Ancient Metalwork

The “ring-idol” is a type of adornment produced since the 6th millennium in the Aegean and, on a larger scale, in the Balkans. First made of stone, they are mostly made of gold, copper and silver at the end of the Neolithic, between the 5th et the 4th millennium. These objects have a characteristic morphology, described as a concave ring with a pierced extension. In the first deposits of metallic objects found in Neolithic layers, the discovery of “ring-idols” is recurrent. They were sometimes found in groups, but also with other metallic adornments and tools (beads, pins, awls). Thus, it is possible to study metalworking on the same type of object. By comparing the “ring-idols” between them, we can define a first set of techniques and tools used to manufacture them. Some of them seem to have been hammered, others could have been cast. This can be observed by traces on the surface of the objects. The metal is also perforated to permit the suspension, and polished. Therefore, some traces are erased by polishing and we did not find enough clues about the techniques and tools used here. In order to try to complete these gaps, we organized an experiment to retrace the manufacturing process. Cold and hot hammering, casting, polishing and perforation have been tested. We used stone tools, mostly stone hammers and abrasive stones. As a result, we obtain three types of “ring-idols” made of copper, wearing traces that can be compared with the archaeological artefacts.

Vestnik-1: a Greek-Barbarian settlement in northern Sindica and its necropolis (the studies of 2021–2023)
In 2021–2023 the East Bosporan Expedition of the State Hermitage Museum excavated the settlement Vestnik-
1, located near the khutor Vestnik in the vicinity of Anapa. The site is situated 6.5 km from the most important
center of Sindica, the Semibratnee fortified site — the ancient Labrys. At the settlement the immediate entourage of
a Greek public building of the 5th–4th cen. BC, discovered in 2010–2011, were investigated. A room attached to the
main building in the 4th cen. BC from the southeast was uncovered, as well as the remains of slab pavements and
fragments of masonry of the same period to the south and southeast of the annex. The authors of the 2010s excavations
interpreted the building as a temple of Eleusinian deities, but the features of the internal plan bring the structure
from Vestnik closer to another type of Greek public buildings, the hestiatoria. Perhaps this building combined the
functions of a sanctuary and a banquet hall. The running economic activity that resumed around the building in the
second-third quarters of the 4th cen. BC suggests that by this time it had changed its purpose. In the necropolis of the
settlement were uncovered eight new burials. The clarified period of burials falls within the chronological framework
of the third quarter of the 6th— mid-5th cen. BC. The appearance of a monumental building of Greek architecture
on the territory of the barbarian settlement and the rapid disappearance or sharp reduction of the settlement itself,
accompanied by the cessation of burials on its necropolis, coincides with the period of formation of the autonomous
Sindian kingdom, and also testifies to the strengthening of the Greek civil community of the Semibratnee settlement
/Labrys at the same time.

Российская классическая археология в контексте научных и художественных воззрений XIX —начала XX века — главная идея временной выставки «В поисках античного Боспора», посвященной 150-летию М. И. Ростовцева. Подготовленная Отделом Античного мира Государственного Эрмитажа в содружестве с Государственным историко-культурным музеем-заповедником «Московский Кремль», Научным архивом Института истории материальной культуры РАН, Санкт-Петербургским филиаломАрхива РАН, Библиотекой РАН и Русским географическим обществом, выставка экспонировалась в Государственном Эрмитаже с 15 февраля по 15 мая 2022 года.
В первый том каталога вошли статьи, повествующие не только о фактической стороне археологических исследований, но также об их идейной и художественной составляющей. Каталожная часть тома включает предметы из музейных собраний, архивные материалы и издания, связанные с историей
археологических исследований 1820--1870-х годов на Керченском полуострове и Тамани, где в древности располагалось Боспорское царство, крупнейшее античное государство Северного Причерноморья.
Впервые показанные широкому зрителю рисунки художников Ф. Г. Солнцева, Ф. И. Гросса и К. Р. Бегичева соседствуют с произведениями античного искусства и художественного ремесла, запечатленными на акварельных и графических листах.  Соседство находок с изобразительными материалами позволяет прикоснуться к миру «прекрасной античности», открытому и осмысленному учеными XIX века.Второй том каталога временной выставки «В поисках античного Боспора», посвященной юбилею
М. И. Ростовцева, включает разделы, в которых история его жизни и научного творчества отражает историю академического антиковедения в России последних десятилетий XIX — начала XX века и роль этого выдающегося ученого в российской классической археологии.
Помимо этого, читатель знакомится с ранее не публиковавшимися коллекционными материалами из раскопок и частных собраний, хранящимися в собрании Эрмитажа, и их реставрационной историей

О связях Тувы и Средней Азии в эпоху хунну// Культуры и цивилизации Центральной Азии от неолита до средневековья. Санкт-Петербург, 2024.

"On the links of Tuva and Central Asia in the Xiongnu Era"

Annotation. Imported jewelry (polychrome pendants and beads, sprigs of Mediterranean coral) appeared in Tuva during the Xiongnu era, probably due to trade routes through Central Asia. The same routes could have been used by the Xiongnu to acquire unique luxury items found in their elite tombs in Mongolia. At the same time, items that are cultural and chronological indicators of the Huns, including rare buckle plates made of Siberian gagat, appeared in Central Asia.

