Summary
N.Hrissimov (Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria)
VOZNESENKA COMPLEX: PROBLEMS OF DATING AND INTERPRETATION
The article looks at all basic opinions about dating of “Voznesenka” complex. The author has come to a conclusion that the dating generally accepted now for the complex is in most cases taken a priori. Having analyzed a number of artefacts on the basis of dated analogues and having compared a part of finds with their analogues in the burials dated by coins, the author concluded that the complex should probably be dated earlier than is commonly accepted, namely to the first half of the 7th century, and more specifically to the 20s-30s of the century. A great number of various objects in the Voznesenka complex with numerous similarities among the artefacts from Central and Eastern European complexes of the same time enables one to unite them and specify as the “Voznesenka” horizon.
The Voznesenka complex is a commemorated memorial built according to a concentric scheme widely known in Eastern Europe in the early Middle Ages and connected with solar cults worshiped by the Bulgarians and Alans. The memorial complexes like Voznesenka had been apparently constructed before the period when stone fortresses with cult constructions inside were built. Voznesenka is in fact an ancient Bulgarian cult complex similar to ancient Bulgarian sanctuaries (the so-called “kapishche”).
B.Totev, O.Pelevina (Varna, Bulgaria)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA ON CONTACTS OF POPULATION OF KHAZAR QAGANATE AND DANUBE BULGARIANS
The problem of contacts of Danube Bulgaria with the population of the Khazar Qaganate since the time of the Saltov-Maiaki culture formation up to its last phase has more than once drawn the Russian and Bulgarian researchers’ attention. All of them adhered to the hypothesis that there were several waves (following the first one in the process of migration) of the groups of population from the Khazar Qaganate to the territory of Danube Bulgaria.
Nowadays the majority of the Bulgarian archaeologists interested in this problem consider that there were no resettlements at all and the connections were sporadic and insignificant. To support this view they argue that no belt kits decorated by lotuses have been found so far.
The aim of the paper is to present a rather broad range of finds from Bulgaria which are similar to the objects from the monuments of different variants of the Saltov-Maiaki culture. The material presented by us may be divided into several groups: the objects connected with clothes and toilet articles (fasteners, fibulae, ear sticks, tweezers, hairpins, and mirrors), amulets, pottery, details of belts and horse harness.
Unfortunately, most objects collected by us have no precise data concerning the place of the find and archaeological environment. However, the very fact of their finding on the territory of Northeastern Bulgaria is significant enough. The data taken from casual finds perfectly supplement the materials of archaeological research of Old Bulgarian burial grounds, settlements, fortresses and industrial centers. Special attention should be attached to the monuments containing female adornments, clothes and toilet articles. Some of them such as mirrors and amulets are personal things with a sacral meaning and not just household belongins. Their presence, in our opinion, can be explained not by cultural influence, but the presence of the population with their specific rites and beliefs.
Careful analysis of the finds enables one to trace some periods when greater or smaller groups of population migrated from the Khazar Qaganate to the Bulgarian State territory. They coincide with the cataclysms in the history of Khazaria connected with its wars against the Arabian caliphate in the mid 8th century, religious, intestine war inside the Qaganate in the 1st half of the 9th century and its subsequent destruction in the 2nd half of the 10th century. Different groups of Saltov population preserved, at least for some time, their specific culture and customs on the territory of Bulgaria. Several objects presented by us, i.e. the details of belts, amulets and mirrors of obviously local manufacture attest to this. This is indicated not only by the finds of semi-finished products, but also by the “Saltov” ornamentation on local object forms.
V.V.Koloda (Kharkov, Ukraine)
SALTOV POTTERY MANUFACTURE INFLUENCE ON CERAMIC CORPUS OF BORSHEVO CULTURE OF DON REACHES
The paper is devoted to studying the ceramic corpus of the Don Slavs (Borshevo archaeological culture – the 8th – the early 11th AD) and tracing the influence of pottery traditions of Saltov archaeological culture (the mid. 8th – the mid. 10th AD) on this corpus. In this work macrolevel and microlevel analyses were used to seek the outside and inside syncretism.
The examined finds indicate that Slavonic population of the Don underwent the influence of Saltov (Alan mainly) ceramic traditions which is manifested in the use of imported Saltov and Northern-Black-Sea-Littoral vessels, the manufacture of Saltov-like pots and vessels of syncretic forms, syncretism in Borshevo pottery design. All this permits to assert not only the coexistence of the Don Slavs and Khazar tribes neighbouring with them, but also ethnic and cultural intermixture of a part of the population in the area of predominantly Slavonic settlement.
The analysis made enables us to outline the pivots of the closest Slav-Alan-Bulgarian contacts which include the following microregions: the Ist Belogorsk hillfort and two Belogorsk burial grounds (I and II); Kuznetsovskoye hillfort with Lysogorskiy burial ground, and also the complex of two Borshevo hillforts and a burial ground. These settlements played an important role in transit trade of the Khazars along the Don River and its tributaries involving the East Slavonic world (the Severiane, the Viatichi, and, to a certain extent, the Radimichi) into trans-Eurasian trade and exchange relations.
