiration from Saussure's model of the sign and the subsequent 'text' models that critique and develop from it. However, while the meaning of material culture is certainly variable, we should not reify 'ambiguity' to the point that we are unable to compare and evaluate competing and complementary interpretations of the past. For this and other reasons, I argue that the 'text' model may not be appropriate for archaeology, and should be discarded in favor of a discourse-centered approach based on the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce. Currently gaining popularity among American linguistic anthropologists, Peirce's semiotic converges with post-structuralist concerns regarding how meaning is constituted through practice, while avoiding the relativist charges associated with those approaches. It allows us to investigate how meanings vary across contexts, and yet provides a systematic way to assess that variability. In this paper, I first introduce Peirce's semiotic and situate it in terms of contemporary material culture theory. Following a consideration of the way artifacts convey knowledge in the present context of museum displays, I then consider an example from the prehistoric Black Sea to show that while an object's meanings shift across contexts of use, these meanings should not be considered 'ambiguous'.
Gheorghiu D. (Bucharest, Romania)
The semiotics of magic thinking: human body and clay figurines in calcolithic funerary rituals
For the understanding of the cognitive systems of prehistoric cultures, the tropes used by classical rhetoric or "magic thinking" could be sometimes an efficient instrument. It is presumable that by applying the principles of "magic thinking" in the analysis of a prehistoric culture, the approach could be at the same time semiotic and rhetoric.
The present text deals with the decorative patterns and the breakage of Cucuteni-Tripolye ceramic figurines. Due to the regularity of the incised patterns of the figurines, one can conclude that the incised design could visualize a repetitive action, i.e. a ritual, in relation to the human body, and could represent the diagram of a funerary method to wrap the deceased.
This hypothesis was tested in several experiments using anthropomorphic models and human bodies which were wrapped with bandage-like textile bands and confirmed the existence of a basic design diagram of plaiting figured on the body of figurines under the shape of chevrons, and subsequently of a funerary ritual of protecting the body. At the same time these figurines were fragmented intentionally.
It seems that the process of breaking the ancestors' figurines denotes an attitude of recycling the past, the consumption of figurines, similar to the consumption of skeletons (there are no necropoleis discovered yet in this culture), infers the existence of a thaumaturgical principle existing in the substance of ancestors that is transferred by contagion (another rethoric trope and magic action) into the material of figurines. This sort of mana hidden in the ancestors' substance would explain the special protection of their bodies by wrapping them in an initial phase of the funerary ritual.
S.V.Ivanova (Odessa, Ukraine)
The Funeral Rite of the Pit Grave Culture Tribes: Discourse and World Outlook Aspects
The article bears on the discourse and world outlook aspects of the funeral rite structure, investigated on two levels. On the first level we deal with general theoretical principles, and on the second - with their reflection in a concrete context of the pit grave culture burials belonging to the people who lived in the northwestern part of the Black Sea area.
The works considering the problem of invariant contents of the culture, and cultural texts in particular, favour the view that much wider approach to the interpretation of the man's existence within the culture is possible. This makes the discourse approach to the investigation of funeral rite rather promissing. Being a cultural universalia, the burials in this context belong to the category of the death represented on the ceremonial and ritual level.
The discourse approach enabled us to account for labour expenses in the structure of funeral rite. There is a tendency to treat the latter in total, the burial complexes being compared on the basis of different features. The volumes of the barrow embankment, of the burial and the ceiling are estimated, as a rule. This universal approach seems to simplify the picture. Investigating the funeral rite of the pit grave culture the author has interpreted it as a text consisting of a certain sign complexes - the elements of the rite. As for labour expenses, we are of the opinion that as a whole they do not correlate with a concrete sign, it can only represent an individual element. Labour expences appear to be just a combination of signs, which are not reciprocally conditioned.
It has been shown that the links between the funeral rite elements of the pit grave culture were not strong enough. Funeral rite chronological features developed independently; i.e., the appearance of one feature did not inevitably caused the other. The rite seemed to be a descrete text rather than a continuos sequence of signs. Probability that some signs (the rite features) would appear in the text was quite spontaneous, since the choice of every next sign was determined by the links and limitations having established within an individual structure.