To date, there is no complete catalogue of the bronze finger rings with portraits of the rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Taking into account new finds, the number of such finger rings originating from the Black Sea region is at least 54 pieces, excluding the finger rings kept in the Kerch Museum published here, and taking them into account there are at least 70 pieces. The basis of this work form 16 bronze finger rings and their fragments from the collection of the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. Some of them were acquired by the Museum in the late 19th century, or between the two World wars, others are new arrivals of recent decades. The importance of the collection of the bronze finger rings of the Ptolemaic type lies in the fact that at least a significant part of it originates from the territory of the ancient Cimmerian Bosporus. Let us note that the introduction of 16 bronze finger rings into scientific circulation significantly increases the total number of known examples and even more significantly reinforces the observation that this war the area of their predominant distribution. Another important feature of the finds is that in four cases the finger rings come from excavations in the city layers of Pantikapaion and Myrmekion, in one case (Pantikapaion) – from a layer of destruction of the temple, in another (Myrmekion) – possibly from an ash-hill. It is impossible not to note the significant increase in finger rings with male portraits, which are still extremely rare, including rings with a stamp on a hoop. Finally, let us pay attention to a finger ring from the destruction layer of the temple in Pantikapaion, which goes beyond the main group of the finger rings of the 3rd century BC and, with a high degree of probability, the portrait on which can be attributed to Cleopatra VII.

Сборник посвящён 25-летию работы международной научной кон фе ренции «Боспорский феномен». Он составлен из материалов, освещающих архео ло ги ческие и историко-культурные исследования городов и сельских поселений как самого Боспорского царства, так и окружавших его варварских земель. Уделено внимание особенностям развития этого уникального государства, его месту в сис теме припон тийских греческих апойкий и в целом колонизационному процессу в Северном Причерноморье. В сборник включены статьи, посвященные разным аспектам изучения истории региона и анализу находок на территории боспорских памятников, включая результаты новейших археологических исследований. Значительное место отведено разделу Personalia, где отражена деятельность видных учёных-антиковедов, в част ности-К. С. Горбуновой, чьё столетие отмечается в 2023 году.

Статья посвящена рисункам с двух римских статуй, найденных в 1850 году в Керчи и поступивших вскоре в Императорский Эрмитаж. Непосредственно после открытия статуй они были дважды зарисованы еще в процессе их нахождения в Керчи. До наших дней дошел лишь один комплект рисунков, который хранится в архиве Государственного Эрмитажа и впервые публикуется в данной статье.

The Sarmatian archaeological culture is often thought to correspond to the culture of the historical Sarmatians. The archaeological culture was named for the historical ethnicity, although the core territory of the Sarmatians (the Lower Dnieper), as known from written sources, lies far from the area of the Sarmatian archaeological culture (the Volga-Ural region). The composite Sauromato-Sarmatian archaeological culture has also been subdivided into four ‘cultures’/‘stages’, which succeed one another. Cultural changes have been explained as being connected with a migration from the east. These suggestions have been based on the misuse of archaeological evidence for historical reconstruction. Realizing the impossibility of the complete rejection of a century-old scientific discourse, I suggest a network model of archaeological culture that reflects various network connections functioning in a particular area during a particular time-span. According to this model, archaeological remains arepart of objective reality, but their association within an archaeological culture depends on the goals set forth by the researcher, consciously or unconsciously. I thus regard archaeological cultures as ‘imagined entities’, conceptualized by the scholars who investigate them. If the Samartian archaeological culture is to serve as a research tool, it should be defined using consciously chosen formal criteria, in accordance with a research purpose.

Статья посвящена истории создания роскошного трехтомного труда «Древности Босфора Киммерийского», подготовленного I Отделением Императорского Эрмитажа «с  Высочайшего разрешения» и под непосредственным контролем императора Николая I.  Тираж издания, вышедшего в свет в 1855 году, составил 200 экземпляров. В первые два тома вошли исторические, топографические и археологические сведения о Керчи
и ее окрестностях, но главное  — описание большинства хранящихся в коллекции Эрмитажа предметов, найденных в 1830-х — начале 1850-х годов в погребениях греческой и скифской знати.  Третий, иллюстративный том, представлял собой атлас, который включал две карты — Боспора Киммерийского и окрестностей Керчи, 5 листов с планами и чертежами различных погребальных комплексов и 89 листов с изображениями самих находок — золотых, серебряных, бронзовых, стеклянных и деревянных предметов, расписных ваз, терракот и монет. Издание "Древностей" стало уникальным и важным опытом по обработке, осознанию и систематизации археологической коллекции в Эрмитаже, на который так или иначе, учитывая как его достоинства, так и недочеты, будут опираться все последующие публикаторы такого рода памятников. Сам труд, введя в научный оборот ядро причерноморской коллекции, своим высочайшим качеством изображений на многие годы снял вопрос публикации новых воспроизведений этих находок. Время же выхода в свет издания совпало с началом эпохи фотографической фиксации памятников и в дальнейшем подобных дорогостоящих масштабных иллюстративных проектов с привлечением художников и граверов в Эрмитаже более не случалось.

Abstract
The article presents a recent find of a potsherd, bearing an ancient Greek graffito,
reported from the area of the Bilsk Hillfort. The area of discovery, considered by some
archaeologists to be the city of Gelonos (Hdt. 4.108), makes this otherwise ordinary
graffito potentially significant. The authors discuss the historical, archaeological, and
epigraphic contexts of the find and possible scenarios of how it may have ended up at
the site. To provide an epigraphic background for the find, the study is accompanied by
a catalogue of Greek graffiti and dipinti from Scythian burials and settlements of the
Northern Black Sea area and steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe.