The Upper Don Slavonic group had closer relations with the Alan-Bulgarian world. An important distinction of Borshevo ceramic complex on the Medium Don is a lack of the influence of Volyntsevo culture. In its turn, this may serve as an indirect indication of the limits of the advancement of Volyntsevo culture into the Slavonic world of the Don reaches which reached the point where the Voronezh River flows into the Don.
All the above testifies to peaceful and neighbourly relations between the two large ethnic bodies. Undoubtedly, a centuries-old neighbourhood can hardly proceed without conflicts, which sometimes are exaggerated in historical learned and educational literature based solely on written sources.
K.I.Krasilnikov (Lugansk, Ukraine)
POLISHED POTTERY FROM STEPPE AREA OF SALTOV-MAYAKI CULTURE (TYPOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, ORNAMENTS, MARKS)
The paper examines a complex of pottery of the Saltov-Mayaki culture, i.e. tableware and special-purpose pottery designed and ornamented by polishing.
Polished pottery stands out both in the traditional set of Saltov tableware and in archaeological monuments. It makes up 56% of the total finds from the burials and 12-14% of the artifacts from the settlements. The basic source for the paper is 115 polished vessels with 104 of them found mainly in the pit and the rest in the catacomb burial grounds of the Severskiy Donets steppe reaches.
The vessels are classified according to the production technology: modeled, touched up on a primitive potter’s wheel, and made on a potter’s wheel (imported ones); according to their function: tableware (mugs, bowls, and jugs), special pottery (kubyshka), containers (jugs, pithoi); according to their form and general proportions. The paper defines the “hybrid” type of vessels and explains the term “kubyshka”. The peculiarities of usage of the polished tableware in the funeral ceremonies are pointed out.
The paper gives an elaborated description of the technology of the polished pottery making (previously composed by S.Pletniova and V.Fliorov) and the process of its polishing, as well as of ornamenting the vessels, iconography, semantics of the pictures and marks.
Ñomplex consideration of the finds permitted to define the level and specifics of production of the polished tableware, the spheres of its application. This helped to determine the criteria of production of local pottery and the influence of the imported products on the development of pottery production of the Severskiy Donets steppe reaches in the early Middle Ages.
P.V.Popov (Astrakhan, Russia)
MODELLED CAULDRONS OF SAMOSDELSKOIE HILLFORT AND PROBLEM OF THEIR ETHNIC INTERPRETATION
During exploration at Samosdelskoie hillfort located in the lower Volga reaches, a complex of modelled cauldrons was singled out. The forms originate from the finds of medieval Turkic-speaking nomads of Central Asia. The forms similar to those used in the pottery of the monuments of the region of the Seven Rivers, should be specially noted. In this region the similar forms have precise dating: the 7th – 8th centuries. On Samosdelskoie hillfort they should be dated to the 9th – 10th centuries. These forms may serve as chronoindicators, thus their distinguishing is of great importance. Generally, the complex under examination should be related with the tribes that composed the Oguz confederation.
The appearance of the considerable amount of tableware typical of the nomads in the hillfort collection is a sign of the process of the nomads’ transition to settled life. However, the adverse natural climatic conditions of the lower Volga reaches did not permit the formation of the powerful center of settled agricultural culture here. Accordingly, cattle breeding played a great role in the economy of the population of the monument, which caused preservation of nomadic economy. The nomads used Samosdelskoie hillfort as a place of winter stay.
V.V.Davydenko, V.K.Grib (Slaviansk, Donetsk, Ukraine)
EASTERN EUROPEAN MANY-FACED BRONZE FIGURINES OF FREAKS OF NATURE: TYPOLOGY AND SEMANTICS
The paper considers bronze anthropomorphous figurines known in learned literature under the term of “freaks of nature”. They were named this way due to the absence of some parts of a body, e.g. a hand, a leg, an eye, an ear, etc.
Among them there are figurines which have got two or four faces so that they may be singled out in a “many-faced” group. They are characterized by the following stylistic features: the ugliness or absence of a certain body part; emphasizing sex indications; the presence of female sex indication in male figurines and vice versa; an image of a child face (rarely – that of an animal) in the area of a breast or a palm; the absence of clothes.
According to their technological, constructive, decorative and semantic characteristics, the many-faced figurines are subdivided into three types: one-side-cast two-compound (twofaced and fourfaced), one-side-cast three-compound twofaced and unit-cast twofaced.
Many-faced bronze figurines of freaks of nature are the images of a couple of forefathers. Used in family sanctuaries and ceremonial practice of shamans, along with their guarding function, they were meant to provide fertility to their owners. Apparently, the many-faced figurines of freaks of nature were used in a cult practice of the Turkic peoples who lived in the southeastern European steppes in the 8th-10th centuries and whose ideology was based on shamanism.
