Pages: 95-111 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp26495111
During the Late Roman period, a new jewellery style spread across Europe. Artefacts in this style are characterized by embossed design on gold or gilt foil and various inlays of stone or glass. Weapons, horse tack, belt fittings, and ornaments were made in this style. Given the rarity of these artefacts, their materials, striking polychromy, and aesthetic value, one may suppose that the owners possessed unusual wealth and social status. However, this aspect has not been specifically investigated so far.
This article attempts to evaluate the distribution of the artefacts featuring the Late Roman polychrome style in relation to gender and its role in marking the social status of men, women, and children. The research encompasses all the regions where this style appeared: Central and Western Europe, north-western Black Sea region, Dnieper region, Greco-Roman centres in the Black Sea region, the Crimean foothills, Lower Don region, and North Caucasus. Particular attention is paid to the finds from the barbarian cemeteries in the Crimea, which yielded a great many polychrome artefacts from closed burial assemblages and a representative sample of palaeoanthropological determinations. The analysis has shown that the artefacts featuring the Late Roman polychrome style symbolized the high status of their owners regardless of age and gender. In different regions, this status was marked by artefacts with different functions, depending on the owner’s cultural preferences and resources.
Keywords: Late Roman polychrome style, Western and Central Europe, sub-mountainous Crimea, Chersonese, Panticapaeum, Lower Don Area, ornaments, horse tack, buckles, gender, social status
Information about authors:
Igor Khrapunov (Simferopol, Crimea). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 2, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea; V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 4, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-3961-6297
Anastasiya Stoyanova (Simferopol, Crimea). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician Vernadsky Ave., 2, Simferopol, 295007, Crimea
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-8364-6135