This paper is devoted to a rare type of archaeological finds, i. e. large buckles from Siberian jet with engraving and incrustation found at sites of the Xiongnu period over a broad territory from Manchuria to the Lower Volga region. The centre of their origin and distribution was probably in the north of Inner Asia which was the proveni- ence of the material itself for making the buckles — boghead coal or Siberian jet. Its main deposits are concentrated in the Irkutsk coalfields.

The kantharoi with biconical body, with the upper part decorated with friezes of cyma and cyma reversa and the lower part decorated with strigil-shaped pattern, with wish-bone handles ending with balls in their upper part and with leaves as lower attachments are attributed to the type Vysochino after the find of a set of 4 such vessels in the cache of the second half of the 1st century AD Sarmatian burial in a Barrow-mound 28 of the group Vysochino-VII in the Lower Don region. These kantharoi have a rather compact area of distribution, with the concentration in the Eastern Crimea, in the South-Eastern part of the Bosporan Kingdom and in the Lower Don area, though their finds originate also from the Mountain Crimea and the Kuban area.
I cannot accept the viewpoint of S. Künzl that the goblets of Vysochino type were manufactured in one of the workshops in the provinces Bithynia, Cappadocia or Pontus. Recent finds of such kantharoi in various sites of the Bosporan Kingdom, including the destruction layer of the fortified site of Artezian in the Bosporan Kingdom with a Greek dotted donative inscription on the bottom of one of them allow to settle the terminus ante quem for their manufacture – 46/47 AD suggest the possibility of their production in the workshop of the Bosporan Kingdom. We have at our disposal a unique series of silver vessels of known origin, including those from well-dated assemblages, which suggests that such standard vessels were made on the eve or during the Roman-Bosporan War of 45–49 AD, which later ended up either in a fortress destroyed during the war, or in military burials on the periphery of the Bosporus and in the Sarmatian elite burials of the Lower Don and the Kuban region. Most of them came out of use not later than in the third quarter of the 1st century AD.
It is noteworthy that the kantharoi discussed show more compact area of distribution than the related group of silver karchesia with a similar decoration of the body and execution of the handles, the finds of which originate from Western Ukraine, in Olbia, South-Western Crimea and the Kuban basin.

Finds of jewellery in the necropoleis of the Cimmerian Bosporus of the late 6th - first half of the 5th century BC are extremely rare. They are represented primarily by two categories: 1) necklaces and individual beads, beads with soldered pendants, pendants, and 2) finger rings. Given the limited scope of the publication, I am focusing on the analysis of the latter. Finger rings, usually made of gold (or electrum), can be divided into two groups: signet rings and rings with decorative shields. In total, out of 15 rings with engraved images of the “Penelope group”, the locations of 12 of which are known, at least 4 definitely come from the territory of the Cimmerian Bosporus. Of the 17 decorative rings recorded here, 11 have a precisely known or most likely place of origin. Of these, 4 come from the Northern Black Sea region, including 3 from the territory of the Cimmerian Bosporus. In spite of the rarity of jewellery items of this period in the Cimmerian Bosporus, also in comparison with Olbia, which has already been repeatedly noted, as the presented analysis has shown, this is not entirely true, and given, in principle, the rarity of finds of jewellery dating earlier than the second half of the 5th century BC in Greece, the Cimmerian Bosporus looks quite decent against this background.

The paper is devoted to the publication and attribution of the bronze Chalcidian helmet, found in 2013 in the destruction layer of the early citadel of the Artezian settlement in the Eastern Crimean Azov region, which is reliably dated by coin finds to 46–47 AD.

Please do not pay attention to the English abstract which was heavily "edited" without letting me know of the changes!

The Artezian fortified settlement in the Azov Sea coast of Eastern Crimea perished in a strong fire at the beginning of the Roman-Bosporan war in 46/47 AD. In the homogeneous fire layer, along with numerous items of jewelry, silver, bronze and glass vessels, a heavily burned out round bronze plaque, 7.7–7.8 cm in diameter with a hole in the center was found. The plaque is decorated along the edge with a figural frieze, depicting two pairs of animals opposing each other: a dog – a bull, a dog – a wild boar. Besides two animals are running after each other: a lion and a roe deer.
The decoration of the plaque from Artezian finds parallels among plaques from the military camps along the limes of Lower and Upper Rhine and Danube. Objects similar in shape depicting animals in circular friezes are also known in Dacia and in the South-Western Crimea. The parallels to the images of the plaque and options of interpreting the function of the piece are discussed. The combination of pairs of opposing animals and animals running after each other finds parallels only on the belt plaques from Asciburgium and Magdalensberg. Thus, there are reasons to consider the disc from Artezian as an element of Roman military equipment of the first half of the 1st century AD.

E. R. von Stern’s research on Bosporan antiquities fully manifested the researcher’s exceptional attention to detail, the combination of the complex work of a historian, archaeologist and art critic with a very broad scientific base, the desire to move from the particular to the general. This made it possible to make historical constructions and conclusions sufficiently accurate for their time, to revise a number of old datings. It was in his work on the Bosporan antiquities that E. R. von Stern came to the conclusion that ancient vase painters used patterns in their mass work, rethinking plots to please the tastes of buyers, but, nevertheless, even on the periphery of the ancient world, highly artistic products imported from various centers of the ancient world.