These findings lead us to conclude that the funeral rite structure was determined by material life conditions, cultural tradition and the people's outlook. It is also obvious that it must be viewed as a cultural universalia, as an element of the discourse chain
The analysis of ancient people's world outlook and behaviour, which are reconstructed on the basis of funeral rites investigation approached to in its philosophical aspects, allows us to interpret history science as truly human.
V.I.Kuzin-Losev (Donetsk, Ukraine)
The Organisation Principles of Cultural Texts of the Late Bronze Age in the Steppe Areas of Eurasia
The article deals with some cultural phenomena of the late Bronze Age in the steppe areas of Eurasia, which deviated from the established cultural norms of the time. These are: funeral rites including cremation and cenotaph forms, grave goods that are not frequently found in burials, habits of kitchenware restoration, special types of wooden vessels decorated with metal plates and cramps, irregular vessel ornamentation. The srubnaya culture (the culture of wooden dwelling frame) has provided us with the material for our investigation of the phenomenon of cultural deviations.
Within the srubnaya culture two cultural paradigms have been differentiated, both originating from the semantic opposition - the norm ? breach of the norm". The author states that any cultural situation within the srubnaya culture could be interpreted using a single (or unified) semantic principle. The cosmologic character and the binary structure of the principle are obvious. Basing on it, we can reconstruct the relation system of different variants of ornamental compositions. We have revealed the analogous relation system existing in the funeral rites. The analysis of the srubnaya culture forms let us not only to study the principle of cultural texts formation, but also to approach the problem of their contents. We attempted to reconstruct some fragments of the culture characterized by - the breach of the norm" At least two semantic systems could be distinguished within the srubnaya culture. The data of structural folklore studies have allowed us to compare the structural schemes of different folklore genres with the compositional structures of the figurative texts of the srubnaya culture. Thus, we were able to reconstruct a number of verbal texts of the steppe cultures of the late Bronze Age.
A.R.Kantorovich (Moscow, Russia)
Classification and Typology of -Zoomorphic Transformations" Elements in the Animal Style of the Steppe Zone of Scythia
The artistic device of the so-called -metamorphoses", or zoomorphic transformations is considered to be one of the most fascinating characteristics of the Scythian animal style (E.N.Minns, M.I.Rostovtsev). The problem of its stylistic sources and semantic purpose has been widely debated in the current literature. Our work in this direction is intended to systematize the elements of -transformations" in order to describe this phenomenon most completely and thus to give grounds for its semantic interpretations.
The principles of -zoomorphic transformations" elements identification and the results of their classification and statistical estimation are presented in the paper, the analysis being performed on the materials of a local variant of the Scythian animal art ? the art of the steppe zone of Scythia. Some basic analogues of -metamorphoses" from other zones of the Scythian world have been considered either.
About 48% of the original pieces of art performed in the animal style of the steppe zone of Scythia demonstrate more or less marked elements of -zoomorphic transformations". According to their figurative and formal structure and to the degree of image transformation those elements were divided into various types, the latter being grouped into two divisions: Division I ? partial -metamorphosis" when one or several parts of the animal depicted is transformed (9 types) and Division II ? complete -metamorphosis" of the zoomorphic picture, the latter, as a rule, representing pars pro toto (5 types).
The range of images and motifs of the transformational elements is by far smaller than that of the Scythian and Siberian animal style in the whole. Most metamorphoses represent a motif of a bird of prey (Division I, type 1), which make up 80% of all the cases of partial metamorphosis. The anatomical parts undergoing -transformations" are horns, extremities, shoulder blade and thigh. The device of partial zoomorphic transformation is known to be characteristic of the animal style during the whole Scythian era (the VIIth-IVth cc. B.C). It was typical .of not only the steppe zone of Scythia, but of other regions of the Scythian and Siberian world, and we come across its elements in the very first pieces of art made in the animal style. However, the tradition of complete zoomorphic transformation, representing ambivalent pictures, is dated in the steppe zone of Scythia back to the Vth- the IVth cc. B.C, and thus could be considered to be a local phenomenon, typical of the North Black sea zone and partly of the areas of the Kuban basin and the Urals.