Peter Somogyi (Satteins, Austria)
ORIGINS OF EARRINGS WITH MOVABLE PENDANT OF MIDDLE AVAR PERIOD
The researchers of the late 7th century archaeological heritage of the Avars and the Eastern European mounted nomadic peoples began to take notice of the earrings with movable pendant set in a recess flanked by flaring hoop sections at roughly the same time, although independently of each other. While Avar research generally derives the earrings with a bead pendant attached to a round and, later, oval hoop of the Late Avar period from the earrings with movable pendant, scholars of the early medieval archaeology of the Eastern European steppe regard the “Khazar” type earrings as the forerunners of the Saltovo type earrings enjoying widespread popularity in the 8th-10th centuries. The origin of the earring appearing without any visible prototypes among the Avars was sought in Byzantium; in contrast, a possible Iranian Sogdian and Turkic origin has also been suggested in addition to a Byzantine one in the case of the “Khazar” type earrings of the Eastern European steppe, which also appeared without any local forerunners. The goal of this study is to offer a detailed discussion of the nature of the similarities between the earrings with movable pendant from the lavish burials at Ozora-Totipuszta, Igar, Dunapentele and Kiskoros-Vagohid, regarded as the type assemblages of the Middle Avar period, and the “Khazar” type earrings of the rich Pereshchepyne assemblages in the hope that the results suffice for an acceptable explanation for the typochronological link between the “Avar” and “Khazar” type earrings.
V.S.Aksionov (Kharkov, Ukraine)
EXPLORATION OF EARLY MEDIEVAL BURIALS NEAR METALLOVKA VILLAGE IN 2006 (NETAILOVKA BURIAL GROUND)
The paper considers 13 burials (##432-444) explored in 2006 at the Netailovka burial ground of the Saltov culture. By a funeral ceremony the burials do not differ from a great bulk of Proto-Bulgarian burials of the 8th-9th centuries AD in the south of Eastern Europe. However, the main specificity of burials of the burial ground is a big share of burials which not contain human remains, or the remains are presented by separate bones (fragments of skull and teeth). The new excavated burials in fact contain no human remains in grave pits which may be explained by the hydrotechnical situation in the burial ground area. The presence of ceramic vessels fragments (#439, #444), separate objects (#435), and human bones (#438) in the filling of some grave pits, along with obvious deliberate spoiling of the funeral inventory in burial #444 and disturbance of human remains integrity (burial 435), permits to assume that these burials were reopened in ancient times. The purpose of such penetration into a grave pit, in our opinion, was to perform a ceremony of neutralization of the dead. Burials 435, 438, 444 explored in 2006 expand the group of burials of the Netailovka burial ground with horse remains placed in the western part of the grave pit in a special niche. The closest analogies to these burials with a horse of the Netailovka burial ground are the Hungarian burials of the Vth group from the northeastern part of Hungary. The data of the Netailovka burials may testify, from our point of view, to the intermingling of two funeral traditions, Turkic and Ugrian. Placing horse remains at the feet of a dead across a grave pit is characteristic of the Turkic tradition; constructing special niches for such remains in a grave pit is part of the Ugrian ritual. Thus, placing the body of a whole horse at the feet of a dead in a niche (burials 435, 438, 444 of the Netailovka burial ground) apparently should be considered as one of the variants of this mixed funeral tradition where the whole horse was substituted in a grave by the folded horse skin (Ugrian funeral rite). The funeral inventory from the explored burials is characteristic of the Saltov complexes dated back to the 2nd half of the 8th – 9th cc. However, such objects as fibula (burial 440), blocks for bridle strips (burials 435, 438), buckles (burials 435, 438, 441), plaque and a belt tip (burial 435) permit to date the explored burials more precisely, i.e. to the last quarter of the 8th – mid 9th cc. Taking into consideration the dating of the Netailovka burials with a horse and the time of appearance of the Hungarian tribes in Pannonia as well as the fact that the Vth group of Pannonia burials has got analogies only in the burials with a horse of the Netailovka burial ground, we may assume that this funeral tradition was introduced in the northeastern parts of Hungary at the end of the 9th century by the natives of Verkhnii Saltov neighborhood – Netailovka. In view of this, A.V.Komar’s assumption that Netailovka funeral tradition belonged to Kabar (an ethnic group of the Khazarian origin) seems well-grounded.
M.V.Khoruzhaia (Kharkov, Ukraine)
CATACOMB BURIALS OF MAIN VERKHNIY SALTOV BURIAL GROUND (excavation of 1984)
The paper presents the finds of 24 funeral complexes explored in 1984 by an expedition of the Kharkov Historical Museum in the main catacomb burial ground near Verkhniy Saltov village of Volchansk region of Kharkov province. The explored funeral complexes of such an eponymous monument as Verkhniy Saltov well illustrate the material culture of the Alanian component of the Saltov archaeological culture, their ethno-cultural relations with other East European peoples. Some things found in catacombs 14 and 15 and characteristic of Finno-Ugric peoples of the Middle Volga reaches (the Mordva, Meria, Muroma) are of special interest. The funeral inventory presented in the explored burials permits to specify the dating of this site of the Verkhniy Saltov I (main) catacomb burial ground which enables one to continue developing internal chronology of the Saltov archaeological culture. The explored funeral complexes in most cases may be dated back to the mid – the 2nd half of the 9th century by their inventory and the Arabian silver coins.