The article was written in Summer 2021 und should have been published in March 2022. Since November 2022, no response at all from the editor.
The book was finally published only in March 2024

Basing on the negatives stored in the photo archive of the Institute of History of Material Culture in St. Petersburg, the author presents a Treasure of silver-gilt phalerae, said to have been found in 1897 during the plowing of land in the Taganrog region, which was considered lost. The connections of the Rostov collector F.S. Romanovich, in whose collection the phalerae were kept shortly after the discovery, are analyzed. The author manages to find the modern location of two of the six phalerae of the Treasure which were brought came to Germany through the collection of the famous Odessa collector and dealer of antiquities Pierre Mavrogordato, who moved to Germany in 1906 and died in 1948 at Römhild in Thuringia. In addition, the article corrects significant inaccuracies in the description and attribution of phalerae by modern scholars; the phalerae are considered in the context of other similar finds from the North and North-western Pontic regions, and considerations are expressed regarding their dating and manufacturing centers.

The author considers the finds of fragments of profiles and whole pieces of ancient wheel made cooking ware from territories of sanctuaries and necropoleis of the Bosporan kingdom. The purpose of this paper is to try to highlight similar contexts and define the reason of existence of cooking ware which is not related to attri- butes of religious and burial practices in these contexts. Objects of cookware were found in sanctuaries of Demeter and “patron gods of sailing” in Nymphaion, Aphrodite’s sanctuary in Kepoi, burials and pyres of necropoleis of Nymphaion, Pantikapaion and Phanagoria. The author of this article highlights basic categories of vessels and pos- sibly imported units. The article’s text is supplemented by photos and drawings of cooking vessels from Nymphaion necropolis kept in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum.

Сборник составлен из материалов внеочередного круглого стола из цикла международной научной конференции «Боспорский феномен», посвящённого 75-летию профессора ННГУ им. Н. И. Лобачевского Е. А. Молева, многие годы руководившего работой Китейской археологической экспедиции. Сборник открывает впервые издаваемая на русском языке статья самого Е. А. Молева о сакральных памятниках Китея и его округи. Она выходит в редакции 2012 года с комментариями, где учтены последующие археологические открытия и публикации. Мемориальный раздел сборника включает воспоминания друзей, коллег и учеников Е. А. Молева о нём самом, его экспедиционной, музейной, научной и педагогической деятельности. В других разделах помещены статьи, посвященные разным аспектам исследования больших и малых городов Боспорского царства и вкладу Е. А. Молева в их изучение. Значительное место в сборнике отведено статьям, в которых рассматривается история, материальная культура Китея и духовная жизнь его населения, а также результаты археологических исследований последних лет.. УДК 930.26:947.011 ББК 63.4:63.3 (0) 329.48 Б 85 Издание осуществлено при финансовой поддержке Благотворительного фонда содействия охране и исследованию памятников археологии Северного Причерноморья и Приазовья «Артемида» (Москва)

This paper is devoted to a small ancient rural house situated to the east from the Bosporan town of Porthmion. The excavations of the farmhouse were conducted in 1988 under the direction of L. B. Kircho according to the plan of field investigations of the Porthmion Group of the Bosporan Archaeological Expedition of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archaeology (LOIA) AS USSR (now the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Despite the fact that the building remains of the complex were preserved only fragmentarily, the investigations conducted have allowed the researchers to reveal a new interesting object — a Hellenistic farmhouse founded in the late 4th century BC in the immediate proximity to the ancient town and, probably, used until the mid-1st century BC.

In this article, based on the consideration of a diverse set of literature, a systematic description of the policy of the House of Romanov and the Russian government in the XVIII-early XX centuries on the development of Scythian archaeology is given. The entire range of literature and sources used in this article is divided into three groups, which include works on the history of archaeological knowledge, works on state policy in the field of archaeology and directly works on Scythian archaeology. A review of the literature shows that despite the increased interest in the history of archaeological knowledge, the policy of the House of Romanov and the Russian government on the development of Scythian archaeology has not been specifically investigated. Under the "Scythian archeology" in this work, the study of the European Forest-Steppe, Steppe, Crimea and the Kuban is considered, although if we interpret this concept in the perspective of "Scythian-Siberian unity", it is necessary to expand the scope of the study and analyze the expeditions of Russian scientists to Siberia and the fate of the Siberian collection of Peter I. The attention of the Romanov House to Scythian archaeology was expressed in the personnel policy, which dictated the principles of choosing the leaders of the excavations of the richest Scythian mounds. They were initially military, and later-major scientists who occupied a high social position. The main role in the study of the Scythian mounds was played by the Archaeological Commission, called the Imperial Commission. The Russian government and the Imperial House personally spared no expense to research the Scythian mounds, archaeologists received government awards and ranks. An ambiguous situation developed with attempts to suppress predatory excavations of Scythian mounds by landowners, peasants and impostor archaeologists. In general, the experience of the development of Scythian archaeology on the part of the reigning dynasty and the Russian government seems useful today, when "black archeology" is flourishing on the territory of modern Russia and Ukraine.

The article is devoted to the analysis of bronze rings of the so-called Ptolemaic type, on the bezels of which there are mainly female portraits. The finger rings in question come mainly from the Northern Pontic region, primarily from the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom. Basing on the analysis and comparison of portraits on coins and rings, attributions of images on the finger rings as portraits of Arsinoe II, Berenice II and Arsinoe III are proposed. The peculiarities of the geographical distribution of the finds, the features and chronology of the burial contexts in which the finger rings were found, are analyzed.

