MAIASP. 2024. No. 16

Yu.A. Prokopenko (Stavropol, Russia)

Findings of arrowheads of the 9^th — first half of the 8^th — first half of the 7^th centuries BCE in the Koban monuments cultural and historical community on the Stavropol upland

DOI: 10.53737/2713-2021.2024.56.63.002

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Pages: 29—41

The article is devoted to the typological and chronological analysis of bone and bronze arrowheads found in burial grounds and layers of settlements of the Stavropol Upland dating from the 9^th — first half of the 8^th century to the mid-7^th century BCE. The arrows were found in soil-based burial grounds (burial ground No. 1 of the Tomuzlovskoe settlement; burial ground No. 1 of the Grushevskoe settlement; burial ground No. 2 of the Tatarskoe settlement), in the layers of settlements (Grushevskoe settlement; finds in the northwestern environs of Stavropol and on Mount Strizhament) and others. The bone points (7 copies) belong to two groups: socketed — 1 copy; tanged — 6 copies. Bronze tips are represented by four groups: flat and half-flat — 3 copies; Chernogorovsky-type arrows — 2 copies; socketed arrowheads of the Novocherkassk type— 9 copies; tips of the Jabotin horizon — 45 copies.

A set of arrows characteristic of various chronological periods in the materials of the burial ground No. 1 of the Tomuzlovskoe settlement (the eastern part of the Stavropol Upland) suggests an initial settlement period starting as early as the 9^th — first half of the 8^th century BCE. In the western part of the Stavropol Upland, burials with arrows dated earlier than the mid-8th century BCE have not yet been found in the western Stavropol Upland, though isolated items and hoards from earlier periods are known in the region.

The typological analysis of forms of the arrowhead forms from burial ground No. 1 at the Tomuzlovskoe ancient settlement indicates the main vectors of communications of local military culture: northwest direction (Northern Black Sea Coast); northeast (Southern Cisural area and Central Asia) and southern direction (Transcaucasia, Asia Minor). This may relate to the site’s strategic location near the sources of the Tomuzlovka River (extending westward toward the Volga) and near the Kalaus River (running meridionally toward the Caspian region). South of the site lies the region of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, while to the west, the Stavropol Upland stretches as a corridor for relatively safe travel toward the Northern Black Sea area.

The discovery of a bronze blank for a two-bladed arrowhead of Type II, Variant 2 (following A.I. Melyukova) from the 7^th — first half of the 6^th century BCE in burial ground No. 1 at the Tomuzlovskoe settlement indicates local arrowhead production (casting) at the site.

Key words: Stavropol upland, arrowheads, blades, bushing, spike, plain, Montenegrin type, Novocherkassk type, Jabotin horizon.

Received February 29, 2024

Accepted for publication March 10, 2024

About the author:

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

E-mail: z_proko_15@mail.ru