A.V.Komar (Kiev, Ukraine)
BARROWS OF 8TH CENTURY A.D. NEAR ASTAKHOVO VILLAGE
The paper analyses excavation finds of barrow 4 of Astakhovo I and barrow 13 of Astakhovo III (the Don river basin) that was built in the Khazarian time and later was used by the Polovtsy as a sacral place. Original Khazarian barrow was constructed with black soil and stone cover and had a shape of a flat pyramid (with the square side 14 m at the bottom and 6 m at the top). SW-NE orientated grave contained only remains of human and horse skeletons and grave goods due to grave robbing or some kind of a ritual in the Khazarian time. Preserved grave goods are as follows: a gold application – a copy of a Byzantine solidus of Constantine IV (681-685 A.D.); a silver application of a belt; a bronze pendant of a belt or a harness; an iron buckle; arrowhead and bone detail of the composite bow; iron plates, possibly, from armour; a fragment of the hand-made pottery. Barrow 13 of Astakhovo III presents burial with similar funeral rite but remains of burials goods here is much pooper: iron knife, bone plates from composite bow and saddle. Both Astakhovo barrows belongs to the NW group of the Sokolovskaia Balka type barrows and can be dated to the middle of the 8th century A.D.
S.A.Yatsenko (Moscow, Russia)
EARLY TURKIC MALE COSTUME IN 6TH-7TH CC. CHINESE ART: IMAGES OF “OTHERS”
The paper analyzes two main groups of images of the Early Turks (almost exclusively noble people, 9 complexes including 14 compositions) in Chinese art. The most ancient of the known images of the Turks of the First Kaghanate era are presented on the Chinese Sogdians’ mortuary beds and sarcophagi of the 2nd half of the 6th c. Later images can be seen on mortuary terracotta figurines of the Early Tang era the 7th – 1st half of the 8th century (the East Kaghanate era). These images quite reliably reproduce the costume: its components, silhouette, range of colors, and manner of wearing. Both groups lack any evidence of Chinese influence; in decoration and some details of clothes the influence of the Sogdians, and, partly, the peoples of Kutcha and Khotan Oases can be traced. Important differences between the garments represented on earlier and later compositions are obvious with four complexes of clothes reflecting tribal specificity being distinguished in the former. On earlier images of the nobility there are black woolen belts without metal details which twice wound a waist, red trousers, etc. The later suit is distinguished by the prevalence of two triangular lapels of a caftan, simplified decorative ornamentation, the use of very long or very short clothes, different color preferences. White Chinese garments attest higher status of a person in a pair than red. Noble people are presented in two considerably differing kinds of images on terracotta figurines, i.e. in official smart appearance and as a horseman dressed in a military-hunting costume. The opposition “fastening – wrapping over” for the earlier or “fastening – throwing over” for the later images probably depended on the situation in which the wearer was.
T.N.Krupa (Kharkov, Ukraine)
TEXTILE AND ORGANICS OF SALTOV PERIOD FROM NETAILOVKA BURIAL GROUND
The paper considers new finds of ancient textile and adjoined organics in the burial ground of the Saltov period near Netailovka village, Volchansk region, Kharkov province.
It was this unique site where a new technique of extracting material from unearthed burial was adopted for the first time. This technique implies that the ground which potentially contains any archaeological organics is cut out in a monolith piece. The bulk of the material obtained using this method of excavations of the burial ground in 2003-2004 and 2006 permits us to raise the question about the sources of delivery of abundant quantity of silk into the territory of North-Eastern Khazaria during the 8th-10th centuries. It can be asserted that the Seversky Donets medieval commercial waterway played an important role in the trade of Chinese silk in Khazaria. This is confirmed by the finds from Netailovka burial ground.
E.D.Zilivinskaia, O.V.Orfinskaia (Moscow, Russia)
TEXTILE PRODUCTS AT SAMOSDELKA HILLFORT
The paper is devoted to examination of textiles fragments found at Samosdelka hillfort in Astrakhan province. The town located on an island in the Volga estuary was founded in the Khazar time not later than in the 9th century and existed continuously until 1330s. Some data collected by now permit to relate it to the capital of Khazar Qaganate – Itil, which has not been found so far.
The bottom layers of the monument dated back to the 9th-10th centuries and characterized by considerable humidity well preserved the objects made of organic materials, in particular, the textiles. One of the textile objects was the remains of the fishing net consisting of thick cords with the cells woven from thinner cords fastened to it. The second object was the remains of a quilted article consisting of two layers of cotton fabric and one layer of cotton wool, probably a robe. Since cotton can not be grown in the Lower Volga area it can be assumed that it was brought there from the Central Asia via the Silk Road.