Сборник составлен из материалов внеочередного круглого стола из цикла международной научной конференции «Боспорский феномен», посвящённого 75-летию профессора ННГУ им. Н. И. Лобачевского Е. А. Молева, многие годы руководившего работой Китейской археологической экспедиции. Сборник открывает впервые издаваемая на русском языке статья самого Е. А. Молева о сакральных памятниках Китея и его округи. Она выходит в редакции 2012 года с комментариями, где учтены последующие археологические открытия и публикации. Мемориальный раздел сборника включает воспоминания друзей, коллег и учеников Е. А. Молева о нём самом, его экспедиционной, музейной, научной и педагогической деятельности. В других разделах помещены статьи, посвященные разным аспектам исследования больших и малых городов Боспорского царства и вкладу Е. А. Молева в их изучение. Значительное место в сборнике отведено статьям, в которых рассматривается история, материальная культура Китея и духовная жизнь его населения, а также результаты археологических исследований последних лет.. УДК 930.26:947.011 ББК 63.4:63.3 (0) 329.48 Б 85 Издание осуществлено при финансовой поддержке Благотворительного фонда содействия охране и исследованию памятников археологии Северного Причерноморья и Приазовья «Артемида» (Москва)

This article is devoted to refuting of an established concept according to which female winged anthropomorphic characters at monuments of ancient art found in Bosporan burial mounds depicted Nike. The presence of the goddess of victory on object from burial inventory has not been explained. The author assumes that a female role at iconography of Nike has been reconsidered. The images on important ritual objects allow suggesting that barbarian inhabitants of the Bosporus saw their own goddess in the image of the winged woman, one of incarnations of the Great goddess.

Many historical 'silver' objects are composed of sterling silver, a silver alloy containing small amounts of copper. Besides the dramatic impact of copper on the corrosion process, the chemical composition of the corrosion layer evolves continuously. The evolution of the surface during the exposure to a Na2S solution was monitored by means of visual observation at macroscopic level, chemical analysis at microscopic level and analysis at the nanoscopic level. The corrosion process starts with the preferential oxidation of copper, forming mixtures of oxides and sulphides while voids are being created beneath the corrosion layer. Only at a later stage, the silver below the corrosion layer is consumed. This results in the formation of jalpaite and at a later stage of acanthite. The acanthite is found inside the corrosion layer at the boundaries of jalpaite grains and as individual grains between the jalpaite grains but also as a thin film on top of the corrosion layer. The corrosion process could be described as a sequence of 5 subsequent surface states with transitions between these states.

Статья посвящена публикации двух рельефных медальонов на донышках так называемых каленских чаш, обнаруженных в начале XX века В.В. Шкорпилом и хранящихся сегодня в Историческом музее в Москве. Один из таких медальонов  изображает Эрота, сидящего на дельфине, с лирой в руках. Точные параллели с этим медальоном нам пока неизвестны. Второй  представляет Силена с тирсом в правой руке и канфаром в левой. Этот тип изображения Силена известен на металлических медальонах. Еще один подобный медальон был обнаружен в Керчи, а сейчас хранится в Эрмитаже. Оснований для узкой датировки нет, но, опираясь на мнение Б. Барр-Шаррар о датировке возможных металлических прототипов, мы предполагаем их изготовление в пределах последней четверти II – первой половины I в. до н.э. Судя по всему, опубликованные медальоны были изготовлены не в Италии, а в одном из центров Восточного Средиземноморья
The article is devoted to the publication of two relief medallions on the bottoms of the so-called calena bowls, discovered at the beginning of the 20th century by V.V. Shkorpil and stored today in the Historical Museum in Moscow. One of these medallions  depicts Eros sitting on a dolphin, with a lyre in his hands. The exact parallels to this medallion are not yet known to us. The second  shows Silenus with a thyrsus in his right hand and a cantharos in his left. This type of depiction of Silenus is known on metal medallions. Another similar medallion was discovered in Kerch, which is now stored in the Hermitage. There are no grounds for a narrow dating, but, based on the opinion of B. Barr-Sharrar on the dating of possible metal prototypes, we assume their manufacture within the last quarter of the 2nd – first half of the 1st century BC. Apparently, the published
medallions were not made in Italy, but in one of the centers of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Against the background of the brief excursus into the history of the Bosporan Kingdom the author of the article enounces her view of the development of art and artful crafts in this region presenting artifacts from the unique Hermitage collection of wooden sarcophagi excavated in the necropoli of the Greek colonies in the European territories of Bosporus-especially Pantikapaion and Nymphaion. The Hermitage Museum holds the world's most outstanding collection of such pieces of ancient applied art dating back to the period from the edge of the V-IV centuries BCE till early centuries CE. Items of extraordinary preservation, these samples of the ancient woodcarving that are either covered with painted décor, or ornamented with added appliqué, make it possible to imagine not only the development and specific character of certain types of sepulchral decoration usual in Classical antiquity, but also suggest formulation of larger issues. The latter are connected with the development and changes of aesthetic preferences in the antique society, as well as with the dawn and evolution of artistic types and varieties of the décor in the realities of provincial culture, unique in its distinctive features. The exact archaeological and historical context being the principal instrument to judge upon art and culture in general is especially significant for the above mentioned finds in the North Pontic Greek colonies.
На фоне краткого экскурса в историю Боспорского царства в статье излагается взгляд на развитие художественной
культуры этого региона через памятники уникального эрмитажного собрания античных деревянных саркофагов, найденных
на территории некрополей боспорских греческих городов Пантикапея и Нимфея. Эрмитаж располагает крупнейшей в мире
и одной из важнейших по значению коллекций изделий такого рода. Редкие по уровню сохранности образцы античной
деревообработки, дополненные росписью и накладными украшениями, позволяют не только представить себе особенности
развития конкретных видов декора, применявшегося в античной погребальной практике, но и предложить постановку более
масштабных проблем, связанных с зарождением, сложением и изменением эстетических предпочтений в античном обществе, развитием художественных типов и видов декора в реалиях неповторимой в своем своеобразии культуры греческих
городов-колоний европейского Боспора. Принципиально важно, что значимость многих памятников обсуждаемой группы
многократно возрастает, поскольку известен археологический контекст и обстоятельства их находки.

