Kavkazoved.info

The Caucasian archaeological expedition of the GMINV, on the basis of an agreement with OOO "Cultural Heritage" in 2012, continued large-scale work on the study of monuments of historical and cultural heritage in the construction zone of the Maikop - Samurskaya - Sochi gas pipeline. The work was carried out on three sections of the construction of the main gas pipeline in the modern territorial boundaries of the city of Maikop.

In the area of ​​the Podgorny farm, the study of the archaeological complex "Psenafa" continued, here an archaeological study of mound 1 was completed, which revealed a number of complexes of different times, ranging from structures and burials of the Early Bronze Age (late 4th - early 3rd millennium BC) and ending with Meotian ritual and burial complexes (IV century BC - I century AD).

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Obviously, numerous finds of mirrors, spinning wheels and various jewelry made of glass (beads and pendants) and precious metals belong to some kind of female rituals. In addition, numerous remains of dishes, both ceramic (jugs, kanfars) and bronze (cauldron) and glass (Scythians), testify to ritual actions.

A preliminary analysis of the material shows that ritual actions in the sanctuary at the top of mound 1 were carried out during the entire period of the existence of the Psenaf settlement, i.e. from the end of the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD So, for example, the most ancient today is a horse sacrifice with bronze double-pointed cheekpieces in the form of a lying panther with bent hind legs from (kzh. 13). Similar cheekpieces find analogies among the Meotian zoomorphic cheekpieces of the 4th century. BC. (Kantorovich, Ehrlich, 2006, cat. 64, 67.83, 84.91.92), and in the way of transferring the features of a feline predator, they go back to the images on the famous cheekpieces from the 4th Seven-Brother Barrow of the middle of the 5th century. BC. (Scythian Art, 1987, cat. 86). The upper date for the performance of ritual actions in this sanctuary is given by a bit with a wheel-like cheekpiece.

The Meotsky burial ground, discovered on the periphery of the burial mound, also dates back to this time. In total, more than 80 burials dating back to the Meotian era have been investigated here.

The buried have a predominantly southern orientation and an elongated position. Warrior burials are often accompanied by horse burials, which were placed side by side or on top in a grave pit.

A group of rich burials from the 3rd century to the 1st century is distinguished. BC. Burial 70 contained a gold forehead rim, gold earrings with lion heads, and a silver mid-late Latene brooch. Similar earrings were found in burial 76 together with gold beads and a bronze ring depicting Arsinoe III. Similar rings were made in Ptolemaic Egypt until the end of the 3rd century. BC. These burials can be tentatively dated to the III-II century. BC.

By the 2nd - 1st centuries. BC. a rich collective burial belongs to 62. It contained an iron candelabrum, a handle of a bronze frying pan, a gold torch, a gold pendant with a chalcedony inset ?, a diamond-shaped gold brooch and a number of other things. A bronze breastplate with pendant bells was found on the accompanying horses.

Jewelry made of gold and silver.

Among the materials of the burial ground, jewelry made of gold and silver stands out quite clearly (more than 60 items). They are found both in ritual complexes of the sanctuary and in burials and are represented by the following things: torcs, bracelets, a forehead corolla, earrings, temporal pendants, a pendant, brooches.

Brooches and brooches.

A masterpiece of jewelry art is a brooch brooch with four figurines of animals (rams or horses?) And pendants in the form of crescent moons and sun discs on chains, found in the sanctuary. A chalcedony insert has been preserved in its center, while stones from the other four castes have been lost. For the production of this product, various jewelry techniques were used - filigree, granulation, filigree. Presumably, this item dates back to the Colchis school of jewelry and has a number of artistic parallels among items found in both the South and North Caucasus. This is a brooch with animal figurines from Vanya, an accidentally found brooch brooch from Karachay-Cherkessia, now kept in the Stavropol Museum, and a brooch from a private collection in England, presumably originating from the Black Sea region. Fibula-brooch from Psenafa, subjected to deliberate ritual damage, can be tentatively dated to the III-II centuries. BC.

A gold brooch-brooch in the shape of a rhombus with a carnelian insert in the center from burial 62 has a number of analogies in the Kuban region. Such brooches were found in the Tenginsky and Sereginsky burial grounds, as well as in mound 14 near the Verkhny farm. By the existing analogies, it can be dated to the II century. BC.

The silver wire brooch from burial 76 is most likely of La Tene (Celtic) origin. A close analogy is a fibula from Moravia of the early 3rd century. BC.

Pendant.

Gold pendant with glass? The insert from item 62 finds certain parallels in nearby items from the burial ground near the Lenin farm and the mound near the city of Armavir, but differs in more delicate work.

Hryvnia and bracelet.

In two burials, gold multi-turn torcs from a hollow gold tube were found. A bracelet made in the same technique was accidentally discovered.

Earrings and temple pendants.

Gold earrings with lion heads dating back to the Hellenistic type XIII / 4 Löwenkopfohrringe were found in three burials (nos. 55,70,76) (Pfrommer, 1990). In the Kuban region, such earrings are found for the first time; the nearest finds of this type of earrings are the burial ground of Chersonesos. We date these earrings on the basis of other finds in burials from the end of the 3rd to the first half of the 2nd BC. A gold earring in the form of a flower bud was found in point 48 (2nd-1st centuries BC). The closest analogy is found in the Tengin burial ground (Antique heritage of the Kuban, 2010: 420, photo 17, above).

Twice, golden temple pendant rings were found in burials, in one case they were made of corrugated wire.

Burial 70 contained a gold forehead rim.

Beads and beads, pendants.

The most significant part of the ornaments found in the burial are beads, pendants, beads and amulets, which were found in almost all female burials, as well as with horse harness. They are made of single-color and mosaic polychrome glass, carnelian, jet, Egyptian faience and gold. Sets of beads make up whole necklaces and can be a great decoration for museum exhibits.

According to the existing agreements, all materials obtained as a result of the research of the archaeological complex "Psenafa" will replenish the funds of the North Caucasus branch of the State Museum of the East.

On the basis of the existing agreement, a large archaeological material obtained in the course of two years of work (more than 3000 items), after the completion of the restoration and scientific processing, will be stored in the city of Maikop in the holdings of the North Caucasian branch of the State Museum of the East and the National Museum of the Republic of Adygea.