K.I.Krasilnikov (Lugansk, Ukraine)
BURGEANS (BULG-R) OF SEVERSKY DONETS STEPPE REACHES AS PART OF KHAZARIA
Alans (al-lan) and proto-Bulgarians (burgean) formed an ethnic nucleus of population of the western outskirts of Khazaria which became its part in the middle of the 7th century as a result of wars. The Kaganat administration took a dual attitude towards their nationals determined both by military strategies and economic interests.
Considering the lack of written records of relations between the authorities and their people within the Khazar territory the archaeological evidence concerning both military fortification and objects of weapon from burials began to play a most important role. In this case we mean the specific nature of weapon, ammunition and harnesses from burials in pits of the steppe area burial grounds of the Saltov-Mayaki culture. According to their function the whole range of finds may be divided into two groups: weapon and objects related to equipment (harness). These groups are further subdivided into the following types of objects: axes, flails, spears, daggers, arrows, protective bow straps, stirrups, bits, buckles, and belt sets. Surprisingly, limited variety of ordinary weapon, predominance of its simplified types; lack of offensive weapon and equipment, armour and other artifacts indicates the absence of not only professional warrior-riders but also foot-irregulars. The local population from the proto-Bulgarians – burgeans (al-Khorezmi), bulg-r (Joseph) which belonged to kara-budun (“Black Bulgarians”) was eliminated from the military system of Khazaria, restricted and probably even isolated from the foreign contacts; it discharged mere economic and tributary duties and was devoid of its own military and administrative structure. Due to the total absence of fortified settlements and military equipment it is easy to explain the circumstances of a sudden collapse of the Saltov culture and to presume the destiny of the population intentionally deprived of self-defense.
V.S.Aksionov, V.K.Mikheiev (Kharkov, Ukraine)
BURIALS WITH COMPOUND-COMPLEX BOWS OF KRASNAIA GORKA BIRITUAL BURIAL GROUND OF SALTOV CULTURE
At the Krasnaia Gorka biritual burial ground of Saltov culture in seven burials of the end of the 8th – the mid 9th cc. (3 cremations and 4 inhumations) the remains of the unequally preserved compound-complex bows, presented by a different number of horn overlays, have been found. By horn overlays it has been determined that the missile weapon of distant combat was presented by compound-complex bows of two types: the “Saltov” type with forward edge overlays-shuttles (burials 150/ê-13, 216/ê-19, 233, 254, 282, 293/ê-34) and the bow with lateral end overlays (burial 264/ê-24). The “Saltov” type bows were found in burials of the Krasnaia Gorka burial ground which reflect different funeral traditions that existed among the Turkic-Bulgarian population in the south of Eastern Europe – both in inhumations and cremations. Bows of the same type were found also in Don Alanian burials of the 2nd half of the 8th – the 9th cc. and in the funeral complexes attributed to the Khazarians. All this testifies to the fact that using the “Saltov” type bows was not a prerogative of any single group in the population of the Khazar Qaganate in the flourishing age of the latter. Apparently, wide use of the “Saltov” type bow by the steppe and forest-steppe population of the Volga-Don interfluve in the 2nd half of the 8th – the 9th cc. should be considered as a chronological phenomenon caused by certain military-economic needs of the Khazar Qaganate. Characteristics of a bow of this type (rather small size at quite high flexibility, elasticity and tension resistibility) completely fitted requirements of fighting in the conditions of the Eastern European steppe and forest-steppe with the opponent not covered with heavy armour.
The other line of the “Khazar” bow development is represented by a bow from burial 264/ê-24. Unfortunately, there was only one lateral end plate, damaged besides, preserved in the burial. Therefore, it is impossible to determine what type of the “Khazar” bow this copy belongs to. It could be hypothetically presumed that the bow also had median lateral and end rear plates. Chronologically this variant of the “Khazar” bow appeared somewhat earlier than “Saltov” type bows found in other burials of the Krasnaia Gorka burial ground. This is one of modifications of the “Turkic-Khazar” bow which appeared in cultural-historical and state-political environment of the Khazar Qaganate. Being generally similar to other inhumations of the Krasnaia Gorka burial ground, burial 264/ê-24 differs from them not only by a special type of a bow but also by remains of meat sacrificial food found in it. Owing to this burial 264/ê-24 draws closer to those of the early Saltov horizon like Sokolovskaia Balka, whereas other burials of the burial ground reflect the next stage of funeral ceremonialism transformation in the conditions of development of forest-steppe areas of the Severkii Donets reaches by inhabitants of steppe regions.
Specific character of a funeral ceremony and a set of inventory of the burials of the Krasnaia Gorka burial ground indicate that both modifications of the compound-complex bow presented in the examined burials were brought to the Severskii Donets basin by natives of steppe areas.
A.Biro, P.Lango, A.Turk (Budapest, Hungary)
10TH-11TH CENTURIES ANTLER OVERLAYS OF BOW FROM CARPATHIAN BASIN
The authors have carried out the functional determination and specification of antler overlays found in burial 6 during the authentic excavations of the 10th c. cemetery located at Szentes, Derekegyhazi-oldal. An overlay that formed a back of a bow-grip is extremely rare in the material culture of the Carpathian Basin of the 10th-11th cc. Moreover, only five overlays similar to those found at the Szentes cemetery are known by now. Therefore, identification of their accurate chronological position in the above mentioned period is impossible.