This paper is devoted to the brief but successful collaboration in the 1860s between the Imperial Archaeo- logical Commission (IAC) and the Odessa scholar of German origin F. K. Brun (Philipp Jakob Bruun) (1804–1880). This episode is recorded in a dossier kept at the Manuscript Department of the Scientific Archives of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The scientist was commissioned with writing the foreword to the then expected publication of “Antiquities of Herodotus’ Scythia”. He prepared the work basing on materials from two trips across the region: it was published in 1872 in the form of an appendix with supplements about the description of Darius’ campaign against the Scythians and a map of Herodotus’ Scythia. The article publishes a report by F. K. Brun on the surveys of 1864– 1865 in the Northern Black Sea region and his propositions of 1869 to IAC concerning the expansion of researches to the entire littoral of the Black Se...

Die hier zu behandelnde baktrische Inschrift von Tangi Safedak bei Y akaolang in der Provinz Bämiyän befindet sich seit 2003 im Kabul-Museum. Die ersten zwei Zeilen der Inschrift wurden bei der gewaltsamen Entfernung durch einen illegalen Ausgräber stark beschädigt. Es existie~•aber in situ gemachte Fotos, wenn auch in schlechter Qualität. Zuerst befasste sich Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams (London) mit der Inschrift und gab in seiner Publikation (in: SRAA 9, 2003, S. 159-184) seine Lesung mit dem dazugehörenden Kommentar bekannt. Nachdem ich mich auch mit dieser Inschrift im Kabul-Museum befasst habe, neues Material gefunden und die Dokumentation zusätzlich einer forensischen Untersuchung unterzogen habe, komme ich in wesentlichen Punkten der Darstellung von Sims-Williams zu abweichenden Ergebnissen.

The paper is devoted to burial no. 19/2015 of Vinogradnyi 7 necropolis in the Taman peninsula. Its contents allow to attribute it to the time not later than the first decades of the 1st century BC.
        A special attention attracts a silver medallion, which was found upon the body of a woman aged 45–50. In the center of the plaque there is a bust of a goddess in calathus. Her veil is pressed to the chest with her right hand, in her left she holds a branch with a leaf, embossed in a high relief. Along the border 10 signs of the Zodiac are arranged executed in a lower relief. The closest parallel to the medallion is a piece in the Kerch Museum, which disappeared during the World War II. Only its photograph is available. The medallions depicting the bust of the goddess, her hand pressed to her chest belong to the well-known type popular the Bosporan kingdom as early as the 2nd century BC. Images of the goddess holding a leaf are found on brooches from the Kuban region and South-Western Crimea of the 1st–2nd centuries AD. The closest parallel to the pattern decorating the border is a silver phalera from the vicinity of Cossack village Kurchanskaya. In the centre it has the image of Aphrodite galloping on a goat and of Hermes standing in front of her. The medallion under discussion has a double loop soldered to the rear. This construction feature finds parallels on gold medallions with busts of Aphrodite and Eros from the Artyukhov burial mound.
          The signs arranged around the bust of the goddess are the signs of the Zodiac, among them symbols of Cancer, Gemini, Virgo, Pisces, Sagittarius and Scorpio are easily recognizable. Noteworthy, that there are 10, not 12 signs. Their arrangement does not correspond to the usual order of the signs of the Zodiac. The terracotta disc from Brindisi, regarded as the earliest depiction of the Zodiac signs in South Italy and Greece, deserves special attention in this regard. The medallion from the Taman peninsula and the disc from Brindisi have much in common. Both not only display less than 12 signs, both do not contain the Libra sign, some of the signs occupy not 30, but 60 degrees of the circumference, the signs are arranged not in the usual sequence.
        Silver medallions found in the Cimmerian Bosporos represent one of the oldest, if not the oldest, images of the signs of the Zodiac in ancient Greek art. Most likely, being arranged around the bust of the goddess in calathus with a leaf in her hand, they express the heavenly hypostasis of the goddess, most likely Aphrodite Urania. Whether the unusual number of signs and their order was a reflection of someone’s individual horoscope is problematic. The fact that we know at least two images of this kind, testifies against such attribution.
          The analysis of the burial inventory, taking into account the location of this burial within the necropolis, suggests that it was a separate area owed by some local family, and that the religious beliefs of those people were associated with Aphrodite Urania.

