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There are at least 69 known swords decorated with precious metals from 52 locations of Eurasia and dated by 8th—4th centuries BC. The ceremonial swords and daggers are usually longer (than ordinary items) and older (than the rest of the grave goods). The overwhelming majority of finds of swords and daggers of the Iranian world are associated with aristocratic burials. The closest practice of conspicuous consumption for the Iranian nomads became the funerary one, for which the weapon turned into ceremonial (as a rule, it was covered specially with a thin gold leaf). It is easy to see that the Iranian ceremonial weaponry, found in isolation from the concentrations of graves: from Ziwiye, Oxus and Vettersfelde, is outside the nomadic world and possibly designates its borders for different periods. And the very tradition of ceremonial swords, placed in a funeral context, pulsates throughout the history of Iranian-speaking nomads. It appears in the finale of the pre-Scythian period. The context of its appearance is the fading practice of deposition of the swords and daggers in hoards, linked to the traditions of Late Bronze Age. Then the tradition of golden swords is actively manifested in the Scythian time and after a while, it is revived already in the Sarmatian period. In the Scythian time, the tradition of ceremonial swords is accompanied by chronological lacunae that run between the main links of the periodization chain (the early 7th, early 6th, the late 5th centuries BC). Even though the maximum number of Scythian swords and daggers (in full accordance with the Gauss’s Law) falls on the Middle Scythian period, the bulk of ceremonial forms refers to the finale of the Classical Scythian culture, illustrating the thesis that such conspicuous consumption coincides with periods of political instability and crises. And indeed, after the period of maximum distribution of the ceremonial akinakai in the third quarter of the 4th century BC, after just one generation, we see the disappearance of the classical Scythian culture, along with its characteristic weaponry, horse harness, animal style and monumental funerary architecture.

Keywords: akinakai, swords, daggers, Scythian period, nomads, hoards

Information about author:

Denis Topal (Kishinev, Moldova). Doctor of History. High Anthropological School University. N. Iorga St., 5, Kishinev, MD-2009, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]