Pages: 39-47 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2633947

One aim of modern archaeology is to reconstruct the worldview of past societies. For nonliterate ones such as the Scythians, this can be approached by studying the decor of a single category of artifacts as an integrated system. The article’s methodology draws on ideas advanced by archaeological theorists, especially Jean-Claude Gardin and Yu. L. Shchapova, who treated decoration as a subsystem in the morphological description of objects, understood broadly as the study of ancient artifact form. Following D. S. Raevsky’s semiotic interpretation of Scythian art, weapon decor is considered a sign system defined by the code, type, integrity, and placement of signs, as well as by their compositional arrangement. The descriptive method used here was developed by the author together with Yu. A. Lichter, and this article offers its practical application. Statistical analysis of the author’s database on weapon decor shows a high frequency not only of zoomorphic images, but also of anthropomorphic and geometric ones. In most cases, the biological genus of animals cannot be identified, and partial images prevail. The most common compositions are rhythmically organized and based on the simplest types of symmetry. These patterns provide a basis for interpreting the semantics of Scythian art.

Keywords: Scythia,  7th—4th centuries BC, fine arts, weapon, decor, sign system, image semantics, code

Information about author:

Yulia Kokorina (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences, Doctor of Philological Sciences. Moscow Polytechnic University. Bolshaya Semyonovskaya St., 38, Moscow, 107023, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2496-3958