Изучение элементов гипсового декора боспорских деревянных саркофагов первых веков н.э. входит в обширный круг исследований, посвящённых убранству и орнаментации погребальных сооружений, в частности, мраморным саркофагам с рельефами, изготавливавшимся по всей ойкумене в римское время 1. Своеобразный провинциальный вариант подобной отделки деревянных саркофагов обнаруживается в погребальных памятниках Боспора. Большое количество расписанных яркими красками глиняных и гипсовых рельефных аппликаций в XIX и XX вв. было найдено в некрополях боспорских городов. Наиболее значимые по численности и лучшие по качеству исполнения предметы этого круга происходят из погребений в некрополях Пантикапея и Нимфея. Самые крупные коллекции таких украшений, большей частью происходящих из некрополей этих городов, хранятся в Государственном Эрмитаже и Керченском историко-археологическом музее. Есть они и в собраниях других музеев России, Украины и Западной Европы. Самая известная публикация, принадлежащая перу академика С. А. Жебелева, в которой подробно исследована группа таких украшений, увидела свет ещё в самом начале минувшего столетия и была посвящена сюжету о гибели Ниобид 2. Существенный вклад в изучение накладных рельефов из гипса внесли и другие известные исследователи-С. Я. Берзина 3 , А. Вонсович, П. Пинелли 4 и др. Ранее автору этой статьи уже доводилось касаться проблем типологии, датировки и семантики этих украшений, а равно и обсуждать систему их расположения на стенках и крышках саркофагов 5. Среди разнообразных украшений, о которых идёт речь,

Сборник научных статей по археологии, истории, эпиграфике и нумизматике Боспора Киммерийского. В издание включены преимущественно материалы античной эпохи, а также памятников культур, предшествующих греческой колонизации региона и средневекового периода его истории. Приоритет в подборке статей отдан публикациям новых открытий и аналитическим исследованиям на стыке смежных исторических дисциплин. Для археологов, историков, краеведов.. УДК 902/904 ББК 63.4

There are two bronze situlae, one bronze patera, one bronze askos, one bronze thymiaterion, one bronze vase, one silver strainer, one silver kylix and one furniture leg piece are included to the group of finds from Bolu-Göynük / Bilecik Yenipazar which is actually subject of this paper. The group was brought to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums in 1900 from the city of Bolu, Göynük, Kisra village and was included by purchasing to the Metals Objects Collection of the Museum. These objects were registered to the collection with 1415-1426 inventory numbers. They are symposion objects and all of these objects dated to the same period. It thought that these might be from a tumulus and then they were put together and displayed in the exhibiton which was named “The Neighbourhood of Istanbul: Thrakia, Bithynia, Byzantine” in 1998. The finds from Bolu Göynük, are dated to second half of the 4th century BC.

Equestrian equipment during the Hun-Sarmatian period was extremely diverse. Scythian-type pad saddles maintained their popularity until the 2nd century but new types of soft saddles also appeared, both Parthian and Roman. Wooden saddlebows were invented at the end of the 1st century BC or beginning of the 1st century AD. The seats were furnished with the panels of
Scythian-type pad-saddles and the bows were attached to the tops of semi-circular supports. These saddles can be called ‘semirigid’, unlike rigid saddles which had a proper saddletree. The earliest saddlebows have been found in tombs of the Xiongnu of the 1st century BC (Tsaram, Noin-Ula), but semi-rigid saddles became the predominant type from the 3rd century onwards.
The most widespread were saddles with semi-circular bows. Wooden bows and models of such saddles, as well as depictions of them, are known from China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Europe and North Africa. From the 4th to 6th centuries saddles with tall П-shaped bows and stirrups became popular in China, Korea and Japan. Their invention is attributed to the Xianbei kingdom.
These saddles usually had metal overlays on the bows and supports, and were used primarily in battle. It was difficult to mount with this type of saddle, so special mounting loops were invented and swiftly became used as stirrups. At the same time, civilians continued to use saddles with semi-circular bows without protective overlays or stirrups. European saddles of the early 5th to
early 6th centuries had sets of overlays similar to Asian saddles with Π-shaped bows. The first saddles with saddletrees, invented no earlier than the first half of the 6th century, were Turkic. They completely reproduced in wood the semi-rigid saddles of the preceding period. Thereafter, improved metal stirrups became an integral part of the saddle.

During the first excavations of the cemetery dating from the Bronze Age and Early Antiquity in the village of Velebit near Kanjiža (northern Serbia) one of the excavated artefacts was found to belong to a used and broken stone mould for casting anvils. However, without an expert archaeologist to supervise the recovery of this find, which remained unknown for decades after its discovery, as a starting point, the authors of this article present a synthesis that takes into account several aspects of this significant class of metalcraft object. This proceeds from the history of the excavation to the general role of European Bronze Age anvils in gold and bronze metalworking, and then further on to their typological, terminological, chronological and functional analysis and to their longrange distribution as a sign of an interregional network of craftsmen, including their social context and symbolism.

Состав редколлегии утвержден Ученым советом Крымского отделения Института востоковедения НАН Украины (Протокол № 6 от 23.09.2003 г.) Ответственный секретарь С.И. Власова М34 Боспорские исследования. Вып. IX.-Сб./Ред.-сост. В.Н. Зинько. Симферополь-Керчь.-2005. 400 стр. В девятом томе «Боспорских исследований» представлен широкий спектр исследований, связанных с античной и раннесредневековой историей и археологией Северного Причерномо рья. Часть работ, опубликованных в сборнике, в какой-то мере отражает тематику докладов на прошедших в мае 2004 года в г. Керчи V Боспорских чтений, посвященных этническим про цессам на пограничье средниземноморских цивилизаций и евроазиатских степей. В традиционных рубриках ведущие специалисты и начинающие исследователи Украины и России расматривают вопросы истории и культуры Боспора, Херсонеса, Ольвии и Византии. Для историков, археологов, музейных сотрудников и преподавателей, а также всем, изучающим и интересующимся и раннесредневековыми древностями Восточной Европы.

