The article is devoted to a unique find originating from an unknown burial ground in the Konda River basin (Sovetsky district of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra), - silver badge of the IX-X centuries. Its description and primary attribution are given. The absence of a fragment of a plaque with the image of a man's head (face) in the burial suggests that it was deliberately excluded from the funeral inventory and then used to make the figure of the deceased - the receptacle of his soul. The appendix to the article provides a tracological analysis of the fragmentation of the plaque during the funeral rite.

Keywords: silver, gilding, coinage, engraving, plaque, burial, soul.

Circumstances of finding the badge

In 2013, the Museum of the History and Culture of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences received an unusual object - a large plaque cut into plates. According to the stories of "third parties", it was found in the upper reaches of the Konda River, not far from the confluence of the Konda River. Ess (Sovetsky district of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra). The logging operations carried out there led to the destruction of the cultural layer of an unknown monument by heavy tractors, presumably a small burial ground consisting of several burials. The workers collected only metal finds: bronze zoomorphic bracelets, pommels of a knife, several piercings, a large bronze round plaque with images of a bear, fish and two snakes are mentioned. This inventory composition allows us to presumably date the burial ground within the XI-XIII centuries.

In one of the destroyed burials were the remains of the deceased, dressed in a fur coat made of coarse black pile (possibly bear). On top of it, in the area of the chest, face down, were evenly placed plates of silver plaques (Figs. 1, 2). Nearby was the place of worship of Mansi, identified by the coins brought there. Such a neighborhood is consistent: even K. F. Karjalainen, agreeing with S. K. Patkanov, wrote about the connection of most of the sacred places of Ostyakov with "ancient settlements" or "burials ... that have lost their meaning"

Fig. 1. Kondinsky silver plaque.

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2. Medallion of the Kondinsky badge: photography (a) and drawing (b). [1995, p. 65-66]. It is necessary to clarify that the Ostyaks and Voguls saw in these settlements and burials ancient monuments of their ancestors.

We can assume three stages of the badge's life. At the first stage, in one of the qualified craft centers, this item was made by cutting a silver ingot and then cutting a circle with scissors. It is difficult to determine what this object originally represented: a bowl, a dish, a flat or convex disk, a plaque; the original dimensions are also unknown. However, judging by the preserved plates, the proportional ratio of the diameter of the plaque and its medallion, as well as its smooth edge, I assume that the original dimensions of the product were not reduced: that is, the plaque was not cut out of a large bowl or dish. The composition on its front side was made with the help of gilding, chasing and engraving. In this condition, the product that came out of the workshops was delivered and sold (transferred) its owner.

At the second stage, the owner or by order of the owner, the badge was modified: the edges of the object were decorated with a strip of large "pearls" in a circle by striking the coin on the reverse side, a hole was punched, to which a copper loop for hanging was attached with a pin (a piece of leather lace was preserved in it). At the third stage-after the owner's death - the plaque was cut into plates (see Appendix) and placed in the burial. Most likely, we are dealing with a well-known ethnographic material of the XIX-XX centuries. among the Ob Ugrians (ancient inhabitants of the region), the desire to "kill" an object so that it can pass into another world together with the deceased owner (see, for example, [Sokolova, 1980, p. 132-133]). A fragment of the badge with the image of the man's face was not found.

Description of the badge and its attribution

The diameter of the plaque is approx. 17.5 cm, the medallion is 10.5 cm, the latter is surrounded by a border 0.5 cm wide. Some of the plates are convex, the rest are flat (the result of deformation in the burial). On the reverse side, near the edge of the badge (opposite the left elbow of the male figure), two traces of solder are visible: it can be assumed that they tried to strengthen the places with cracks formed from time to time. The medallion shows a story scene: a man sitting in an oriental style with his left hand pulls a bowing woman to him by a long braid; with his right hand, he touches the woman's head. A piece of palmette is visible above the man's left elbow. The background of the figures is covered with gilding.

The man is wearing a robe with rolled-up sleeves and high boots with a side seam. The robe is decorated with an ornament consisting of tri-monsoon circles grouped together - the leopard skin motif, known in Central Asian toreutics of the IX-X centuries [Treasures of the Ob region, 1996, p. 117]. The belt is passed by a narrow strip with a number of circles, has three hanging straps.

