Pages: 399-404 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp255399404

The article deals with two artifacts discovered in different years in the cultural layer of the Uelga burial complex.
The first artifact is a polymetallic plaque (pseudo-pendant), made of bronze covered with gilding, with a pseudo-loop for hanging on top. The bas-relief pattern has a complex pictorial space. Eight semi-X-shaped images are inscribed in a circle, which were fastened on the sides with two interceptions.
Another find is a pendant-medallion made by double stamping — a silver and gilded plate with a circular border and a wide loop for hanging is soldered onto a silver base. Inside the pictorial field of the pendant, a double-headed bird of prey (a falcon?) is depicted with filigree borders and grain filling, with three feather ends of the tail and lowered wings.
The purpose of this study is to highlight the paradoxical historical context surrounding the discovery of specific artefacts in the cultural layer of the Uelga necropolis. Comparative analysis revealed that the emergence of similar motifsand techniques such as those found on the Uelga pseudo-pendant plaque and the pendant depicting a two-headed bird of prey — in distant Western regions remains unexplained and constitutes an archaeological paradox.

Keywords: medallion-pendant, X-shaped ornament, Raymond treasure

Information about author:

Sergey Botalov (Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of History and Archeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Sofia Kovalevskaya St., 16, Yekaterinburg, 620108, Russian Federation; South Ural State University. Lenin Ave., 76, Chelyabinsk, 454080, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5319-2331