MAIASP. 2023. No. 15

Yu.A. Prokopenko (Stavropol, Russia), R.R. Rudnitsky (Zheleznovodsk, Russia)

A princely complex of the Migration Period from the cave in the northern part of the Mount Razvalka (the Caucasian Mineral Waters area)

DOI: 10.53737/3648.2023.37.72.013

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Pages: 457—478

The article is devoted to the typological and chronological analysis of objects discovered in 1999 in a cave in the northern part of the saddle of Mount Razvalka (the area of the Caucasian Mineral Waters). In total, about 20 objects were found, including: fragments of an iron sword, including rhombic crosshairs; iron dagger fragments; silver Г-shaped bracket from the mouth of the sword’s sheath; an iron axe with a narrow, slightly curved blade and an unassigned butt (the sleeve protrudes below the edge of the blade); several buckles, including silver with a triangular shield, with a rounded shield and with a shamrock-shaped shield decorated with a thin gold sheet overlay with garnet cabochons (almandine?); a silver dish on a pallet decorated with chequered plant ornaments; bronze hemispherical bowl; copper riveted boiler; fragments of an iron focal chain of eight-shaped links with hooks; fragments of a hook for pulling out meat and scoop. Most items give wide dates of the complex within the 4^th — 6^th centuries. A number of objects have fairly narrow dates: an axe (4^th — first half of the 5^th century), details of the waist headset (buckles with triangular and rounded shields — second half of 4^th — second half of the 5^th century, buckle with a protruding tongue, with almandines on a trefoil-shaped shield — first half — middle of the 5^th century). They are markers of the belonging of the complex to the first half — the middle of the 5^th century. The prestigious nature of most products is a complete set of weapons. (sword, dagger, axe and spear tip with flattened pen, abundance of precious metal objects (scabbard, buckles, dish), including decorated cabochons, the uniqueness of the bowl, as well as the variety of products associated, most likely, with the cult of the hearth (cauldron, hearth chain, etc.) make it possible to attribute this complex to the burial of a representative of the princely family.

Key words: the Central Ciscaucasia, the Migration Period, the Mount Razvalka, burial rite, prestigious grave goods, weapons, short-butted axe head, buckle, footed dish, hemispherical bowl, hearth cult.

Received December 5, 2022.

Accepted for publication January 15, 2023.

About the authors:

Prokopenko Yuriy Anatol’yevich (Stavropol, Russia). Dr. habil. (History), North-Caucasus Federal University

E-mail: z_proko_15@mail.ru

Rudnitsky Roman Romanovich (Zheleznovodsk, Russia). PhD (History), Independent Researcher

E-mail: rudnizky2010@yandex.ru