In the second part of the paper the authors determined the Eastern European parallels of the bow-grip overlays of the Carpathian Basin collect, stating that similar bow-grip overlays were common to the east of the Carpathian Basin in the whole Eurasian region in the 8th-11th cc. Accurate formal counterparts of the bow-grip overlays of the Carpathian basin of the 10th-11th cc. within Eastern Europe and the 10th c. are to be found in the material culture of Sarkel (Belaia Vezha) and the surrounding regions, although they are known even in the areas to the east of the Volga river, for example in Altai region.
Accordingly, the authors have made a review of the Eastern European connections of other bow-plates and bow-overlays of the 10th-11th cc. from the Carpathian Basin. It has been determined that accurate formal counterparts of bow-end plates and bow-end overlays from the Carpathian Basin appear only sporadically and are very rare in Eastern Europe. In contrast to this, formal parallels of bow-grip plates of the Carpathian Basin appear more widely and in larger numbers in the material culture of Eastern Europe in the 9th-11h cc.
V.G.Kryukov (Ukraine, Lugansk)
ARABIAN ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY OF 1ST HALF OF 9TH C. ON AZOV SEA, LANDSCAPE AND POPULATION OF AZOV SEA AREA
This paper is an attempt to reconstruct the ideas of the Arabian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of the 1st half of the 9th c. Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi of the Azov Sea with its adjoining areas and population. The research is based on the following basic methodological approaches: selection, systematization and analysis of the information on the region contained in the geographical work of this author “Kitab surat al-ard (book of the form of the earth)” /??????? ?????? ??????? /. To reveal the degree of reliability of the information under investigation, a methodological principle of complexity, i.e. comparison of the evidence contained in al Khwarizmi’s work with the archaeological data, has been used in studying this historical written record.
It has been revealed that a considerable part of al-Khwarizmi’s information about the region under discussion is taken from “?????????? ????????”, a book of the ancient geographer of the 2nd century AD Claudius Ptolemy. However, some Claudius Ptolemy’s data on the Azov Sea area and the Seversky Donets river were revised by al-Khwarizmi in his “Book of the form of the Earth”. The reasons for this lie in al-Khwarizmi’s attempt to bring Claudius Ptolemy’s coordinates in correspondence with the day length and the midday position of the sun as well as with realia of the world contemporary with him. In consequence of al-Khwarizmi’s methods of selection and systematization of the data of the above author his work contains quite essential differences in the geographical position and coastal outline of the Azov Sea, in the direction of currents and location of estuaries of some rivers, and also in the list of settlements of the Azov Sea area.
Pointing out the distinctive features of al-Khwarizmi’s evidence on the Azov Sea and its adjacent area permitted the author of the paper to identify most hydronyms and toponyms mentioned in al-Khwarizmi’s work with their realia. The author also succeeded in identifying the ethnonyms, by which the population of the Azov Sea territory was designated in the “Book of the form of the Earth”, with definite ethnic communities that occupied this region both at the time of late antiquity and in the period of history of the Seversky Donets river and the Azov Sea area contemporary with al-Khwarizmi.
G.Ye.Svistun (Chuguiev, Kharkov province, Ukraine)
FORTIFICATIONS OF VERKHNIY SALTOV HILLFORT
Fortifications of the early Middle Ages Verkhniy Saltov hillfort presented an echeloned system of defence. In their design the erected fortifications combined traditional building skills of Saltov population with the methods worked out during their residence in the Severskiy Donets valley. A synthesis of traditional methods and innovated approaches while fortifying the Verkhniy Saltov fortress was prompted by the nature of available building materials and the goals of defence strategy which were to be achieved with the consideration of the expected enemy’s ways of warfare. Accordingly, the outer lines of hillfort fortifications were built by the fosse – rampart principle, and ground and wood were used as the basic building material. The citadel was the most strengthened part of the fortress. Its defensive structures were made of stone though, they were of the same construction type: the fosse – the rampart.
Moreover, the fortress peculiarity was the absence of towers which made the flanking fire along the defensive barriers impossible. This feature permits to conclude that the most likely purpose of the fortress was to control crossing over water and serve as a shelter for people who lived in the nearby open settlements in case of an assault of hostile nomadic detachments.
The paper offers a possible variant of reconstruction of the Verkhniy Saltov hillfort fortifications.
V.S.Fliorov (Moscow, Russia)
SEMIKARAKORY FORTRESS OF KHAZAR QAGANATE: BUILDING FROM ADOBE BRICK, TECHNOLOGY AND TERMS
The paper is devoted to organization of building of the Khazarian fortress near Semikarakory (the Lower Don) built of adobe (unburnt) brick. This is the first attempt to reconstruct the complete technological process from clay digging to building fortified walls. According to the author’s calculations, the construction of the fortress, which was 830 m in its perimeter (the citadel itself was 340 m), with the walls not less than 1.60 m thick and up to 4.8 m high, required over 2 million adobe bricks.