Annotation. This paper is devoted to the brief but successful collaboration in the 1860s between the Imperial Archaeological Commission (IAC) and the Odessa scholar of German origin F. K. Brun (Philipp Jakob Bruun) (1804–1880). This episode is recorded in a dossier kept at the Manuscript Department of the Scientific Archives of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The scientist was commissioned with writing the foreword to the then expected publication of “Antiquities of Herodotus’ Scythia”. He prepared the work basing on materials from two trips across
the region: it was published in 1872 in the form of an appendix with supplements about the description of Darius’ campaign against the Scythians and a map of Herodotus’ Scythia. The article publishes a report by F. K. Brun on the surveys of 1864– 1865 in the Northern Black Sea region and his propositions of 1869 to IAC concerning the expansion of researches to the entire littoral of the Black Sea. The facts presented show F. K. Brun as an expert on historical geography and an archaeologist.

Цель статьи – ввести в научный оборот «Записку об открытии в Крыму на Черном море Керченского порта», опубликованную Рафаилом де Скасси в 1822 г. в парижском издании «Annales de l'industrie nationale et étrangère». Эта публикация Р. де Скасси имеет переклички с его административными записками, хорошо известными историкам, однако не повторяет полностью ни одну из них: ни по содержанию, ни по стилю, ни по композиции. В связи с этим возникает ряд вопросов относительно причин, обусловивших время и место этой публикации и определивших ее содержание. Для ответа на эти вопросы парижская «Записка…» Р. де Скасси рассматривается в историческом контексте и в контексте биографии Р. де Скасси. В приложении к статье размещен перевод на русский язык парижской «Записки…» Р. де Скасси.

This paper proposes the reconstruction of the Scythian eschatological concepts on the basis of semantics of the Sakhnivka plate composition (4th century BC, Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine, branch of the National Museum of History of Ukraine). Taking into account the ritual detour of the sacral center from left to right in the Indo-Iranian tradition, the plate plots show a consecutive visual statement of the episodes of the myth of Kolaxais’ destiny. The culmination scene of the plate includes three figures. The half-turned and full-face iconography of the Goddess shows her belonging to two figures, on her both sides: to a meeting of the bearded Scythian king on the right and a scene with a young Scythian on the left (an image of the young, “regenerated” king / Kolaxais). Only the last figure has a in caftan wrapped from right to left, i.e. the clasp of the “living person” (as opposed to other figures) that confirms his special status of ‘reborn’. Accordingly, scenes show the important episodes of the Scythian eschatological representations connected with posthumous fate, basis for the ideology of funerary rites.

The article describes the influence of the process of socialist modernization in the USSR on the intensification of archaeological research in the Crimean ASSR in the second half of the 30s of the twentieth century. The example of the construction of new industrial enterprises on the Kerch Peninsula shows the growth of archaeological expeditions organized to study ancient Greek settlements located in the development zone.

Among many scientific interests of Yu. A. Vinogradov, studies of art of war of the ancient North Black Sea
Coastal Region have a special place. In particular he noted the spread of the sword of the mahira (kopis) type in
the North Black Sea Region.
Two symmetrical bone plates labelled with the cut oblique crosses were found in Myrmekion in 2015. There
was а semicircular ledge on the upper part of the plate’s base. It is offset from the middle of the long side. Such
ledges are common for the plates decorating the scabbard mouths of the Greek swords. These ledges are known on
the scabbard mouths of the swords from Athens and Vergina. They are also found at the red-figure vase painting.
The offset of the ledge indicates that the sword handle is offset as well. This is especially typical for the single-edged
sword — the makhaira. Fragments of the iron blades of such swords were made in Myrmekion and in Vyshestebliyevskaya-11. The way of the processing of the bone plates from Myrmekion evidences that they were made at the
Bosporus. The plates were found in the layers of a street of the first third of the 5th century BC. They were probably
lost during the destruction of Myrmekion during the nomad attack.
Another plate which also was the facing of the makhaira scabbard was found in the same year at the Berezan
island during the excavations. It differs from the Myrmekion finding. Its processing quality is higher and it has the
square ledge from the side of the blade. This ledge was designed to be a steady support of the single-edged sword.
This scabbard was probably made in the metropolis and transported to the North Black Sea Coastal Region. The
layer where the fragment was found is dated to the period from 540 BC to the last quarter of the 6th century BC.
These rare finds give additional information about the construction of the makhaira scabbard in the Late Archaic period. They also point to the fact that this weapon type was widespread in the North Black Sea Region in
the Late Archaic period. This observation is important for the interpretation of male burials with weapons at the
Bosporus region in the second half of the 6th century BC — the 5th century BC. Only barbarian types of swords
were found in these burials. Many of them lay on the right side of the body and they often lay across the legs like
in barbarian burial sites. Therefore it is suggested that the Greek settlers adopted the barbarian system of the offensive weapons. Meanwhile fragments of weapons of the Greek types prevail in the Greek settlements. The considered plates are of the Greek type. We think that people did not carry the makhaira — the single-edged sword —
on the right side. Based on the displayed finds we can say that many Greek settlers continued to use the Greek
types of offensive weapons. In this case the burials with weapons should be regarded as predominantly barbaric.