Археологические вести, 2021, Вып. 32. C. 416–432 (original) (raw)

Starkova E.G. Symmetry in ornamentation of the Tripolye culture The method of symmetrical analysis (Fig. 1) is first applied to studies of ornamental compositions on the pottery of the Tripolye culture. For the investigations, materials from sites of the late period — settlements of Popudnya, Shipintsy, Kanev group (stage CI), as well as the Vykhvatintsy burial ground (stage СII) (Fig. 2), were used. Variants of the compositions of the borders (linear designs) were analysed, as well as the rosettes (compositions in a circle) (Fig. 3; 4). The border designs were considered separately through their basic structure and the resulting composition, taking in account additional elements (Fig. 5). It has been established that, in the linear compositions, everywhere schemes with vertical and horizontal mirror symmetry predominate, as well as those with the rotation of the motif in 180° — rotation symmetry. Considerably rarer are compositions with a sliding symmetry which in the majority of cases are disturbed by foreign elements. In complexes of stage CI, the percent ration of the types of symmetry of borders is approximately the same. In the border schemes of the final of the late Tripolye СII from Vykhvatintsy, there is an increased number of compositions without a symmetry or with a vertical reflection of the motif. In the rosette designs from Popudnya, Shipintsy and Kanev group of stage СI, cyclic motifs with their rotation around the central point predominate. In Vykhvatintsy, exclusively dihedral schemes are present where the rotational and mirror symmetries are combined. The investigations have shown that the types of symmetry in the ornamentation of the Tripolye pottery changed with the cardinal changes in the culture at the final stage of its development. Symmetrical analysis can be an important addition in the interdisciplinary studies of ceramic complexes and helping not only to reveal the cultural interrelations but also to trace the changes in the composition of the population and social structures at different chronological stages.