The analogues presented here give evidence of great variety and high frequency of occurrence of -zoomorphic transformations" in the art of the Scythian and Siberian world. This artistic device was an important element of the figurative and ideological system of the animal style art. Moreover, for the people of those times it might have been one of the signs, marking their membership of the corresponding cultural groups.
V.A.Korenyako (Moscow, Russia)
The Origin of the Scythian-Siberian Animal Style: Pragmatic Aspects of Semiotics
The term -Scythian-Siberian animal style" refers to the animalistic art of the ancient nomads settled in the inner parts of Eurasia from the Danube to the Amur basin in the 1st mill. B.C. Despite the fact that the phenomenon in question has been under investigation for nearly a century and publications on the problem are quite numerous, the problem of the origin of the Scythian-Siberian animal art still remains unsolved.
All the hypotheses of the style genesis suggested hitherto explained its origin on the basis of either exogenous or endogenous style-forming factors.
The hypotheses of exogenesis postulate the links of the ancient nomads' art with highly developed civilizations of the Middle East, Greece, or China. Some of these theories suggest that the source of the animal style were the local cultures of the Bronze Age period.
The endogenetic hypotheses offer a reconstruction of the style-forming factors that developed within the nomadic societies (figurative art traditions, materials and techniques used, religious views, etc). Interdisciplinary approach to the problem has enabled us to advance a pragmatic hypothesis suggesting the reconstruction of the interrelations between the animalistic art and the ancient nomads as its creators and users.
The hypothesis proceeds from the definition of the ancient nomads' animalistic art as -the art of expressive deformations". It is the definition that has made possible to start the reconstruction of endogenous social and cultural style-forming factors.
The first style-forming factor was the practice of battue hunting that was organised by social groups of young mounted warriors. During those battues the warriors used to fight with big ungulate and carnivorous animals. Being caught and tied, the battue trophies stimulated the appearance of the art of expressive deformations.
The other style-forming factor was determined by social and individual psychological characteristics of the members of ancient social groups. Pieces of art performed in the style of expressive deformations were in compliance with the psychical expressiveness typical of the ancient mounted warriors and hunters. They could serve as the emblems of their bearers' membership in a certain social group.
The reconstruction of the style-forming factors suggested here is substantiated, to some extent, by the materials of the ancient nomads' ethnonyms ( the names of the tribes and peoples of the past. We assume that in the names of the ancient Saki (-saka"), and, probably, Scythian tribes a semantic complex with a wide range of meanings is represented, including the following: -warriors- hunters", -battue-hunters", -hounds", -hound-like warriors". The complex must have included some other meanings denoting various abilities most important for the ancient nomads, such as: -to watch with alert eye", -to shoot accurately", -to move swiftly" This pragmatic interpretation allows to reconcile the contradictory views on the ancient nomadic etymology that have been presented in publications.
There are also some direct archaeological evidences confirming our pragmatic -military-hunting" hypothesis of the Scythian-Siberian animal style genesis. They are, in particular, pieces of art depicting hunters' prey ? predatory and ungulate animals rendered tightly bound.
The pragmatic hypothesis allows to solve some other complicated problems of the history of Scythian-Siberian animal style. They are: the problem of discrepancy between the domestic animal-breeding economy of the nomadic societies and the prevalence of wild animals' images in the ancient art, and the question of animal style disappearance causes. Nevertheless, the hypothesis suggested does not account for all the striking diversity of the ancient nomadic art, that making its further investigation on other lines of research quite necessary.
Yu.B.Polidovich (Donetsk, Ukraine)
Natural and Mythological Aspects in Scythian Pictures (Tail Position in Predacious Animals Depicting)
Depicting various animals was most typical for the art of the people who inhabited the Euro-Asian steppes in the Scythian times, due to which their art acquired the name of the Scythian "animal style".
The structure of any picture represents the structure of the original (or its denotatum). The Scythian animal style had a beast as its denotatum. However, Scythian animals' images represented their natural prototypes just formally. As many researches claim, they rather represented mythological images and concepts. We suggest that beast images were complex representations of the properties characteristic of both a primary denotatum (a real animal) and a secondary denotatum (a mythological image). The properties were featured by means of various natural and artificial signs. The analysis of those signs and features will enhance our understanding of a mythological image.
