Pages: 377-389 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp254377389
The publication continues the analysis of finds from the 3rd century BC — 1st–2nd centuries from the studied sites of the Dnieper Left Bank, previously dated to the early Middle Ages. The plaque from the Vovki settlement (excavations by E. A. Goryunov) is interpreted as a phalera of a horse bridle from the Sarmatian period. Analogies are known in the Balakleya set of horsemen’s equipment, which belongs to the “strange complexes”, as well as in Sarmatian burials. The location and circumstances of the find from Vovki are reliable, unlike most artifacts that have become known in recent years. The phalera from Vovki is located outside the main areas of “strange complexes” and the group of Sarmatian-Zarubintsy cremations (according to M. B. Shchukin), as well as the inhumations of Posulye with Zarubintsy and late Scythian grave goods. Also, the place where this artifact was found is far from the Posulye and Bititsky (on the Psel) late Scythian forts (on average, the distance is about 100 km), and from the Kotelevsky fort on the Vorskla — up to 40 km. The closest of the “strange complexes” is Balakleya, located 200 km away. The Vovki settlement is located in the area of Sarmatian burials of the 1st century BC — 1st–2nd centuries AD. Finds from the 2nd-1st centuries BC do not belong to the late Zarubintsy horizon of the site; for that time, they are presumably interpreted as traces of a nomadic camp.
Keywords: Dnieper forest-steppe Left Bank, Psel River basin, late Scythian and Sarmatian antiquities, “strange complexes”, Sarmatian-Zarubintsy burials, nomadic camp
Information about author:
Viktor Рriymak (Sumy, Ukraine). Historical and Cultural Reserve “Bilsk” at the Poltava Regional Council. Pokrovska St., 13, Коtelva township, 38600, Poltava oblast, Ukraine
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0004-8740-2252