For brick manufacture a form containing not more than two cells was used. Making 400 bricks a day 100 workers could produce 2 million bricks in 50 days, i.e. during one season, and 50 molders in 100 days accordingly.
On the whole, 100 to 200 men, and maximum 500 to speed up the construction were needed to erect a fortress, from clay digging to building fortified walls, in two years, winters excluding.
The construction of the Semikarakory fortress required no special human and financial assets from the Khazar Qaganate. The term of construction and number of workers calculated by the author appeared to be considerably smaller than was supposed earlier. The fortresses of Khazaria, not only those made of adobe brick as Semikarakory and Sarkel, but also those made of stone (on the right bank of Tsimliansk water storage lake, Maiaki, etc.), are small by their sizes, even tiny. No towns grew around them. They could not contain any considerable garrisons. They were more likely footholds, bases for field armies and military-administrative centres, not expected to provide long defense.
V.S.Fliorov (Moscow, Russia)
BURNT BRICKS OF SEMIKARAKORY FORTRESS AND SARKEL (EXPERIENCE OF STATISTICS OF SIZES)
The paper is devoted to refining the methodology of statistical manipulation of burnt bricks from Khazar Qaganate. 3800 fragments and several dozens of undamaged bricks from Semikarakory hillfort (Rostov province, the Lower Don) and Sarkel have been used.
Semikarakory fortress. 1) 3873 fragments of bricks 4 to 8.5 cm thick have been measured. Among them there are no absolutely dominating groups, i.e. those making over 50 % of all. Bricks of 4-5 cm; 4.5-5.5 cm; 5-6 cm thick constitute relative majority on different sites of the fortress. Each series includes 5-cm-thick bricks.
The biggest sampling in the citadel of the fortress is made by 2317 fragments out of which 486 pieces (20.37 %) are 4.5-cm-thick; 669 pieces (28.03 %) – 5.0 cm; 423 pieces (17.72 %) – 5.5 cm.
Most of the thickest (8 cm) bricks are found near the donjon but there are only 2 % of them there. Generally, 1 8-cm-thick brick accounts for 350-354 smaller ones. The basic “standard” of the fortress bricks height is the group “4.5-5.5 cm”, which makes up 62.48 %.
2) Undamaged square bricks: the side length varies from 28 to 21 cm. The center (hub) of the sampling is made by bricks with the sides varying from 25 to 24 cm. There are semi-format bricks and one brick is in the form of the trapezium.
Thus the following conclusion concerning the fortress can be made: the size of the bricks varies, the proportions are unstable, and no format prevails.
Sarkel. Proceeding from M.I.Artamonov and P.A.Rappoport’s works and V.Ye.Fliorova’s methodology, several corrections have been made in differentiation of the sizes of bricks. Accordingly, square bricks of Sarkel are attested to be similar to Semikarakory bricks. A peculiarity of Sarkel collection is a considerable amount of rectangular bricks with different unstable proportions. In conclusion a difference between Semikarakory and Sarkel bricks and the bricks of Byzantium has been pointed out.
S.F.Tokarenko (Semikarakorsk, Russia)
MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES OF BRICKS OF SEMIKARAKORSK FORTRESS. ATTEMPT OF RECONSTRUCTION
The paper presents the reconstruction of the technological process of manufacturing the Khazar time burnt bricks; calculations of firing temperatures are given; a comparison with the modern process of brick manufacturing is made; a description of the kinds of raw material and the sites of its extraction is presented.
Ten samples were subjected to laboratory experiment. Some of them contained a certain amount of grass or sand admixture; the others had no artificial admixture. Water absorption property serves for determination of the firing temperature. To verify the results the examination was repeated on another set of samples. Water absorption of the samples was within the limits of 16.2-25.0%. The maximum temperature of firing for the whole range of red bricks could reach 980°C. The temperature of firing for the bricks with a black core was within 400-500°C.
Considering a great need in bricks during the construction inside the citadel of the Semikarakorsk fortress, firing was most likely to be made in stacks. Kilns could not provide high productivity and their number would be great. Economic expedience (small expenses and high productivity) prevailed over quality and other parameters. Judging by the amount and quality of bricks, firing was hardly a labour-intensive operation.
Z.A.Lvova (St.-Petersburg, Russia)
BEQESS UL’-JAI AND HER TIME ACCORDING TO DATA OF 13TH CENTURY BULGHARIAN CHRONICLE GAZI BARAJ TARIXI
The paper presents previously unknown facts about “beqess” Ul’-Jai, who can be compared to princess Olga of the Russian chronicles; the evidence is taken from the 13th century Bulgharian chronicle “Gazi Baraj Tarixi” (“History of Gazi Baraj”), its analysis and interpretation are given.
First of all, “Gazi Baraj Tarixi” lets us understand Mal’s proposal to marry the beqess after her husband was killed: according to the custom a murderer of a prince or “beq” having married the widow consolidated the right to the throne and title of the murdered person.
