Pages: 175-192 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp245175192

The article examines ancient Russian zoomorphic pendants of the 12th—13th centuries. The distinctive feature of the items is a curl on the chest. The author studied over 90 pendants. Most of the finds were discovered in the North-West of Russia. Their distribution reaches the basins of the Western Bug and Daugava in the west and the Volga-Oka basin in the east. The paper presents a classification of jewelry, as well as a new interpretation of the images imprinted in them. Type 1 are ornithomorphic images, types 2 and 3 are fantastic dragon–like creatures. The images reveal more parallels in Christian art (book miniatures, works of monumental and applied art), rather than in materials related to the Finno-Ugric mythological tradition.

Keywords: zoomorphic pendants, horned ducks, Ancient Rus, Christianity, bestiaries, dragon

Information about author:

Valentina Kuznetsova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1033-6259