The paper deals with only one sign of predatory animals' pictures ( the tail position. In the nature the tail is one of the most mobile parts of an animal's body that could be used, for instance, to express different emotions. However, the Scythian art had a static character, and animals, were shown in strictly fixed poses. The tail position correlated with and was determined by the pose, always reflecting its specific character. This was especially typical for the images of curled-up predators or animals with their heads turned back, the tail position being the main structural feature of those images. In some cases it was the tail that marked some additional meaning inherent in the image.
The tail position of standing or lying predators can be described as emotionally neutral in most cases. This correlates with the general character of the image, which was to convey a state of rest. The predators were depicted single, not performing any action, and thus, not having any emotional expression, in fact, being beyond any concrete space-and-time context. It is well known that depicting a state of rest is one of the most characteristic features inherent in the religious art of different ancient peoples.
In the Vth-IVth cc. B.C. the Scythian art got under the growing influence of foreign cultural art traditions. New positions of the tail appeared in predatory animals' images of at that time. The images acquired quite different emotional and significant meaning, being connected mostly with the scenes of animals' fighting and tearing.
Vl.A.Semenov (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Arzhan Barrow as the Universe Model of the Early Scythians of Central Asia
The article is devoted to the unique monument of the Scythian culture in Central Asia - the barrow of Arzhan. The barrow (excavated by M.P.Gryaznov in 1971-1974) represents all the elements of the Scythian triad and, moreover, it allows to reconstruct mythological concepts connecter with the world picture (model) of the early nomads of the Tuva (fig.2.2).
The central burial chamber (a double wooden frame containing the collective burial of the -chief", a concubine, 8 -nobles" and 6 horses) was surrounded by wooden closets placed along the radials, in which 160 horses and several -nobles"(?) were buried. The whole structure was surrounded with a stonewall and covered with rubble on the top. The structure resembles kereksurs - the funeral monuments of the Central Asian highlands of the late Bronze Age. Kereksurs represent a geometric figure - a circle or a square - with a mound in the center. They are sometimes 100m and more in size, with 4, 8, 12 or more radials branching off the centre, (like wheel spokes or sun rays). The greatest number of radials is 32 in kereksur Ulug-Khorum in Tuva (fig.2.1). As we can see, the radials number is always divisible by 4.
The Arzhan layout could be compared to both strictly organized kereksurs and the settlements of the Bronze Age, e.g. Ahr-Kaim, the latter having analogues among the settlements of Asia Minor (Demirchi-Uyuk , etc.) (fig.2, 3, 4). They all represent a static world picture with a stationary center and the universe developing around it. We suggest that the people who had created Arzhan considered it to be identical to micro- and macrocosmos, and placed the mound in the center of their mythologically interpreted universe. Horse sacrifices that had been performed there were aimed to secure the link with the chtonic world. The idea of the World Axis was represented by the Deer Stone and a fire-kindling device from interment 6. The latter was semantically associated with the cult tree ashwadha (literally: -a horse stand"), which could be brought into correlation with both a tethering-post and the World Tree, on the one hand, and with the act of conception /regeneration, on the other. Funeral ceremonies were aimed to secure the latter for the deceased.
Such a monumental ceremonial complex must have been in compliance with a social hierarchy with a specific mythological consciousness, which included the space surrounding the center within its semantic field. We suggest that the Arzhan society was organized as a complex chiefdom, its territory being enclosed within its natural borders separating -the cosmos" and the -chaos" (fig.1). The society that had got control over that mythologically organized space considered it to be their -home" - the extension (and further development) of the sanctuary placed in the center. A horseman going from the sacral center could reach any border point of that space s within a day. This motif is in line with Herodotus' information, that a Scythian tsar possessed as much land as he could travel over within a day. The dynamic world model represents this way as a circle, while the static model represent it like the travel from the center to peripheries. The kereksur layouts having 4, 8 and more radials branchig off to the monument fence represent the static model most evidently. Thus, the society thought itself to be -placed" within one semantic field with both sacral and mythological territories.
