No 2 (2024)

Gobustan is home to a large group of archaeological sites and many thousands of rock images dating from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. Due to its extraordinary scientific and artistic significance, the Gobustan complex is included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List. This paper focuses on rock images dating back to the Stone Age. An attempt is made to systematize petroglyphs, taking into account their types, artistic styles, techniques of their creation, and themes of the images. The author considers relative dating and correlation of the distinguished styles with Gobustan sites of various stages of the Stone Age. Based on the analysis, style 1 of the region’s petroglyphs is dated from the first half of the Upper Palaeolithic (no later than 25–24 kya). Style 2 is synchronized with Mesolithic sites, and styles 3a and 3b are dated, with a certain degree of conditionality, from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic.

The article considers two textbook-famous Cnidian plastic vessels from the collection of the State Historical Museum in Moscow. One of them, shaped as a ram, comes from the excavations of N.I. Veselovsky in the Kuban region, the second one – a lagynos with erotic scenes on its body – was found by I.I. Gushchina at the Late Scythian burial ground Belbek IV in the Southwestern Crimea. As part of a project to do research on monuments of the classical period from the State Historical Museum collection, an X-ray tomographic study of these vessels was conducted at the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, which made it possible to clarify the technology of their manufacture.

In 1915, near the village of Korobkino, Kursk Province, a hoard of seven silver bracelets and a solid dating from 923–924 was found. The article determines its place in the historical and cultural context of both the region and Eastern Europe as a whole. It has been established that these decorations are not characteristic of the Romny antiquities. It is evident from the design of bracelets with tied ends and the use of thick wire, polyhedral in section. Gold coins were found mainly on the territory of Rus. The solid from Korobkino is the only find in the vast area of the Romny archaeological culture, which fact emphasizes the peculiarity of the complex. The author suggests dating the hoard within the second–third quarters of the 10th century AD. In general, its composition demonstrates the synthesis of northern (Scandinavia) and southern (Byzantium) contacts of the population of the emerging Rus culture. The owner of the hoard was related to the druzhina (prince’s retinue) layer of society. No other traces of such a distinct “Russian presence” concentrated in one complex have been found in the Severian land so far.

During the Middle Ages, massive ingots were the standard type of copper raw material obtained from European mines and exported across the Baltic and North Seas over vast distances. In Russian literature, they are known as “flat cakes” and “loafs”, while in the foreign one they are referred to as Reißscheiben (torn out disk). The article provides information about 24 cases of finding massive ingots. Most of the finds are concentrated on international trade routes and mark the main directions of movement of copper raw materials from mining operations located in the Western Carpathians, Erzgebirge and Eastern Alps, to the North and Baltic Seas. Recording and mapping of Reißscheiben that were not subject to remelting, and, therefore, retained the primary “isotopic marks”, provide valuable information for identifying sources of metal and establishing the routes of importing metal raw materials to the territory of medieval Rus. Huge volumes of copper shipwreck cargoes can be considered as reference samples when interpreting Pb-Pb data obtained for both different types of ingots and finished products.

Products made of bone and antler complement the characteristics of the material culture of the Toretskoye urban settlement, a major centre of crafts and international trade in the Kazan Khanate. In accordance with the general dating of the single-layer site, all items made of bone and antler have a reliable period of existence within the 15th century AD. Based on frequent numismatic material and other related context, the products receive the status of a chronological and, in some cases, ethnocultural reference point, and in terms of inventory and manufacturing techniques they represent products of urban production. No specialized bone-carving workshops have been found at the site; however, the presence of blanks and faulty products in the coppersmith and blacksmith workshops makes it possible to conclude that bone and antler processing was a related craft of complex production.

The article presents the results of a study in the design of the underground part of the fence walls in wooden defensive structures. It was established that to date this issue has not been properly developed. The source base consists of the results of archaeological research and data from written sources. The paper provides information on the depth and width of the fence grooves, their shape and the interdependence of these parameters. The author established the fact that there existed a standard for deepening fence into the ground. The issue of the multiple fence walls is considered in detail. It is proved that such fence structures did not exist, but the “multiple fence” pattern recorded on some sites is only a reflection of repairs of fence walls as well as the presence of retaining walls and supporting structures of platforms. It was found that the fence posts were dug into the ground rather than clogged. The latter technique was typical for the pillars of auxiliary structures at the fence.

In medieval worldview, leather objects were often regarded as attributes of magical rituals. The article presents the results of studying a unique leather artifact with organic filling discovered during excavations in the Kremlin of Pereyaslavl Ryazansky (modern Ryazan) at the Vvedensky excavation site. The find comes from the mid-15th century cultural layer. Examination of the contents of this leather bag revealed particles of a snake, which gives grounds for attributing the find as a medieval amulet. Despite church prohibitions, the tradition of wearing such talismans is well known from written and ethnographic sources and is observed among a number of peoples. This first leather talisman found among the archaeological material of Pereyaslavl Ryazansky confirms the fact that the snake cult, which had originated in the Palaeolithic, continued to play an important role in worldviews of later periods. The leather amulet with a particle of a water snake makes it possible to clarify certain aspects of Russian medieval beliefs.