Yatsenko S.A., Malashev V.Yu. On the Polychromic Style of the Late Roman Time in Sarmatia (Strutum plus. 2000. No 4., pp. 226-250) (original) (raw)

2000, Stratum plus, No 4

The article studies a range of items typical of the Northern Black Sea Coast and belonging to the polychromic style (also inaccurately called “cornelian”) (Pls. 2-4 + Catalogue). It was first time characterized by A.K. Ambroz as the “Late Sarmtian Pre-Hunnic” and dated since the 2nd half of the 3rd c. CE (Ambroz 1989). But it is still not analyzed. This style is usually characterized by insertion of a large flat polished cornelian and genuine list of stamped geometric decoration elements on the external plate. The authors do not attempt finding the place of origin of these items in other regions (all are findings on the territory from Iran to the Balkan Peninsula cited in literature are very remote “prototypes” and analogies: Pl. 6, 2-4). The detected centers of their production were Panticapaeum (Kertch) and Chersoneses Taurica (Sevastopol), with local peculiarities in each of the two. The item of this style were produced, according to the dates proved by V.Yu. Malashev (Malashev 2000), by four chronological groups / periods. The chronological group 1 (period II b – 2nd half of the 3rd c. CE) produced mainly articles of female costumes for the Barbarians of the Western Crimea, while the group 2 (period III a – the late 3rd – first third of the 4th cc. CE), group 3 (period III b – the second third of the 4th c. CE – 372/375 CE – before the Hunns’ invasion) and group 4 (not early than mid. 4th – the early 5th cc. CE) mainly produced military equipment (harness, swords and daggers, belt buckles). Similar articles were worn by the local Barbarized and Barbarian population of the cities (especially in Panticapaeum), though the major part of these articles was meant to be gifted to the Barbarian nomadic elite of the Steppes, and exclusively for the Iranian-speaking groups: Alans and “Tauro-Scythians” (the neighbouring Germans and Caucasus mountaineers did not use them at all). The noble graves containing these articles and found in Panticapaeum also have Sarmato-Alanian features (the bridle has tamga-sign of Sarmatian-Alanian clans, bridle and swords were found in the graves of noble women etc.). The style reaches its peak in the group 3, when articles of various destinations were produced, they increased in number and their decoration became most various. The spread of the articles at different stages (Pl. 1) partly reflects military and political rivalry of Panticapaeum and Chersoneses Tauricus. At first the Bosporus supplies were meant for the Alans of the Central Caucasus foot mountains (articles of the group 2). Later, the Bosporan Kingdom, after being defeated in three wars, sought allies among the nomads of the Lower Don area (group 3) (the earlier period there yielded items produced in Chersonesses Taurica). It was the time, probably, when these nomads became less dependent on the Alans of the Central Caucasus foot mountains. Some findings of the group 2 and 3 are documented in the mouth of Danube, on the lands of the “European Alans” dependent on the Goths. After the Hunns’ intrusion items manufactured in this style reached the north (up to the Volga River - Brody) and even Central Asia (Tugozvonovo in the Northern Altai Mountains) where they were used and probably processed. ILLUSTRATIONS LIST: Pl. 1. Finds of the items of the North Pontic polychromic style of the mid. 2nd – 4th cc. CE: 1 – Panticapaeum / Kertch; 2 – Chersoneses Taurica / Sevastopol; 3 – Chernaia Rechka, graves 3 and 35; 4 – Druzhnoe, graves 24 and unknown No.; 5 – Kishpek, barrow 13; 6 – Kuptsyn Tolga, barrow 30; 7 – Veselaya Roshcha III, barrow 8; 8 – Timashevskaya; 9 – Aerodrom I, barrow 2; 10 – Komarov II, barrow 8; 11 – Novyi, barrow 108; 12- Abaganerovo II, barrow 33; 13 - Marxstadt; 14 – Brody, barrow 25; 15 – Chaush, barrow 5; 16 – Gradeshka, barrow 9; 17 – Suvorovo, crypt 38/3. Pl 2 (pp. 232-234). Decorative schemes of the warriors’ attributes. Pl. 3. Decorative schemes of the costume accessories (numbers – after Catalogue) (p. 235). Pl 4. The main ornamental elements: 1 – borders; 2 – forms of a stone inserts; 3 – décor of the main ornamental face; 4 – décor around a stone inserts; 5 – décor of the ends of the main ornamental face. Pl. 5. Matrix for the horse harness detail and the probable prototypes of Crimean jewelry items: 1 – matrix (bronze), Chersonesses Taurica, district XXV (after I.O. Gavritukhin, Cat. No. 15); 2 – buckle from the grave II in Zakshuv, Poland (after Madyda-Legutko 1986); 3 – horse harness detail from Emessa, Syria (after Seyrig 1953); 4 – officer’s helmet from Belgrad (after Ambroz 1989). Pl. 6. Items of the group 4: 1-7 – Tugozvonovo, grave of 1959 year (Altai Region, Russia); 8 – Tsentralnyi IV, barrow 14 (Rostov Region, Russia). CATALOGUE: I. WARRIOR EQUIPMENT: I.a. HORSE HARNESS: 1. Lower Volga Basin (Saratov Region), Marxstadt, grave of the 1928, silver. 