Additionally, Mal’s personality is described differently in comparison with the Russian chronicles. According to “Gazi Baraj Tarixi”, he was a son of the Great Bulgharian khan Almysh. If Mal had become a Kievan prince, the history of the Kievan princedom might have been absolutely different. It could develop close relations with the Great Bulghars and eventually become an Islam state. After the victory over “Drevlyane” Ul’-Jai brought the chained imprisoned Mal to Kiev-Bashtu, where he was released and raised to power by the local opposition “Anchiitsy”.
However, the efforts of Mal and his Bulgharian and Anchiitsian allies failed. The main role in this intrigue was played by “beqess” Ul’-Jai, who succeeded in getting free from Mal and his allies’ domination in Kiev-Bashtu. So Mal moved away to another “beqdom”.
Z.A.Lvova (St.-Petersburg, Russia)
BINDING OF CAUCASIAN GOAT HORN FROM CHIORNAIA MOGILA IN LIGHT OF DATA OF 13TH CENTURY BULGHARIAN CHRONICLE GAZI BARAJ TARIXI AND MYTHOLOGY OF BULGHARS
The paper proposes a new interpretation of the image on a silver binding of a big Caucasian goat horn from the Chiornaia Mogila barrow of the end of the 10th – the early 11th century. The interpretation is based on the Bulgharian mythology preserved in the Tatar national holidays and on the text of the Russian translation of the Gazi Baraj Tarixi – the Bulgharian chronicle of the 13th century.
The chronicle was a part of Jacfar Tarixi written in the Bulgharian Turkic language in Arabic type and composed in the 17th century. Its original was confiscated in 1939 when the state struggled against Pan-Turkism and Moslems were forced to use the Russian alphabet. The Russian translation made then for a local NKVD department was kept in one of the translators’ family and was published in 1993 in Orenburg and Kazan.
The chronicle says that after moving to Danube and Volga the Bulghars still remained in the Oka and Volga interfluve and in the Dnieper reaches, especially on its left bank, and at first strongly resisted to the Russian princes invading this territory. According to the new interpretation, the image on the horn represents a Bulghars’ spell on the Novgorodians and Scandinavians who composed a princely army: a defeated Novgorodian and a Scandinavian without headdresses and belts are running being trampled by spirits – patrons of the ancient Bulghars and stricken by their own arrows.
S.I.Andreiev, V.P.Lebedev, A.V.Pachkalov (Tambov, Dzerzhinsk, Moscow, Russia)
NEW FINDS OF ARABIÑ DIRHEMS IN TAMBOV PROVINCE
Over 30 numismatic artifacts have been found by now on the territory of the upper reaches of the Tsna, Moksha, and Sura rivers populated by the Mordva-Moksha tribes in the 7th-11th centuries. These include 1 hoard containing over 16 silver al-Kufa coins (11 of which have been defined) and 23 individual finds. 5 dirhems of the 1st third of the 10th century and 6 its imitations have been defined in the hoard. The individual finds are more diverse: 11 dirhems (1 – the mid 8th century, 8 – 1-3 quarters of the 10th century, 2 – the date is ambiguous); 3 dirhem imitations of the 10th century, 7 indications of imitations and 2 coin-like pendants. All individual finds come from burial grounds; most of them have got holes for hanging up, some of them have eyes. Less than a half of all numismatic finds are al-Kufa dirhems proper, with 40 % of the Volga Bulgharia mint. The greater part consists of the imitations, thin silver (single-sided) indications of imitations, coin-like pendants. All this objectively indicates lack of monetary circulation in the Mordva-Moksha tribes in the 10th century. Dirhems and imitations that had got to this region from Volga Bulgaria were basically used as decorations.
V.P.Lebedev, A.V.Zorin (Dzerzhinsk, the Nizhniy Novgorod province, Kursk, Russia)
MONETARY CIRCULATION ON TERRITORY OF KURSK SEVERIANE IN 9TH-10TH CENTURIES
Monetary circulation on the territory of Kursk Severiane began in the 1st quarter of the 9th century and was interrupted in the last quarter of the 10th century at the time of forced annexation of this territory to Kievan Rus. Dirhems of Arabian Caliphate along with their half pieces, which arrived from Khazaria and circulated by the piece, were the only coins used there throughout all the 9th century. Since the beginning of the 10th century the southern route of dirhems arrival was replaced by the eastern (Volga-Oka) one through which many more Central Asian minted dirhems began to come to Kursk area of the Seim reaches. In 930s the number of fragments with different weight among the arrived dirhems sharply increased. Therefore, a unique decision for entire Eastern Europe aimed at preservation of the piece circulation of coins was taken, i.e. to cut out round coins from the undamaged dirhems and large fragments, to make different fractions of the kuna. By now the fractions weighing 2.2, 1.3, 1.0, 0.8, and 0.6 g have been found in the Seim reaches. It has been noted that the weight of the fractions cut out in 930-940s and 960-970s tends to decrease. No other coins circulating in the Seim reaches in the 11th century and afterwards have been found until the beginning of the 14th century when Juchi silver and copper coins started to circulate there.