P.K.Dashkovsky, A.A.Tishkin (Barnaul, Russia)
Structural and Semiotic Approach to Reconstruction of Ancient Societies' World Concepts (Materials of the culture of the Gorny Altai population in the Scythian epoch)
Structuralism as a philosophic trend formed at the beginning of the 20-s, last century. In the former USSR that trend started developing at the beginning of the 60-s, after the Moscow-Tartu school had formed. The school developed the ideas of classical structuralism, on the one hand, still adhering to the traditions of Russian researchers in semiotics, on the other.
The structural approach regards the culture of any society as a complex of elements (signs) having definite objective meaning and sense. Structuring the man's being could be represented as a model of the world, in which various forms of human behaviour would realize. This structuring is evinced in material culture, art and other manifestations at both conscious and unconscious levels. Proceeding from this, any funeral rite could be regarded as a specific sign and symbolic system of actions under realization. The ancient peoples' concepts about the model of the universe were encoded in separate elements of this system, and in the funeral complexes in particular.
The structural and-semiotic method enabled us to determine that the monuments of the Pazarykskaya culture (the VIth(the IInd cc. B.C.) of the Gorny Altai reflected a sophisticated system of the environment perception by the ancient peoples. Interpreting the barrow as -a mandala" allows us to understand the meaning of a ritual performance (creating the micro-cosmos for the deceased), and, thereby, to reconstruct philosophical outlook of the nomads who had common Indo-Iranian and Indo-European roots.
V.N.Gorbov (Donetsk, Ukraine)
On Sacral Functions of Archaic Handled Bowls of Scythian Forest-Steppe Area
Handled bowls (dippers) are the most impressive pieces of archaic table utensils found in the forest-steppe area of Scythia. They obviously had both practical and sacral functions. Handled bowls were ornamented, the ornament semantics symbolizing the sun, the earth and fertility. Having appeared in the early agricultural societies, those ornamental patterns still persisted, according to ethnographic data, in traditional ceramics and embroidery up to the XIXth-XXth cc.
The dipper, or handled bowl, has a complex morphological structure. In order to see the whole ornamental composition one should examine it turning the bowl round. Bowl handles are ornamented from the cup side. At this angle the handle looks a stylized anthropomorphic figure. Such stylization was typical for a number of ancient cultures. Thus, a handled bowl is an anthropomorphic vessel, representing a well-known correlation: -the vessel ( the human body".
An ornamented vessel could be interpreted as a complicated text associated with the idea of fertility, the latter being represented by a woman's image. The very form of the vessel indicates that it was used for the drinks having a sacral meaning. It is a well-known fact that such bowls were placed on altars and into sanctuaries. The drinks poured into them (as a rule, it was beer) served as offerings to the gods or ancestors. Especially important role the vessels played in the funeral rite. This was in compliance with a universal idea of birth and death unity, which was characteristic of traditional cultures.
There is ethnographic evidence that bowls (dippers) were often used during Slavonic agricultural feasts (the so-called -bratchina") when people used to drink beer collectively, that custom having a sacral character. The vessels used at such feasts were morphologically very close to those of the Scythian times. Analogous vessels have been also found among artifacts of the Eneolithic age.
These findings allow us to conclude that handled bowls (dippers) belong to the most stable elements of agricultural cult practices.
M.S.Sergeyeva (Kiev, Ukraine)
On a Cosmological Scheme in the Ancient Art of Costa Rica (Observations on Metates with Flying Panel Decoration)
The article deals with a structural and semiotic analysis of the decoration of ceremonial querns (metates) with a flying panel (Central Highlands and the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica, the first half of the 1st mill. A.D.).
The decorative composition of metates is divided into three zones - the central one (the panel) and two peripheral ones (the legs and the rim of the grinding plate). Each zone is characterized by specific mythological images. Zoomorphic and anthropo-zoomorphic personages represent a variant of the supernatural world image. The main idea of the composition is to demonstrate the man's interaction with it. The images connected with sacrificing are placed along the peripheral zones of the compositional space, this emphasizing a mediatory role of the sacrifice. On the social level the composition may symbolize the idea of the chief's ritual and magic power, with which the artifact in its symbolic functions is associated. The featuring of the expressive mythological images and the presence of the main personage, marking the center, are characteristic implementations of this idea in the art of the early socially stratified societies.