2. Lower Don Basin (Rostov Region), Aerodrom, barrow 2, bronze with gilded silver cover, cornelian, blue glass. 3. Lower Don Basin (Rostov Region), Komarov II, barrow 8, silver with golden cover, cornelian, almadine, blue glass. 4. The Central part of the Northern Caucasus (Kabarda-Balkaria Republic), Kishpek, barrow 13, bronze and silver with golden cover, cornelian, blue glass. 5. Dnestr and Prut Rivers interfluves (Odessa Region), Chaush, barrow 5, silver with gilded cover, cornelian, green glass. 6. Dnestr and Prut Rivers interfluves (Odessa Region), Gradeshka, barrow 9, bronze and gilded silver, cornelian (preliminary information: Dzigovkii, Subbotin 1990). 7. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, barrow of 1837 year near Glinishche, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 8. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the second grave of 1841 year near Adjimushkai stone quarry, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 9. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the second grave of 1841 year after V.V. Shkorpil, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 10. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the collection A.L. Bertie-Delagarde, British Museum, silver, cornelian?. 11. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the collection Ermolay Zaporozhsky, acquired in 1891, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 12. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the barrow in Massaksudi residence, 1918. ??? 13. “Caucasus” (British Museum), the burial imitation of the tip of the belt, gold; Chersoneses Taurica / Sevastopol, ???. 14. The random find (State Historical Museum, Moscow, No 95570), silver with golden cover, blue glass. 15. Chersoneses Taurica / Sevastopol, quarter XXV, the matrix for the tips of the belts production, bronze. 16. “The South of Russia” (Warsaw, National Museum), ???. I, b. THE HITS OF SWORDS AND DAGGERS: 17. Ukraine, Odessa Region, Gradeshka, barrow 9, sword, gold, rock crystal, tourmaline, azurite. 18. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the barrow in Massaksudi residence, 1918, sword, wood, with copper and golden cover, garnet. 19. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the second grave of 1841 year near Adjimushkai stone quarry, dagger, gold, cornelian. II. COSTUME ACCESSORIES: II.1. (c) BUCKLES: (1) WITH A RECTANGULAR FRAME: 20. Russia, Kalmyk Republic, Kuptsyn Tolga, barrow 30, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 21. Russian, Krasnodar Region, Timashevkaya stanitsa, 1884, bronze with golden cover, cornelian. 22. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the barrow in Massaksudi residence, 1918, silver with copper golden cover, cornelian, garnet. 23. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, Köln, bronze, silver, cornelian. 24. “Caucasus” (British Museum), the burial imitation, gold. 25. Chersoneses Taurica / Sevastopol (State Historical Museum, Moscow, No 95570), silver with golden cover, cornelian. 26. Crimea, Chersoneses Taurica / Sevastopol, (State Historical Museum, Moscow, No 95570), silver with golden cover, the stones were lost. 27. “Crimea” (Chersoneses Taurica?), ???. 28. “North Black Sea Region”, two buckles of one type, bronze, silver, cornelian. (2 ) WITH AN OVAL FRAME: 29. Russia, Kama Basin, Brody, barrow 25, grave 1, bronze with golden cover, “stones”. 30. Lower Don Basin, Novyi, barrow 108, silver, cornelian. 31. Lower Don Basin, Aboganerovo II, barrow 33, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 32. NW Caucasus, Veselaya Roshcha III, barrow 28, silver with golden cover, sardonyx. II.2. (d) BRACELETS: 33. SW Crimea, Druzhnoe, grave 24, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 34. SW Crimea, Druzhnoe, grave ?, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 35. SW Crimea, Chernaya Rechka, grave 35, silver with golden cover, cornelian. II.3. (e) DIADEMS: 36. European Bosporus (Eastern Crimea), Panticapaem/Kertch, the second grave of 1841 year after V.V. Shkorpil, gold, cornelian, cameos from chalcedony. II.4. (f) EARRINGS AND PENDANTS AT THE TEMPLES: 37. SW Crimea, Druzhnoe, grave 2, 1984, earrings, bronze, cornelian. 38. SW Crimea, Chernaya Rechka, grave 3, earrings, silver with golden cover, cornelian. 39. SW Crimea, Chernaya Rechka, grave 35, earrings, silver with golden cover, cornelian; Unknown point (“Ukraine or South of Russia”). 40. Private collection, Kiev, pendants at the temples, gold, cornelian. II.5. (g) “MEDALLIONS”: 41. SW Crimea, Chernaya Rechka, grave 3, silver, cornelian. 42. SW Crimea, Suvorovo, crypt 38, dead 3, silver with golden cover, colour (?) glass.