Pages: 315-356 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp264315356
The article addresses the internal chronology and cultural development of the early Kolochin sites of the 5th–6th centuries AD in the Desna, Seim and Upper Oka basins. Based on new field materials and a revision of legacy collections, a refined periodisation is proposed, overcoming the broad “probabilistic” dating. Four horizons are distinguished. Horizon 0 (late 4th – early 5th c.) marks the end of the East European champlevé enamels circle; Horizon 1 (first half of the 5th c.) – the formation of Kolochin antiquities on a late Kiev-culture substrate under an influx of Roman silver; Horizon 2 (second half of the 5th – mid-6th c.) – the developed stage with prestige military equipment and post-Hunnic connections; Horizon 3 (late 6th–7th c.) – the final stage with hoards of the Martynovka circle. A new Kolochin region has been identified in the Upper Oka basin. Particular attention is paid to metalworking as a marker of cultural transformation. At the settlements of Meshkovo-2, Belolunino, Plekhovo-11, Aleksandrovskoe, Otradninskoe and Sukhoe, chasing tools, punches, anvils, casting moulds, matrices for Kerbschnitt foil stamping, crucibles and melted silver droplets have been recorded. Defective castings confirm local production of prestige ornaments. The tool hoards from Nikolskoe, Plekhovo-11 and Karmanovsky Les attest to the scale of blacksmithing, the use of the Naryshkino iron ores, and the emergence of specialised craft centres.
Keywords: Kiev culture, Kolochin culture, Great Migrations Period, chronology, metalworking, blacksmithing, Kerbschnittstyle, Desna basin, Seim basin, Upper Oka, hoards, military culture
Information about authors:
Oleg Radyush (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-0311-7389
Anna Nikitina (Moscow, Russian Federation). Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-7389-3645