The sacral situation is represented by the images traditional for the mythology and the art of the region. Although the structural elements (personages) may vary, the compositional structure sticks to the canon. It could be treated as the element determining the principal meaning of the whole composition.
V.V.Nikitin (Yoshkar-Ola, Russia)
Calendar Schemes Reflection on Household Articles and Ornaments of the Ancient Time
The paper bears on the reconstruction of the calendar and calculation systems evolution of the peoples settled in the Ural area and the Volga basin. The reconstruction covers the period dating from the Stone Age up to the beginning of the 20th century and is based on archeological and ethnographic materials.
The analysis of ornamental compositions on household articles and adornments showed that the principal calendar and-calculation systems had formed as far back as the Stone Age, and existed in different variants up to the beginning of the 20th century.
The basic parameters of the calendar-calculation schemes are the following: the length of a year of 336, 360, 365, 384 days, the length of a month of 28, 29, 30 days, the length of a week of 4, 5, 7 days, the months numbering 12, 13 or 14.
It should be mentioned that the time-calculation systems under reconstruction are consistent with the data on the time-calculation schemes of the Ugro-Finnish peoples of the Volga basin, the Ural and Siberia, which have been known from linguistic materials.
S.V.Pasynkov (Ryazan, Russia)
Astronomic Interpretation of Vessel Ornaments of the Pozdnyakovsky Culture
The article deals with the pottery ornamentation (fig. 2) of the Pozdnyakovsky culture of the Upper and Middle Oka basin in the middle of the 2nd mill. B.C. The ornaments under investigation have obviously calendar and astronomic character. The clear-cut evidence for this comes from numerical coincidence of the number of marks on the vessel surfaces with the periods of planets motion.
The revealed calendar schemes of the Pozdnyakovsky tribes are the evidence of the developed and multiplane system of time calculation. The economic and everyday behaviour of the ancient people was regulated on the basis of astronomic observations of the Moon and the Sun motion (354 days, 365 days.), and their ritual and magic activities (immolations, burials, etc.) were submitted to the laws of ceremonial time (336 days, 360 days.).
As vessels with identical ornaments have not been practically found, this has led us to the assumption that each ornament was made for a particular ceremonial action. The tribal priests who had high knowledge in astronomy and mathematics must have been be engaged. The evidence of this comes from the fact that the ornaments include numerical characteristics of the so-called Draconic year (346,6 days), which is necessary to predict eclipses. The characteristics could only be calculated mathematically, as this period cannot be determined by visual observation.
A.V.Yevglevsky (Donetsk, Ukraine)
The Sabre Function in the Funeral Rite: Semiotic Aspects (on materials of nomads of Eastern Europe of the late IXth - XlVth cc.)
The sabre was one of the constituent parts of grave stock, indicating more exactly than any other thing that a deceased belonged to the nomads and determining his social and property status. Moreover, it played the key role in the funeral rite.
This study is aimed at determining the place and role of the sabre in the funeral rite structure. Our approach is to analyze the sabre as a system, this could be considered from the point of view of its inner and outer organizational principles. Here we deal with the outer principles of its organization, namely, with the sabre disposition in the grave related to the human body.
The method of semiotic binary oppositions was used for the analysis . This approach enabled us to determine that the systemic links and relations of the sabre were presented in every interment in their "own" way, creating a specific pattern of organization. They were strictly regulated by the ritual rules, the latter being apparently determined by the time and place of a burial, by the social structure of the people, who took part in a funeral, etc.
The principles of the sabre disposition in the burial were not static. In the course of time their meanings changed in compliance with the changes of the nomads' concepts about the role and value of the sabre in their life, customs and rites. Being caused objectively, those changes became reflected (no matter consciously or unconsciously) in the cultural phenomena. That predetermined shifting the emphasis from certain features to the others. In other words, the changes of meaning of different features occurred, though unconsciously, but not chaotically, being quite predetermined and consistent in the course of time.