The figure of a woman is made more carefully. She is depicted in a long shoulder garment with short sleeves (possibly a chlamydia, tunic, or shirt).,

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decorated with wavy and straight parallel lines, which can indicate pleats or striped fabric; the hem is marked with festoons. The neck is covered with a collar of clothing. On the head is a tight-fitting polka-dot headdress, possibly a kerchief or cap; from under it, the hair is visible, transmitted in oblique notches. The feet are shod in thick-soled sandals with a narrow strap decorated with a large round button. On the ankles and wrist of the right hand - bracelets passed by circles. The woman's face is round, she has large almond-shaped eyes with large pupils, long thin connecting eyebrows, a straight nose, a small mouth. A thick long braid, tied with ribbons, is slung over her back.

The plot depicted on the badge is difficult to determine, including due to the absence of an important fragment with the head (face) of a man. The simplest interpretation is to demonstrate a violent scene, which can also be understood in different ways*. In private correspondence, M. G. Kramarovsky suggested that a man pulls a woman not by the braid, but by the left sleeve of her clothes. However, this version does not seem plausible to me. First, let's pay attention to the fact that the hair strip under the woman's headdress and the left eyebrow are transmitted by oblique notches - at least 14 transverse "ribbons" of the braid are decorated in the same way, i.e. it is shown "hairy". Secondly, if you still pull the sleeve, then its lower tip, after the place grasped by the man's left hand, should hang limply down, and it is directed up. Third, in the tapering "sleeve" there is no visible thickening from the hand.

On the front (outside of the medallion) and reverse sides of the product there are engraved drawings, which, unfortunately, are not easy to read. I assume that they have already been completed in the Urals. Among the obvious ones, we should mention images of a bird, two heads of animals (wolf?), a spiral figure.

The plaque has a similarity in the methods of transmitting realities with a thin-walled forged bowl of the IX century (Ural-Hungarian center) of a similar size (diameter 18 cm), found on Lake Baikal. Nanto at the Yuribey River: the rider depicted on it has high boots with a side seam, and his clothes are decorated with an ornament of three-punson circles grouped together. The medallion is surrounded by a narrow empty border [Ibid., pp. 114-117; Treasures of the Ob Region, 2003, p. 53]. In boots with a slit, a man is shown with a beaver on a bucket from the village. Shuryshkary (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District) [Baulo, 2011, cat. 384], dated by N. V. Fedorova in the IX-X centuries [2013, p. 155]. Belts in the form of a narrow strip with a row of circles and three hanging straps are known from frescoes of Samarra (Iraq) and Lashkari Bazaar (Afghanistan); the same belts are found on two figures on a bucket of the XI century, found near the village. Shuryshkary [Treasures of the Ob region, 1996, p. 85-89]. The rollers represent the ends of the sleeve of female figures on the badge and riton (Central Asia, late VIII-first half of IX c.) [Baulo and Marshak, 2001]. Women with a long braid are depicted on a bowl from Sludka, Perm province (Kabulistan, VIII century) [Marschak, 1986, Abb. 185]. Almost round female face, similar ornamental motifs in clothing (dots and "scales") They are shown on a preserved fragment of a dish (irrigation ceramics) of the tenth century, found in Afrasiab (Uzbekistan) [Pugachenkova, 1986, p. 207]**.

Thus, based on the aggregate dates of similar images, it is possible to suggest the time of making a plaque from the Konda basin in the IX-X centuries. The place of its production is difficult to determine unambiguously; in a broad sense, this is most likely the east of Europe. According to N. V. Fedorova, many different groups of artists formed here in the X-X centuries: for them, close contacts with the urban centers of Volga Bulgaria, and before that with Khazaria, were a powerful impetus for the development of their own artistic tradition [2013]. It should be pointed out that the Kondinsky badge has a more pronounced emphasis on the southern, Central Asian specifics, which are expressed, in particular, in such details as the eastern pose of a man and the sandals of a woman; the plot of the presented scene and the unusual (round) face of a woman should be attributed to previously unknown ones.

Ancient ytterma?

The Kondinsky plaque is the second found in the form of cut plates. The funds of the I. S. Shemanovsky Yamalo-Nenets Regional Museum and Exhibition Complex (Salekhard) contain seven narrow plates that make up the remains of the central medallion of a silver dish with the image of a horseman (Ural-Hungarian center, IX century). Initially, it was suggested that the medallion was cut into narrow strips for making fishing lures those who found it [Treasures of the Ob region, 1996, p. 120]. This was not mentioned in a later publication, and the medallion was presumably assigned to a burial complex from the Kheto-se burial ground in the south of the Yamal Peninsula (Treasures of the Ob Region, 2003, p.57). The second version seems to be preferable, since it allows us to combine both finds that originated specifically from burials in a semantic sense.

I am convinced that the missing fragment of the Kondinsky plaque was not found in the burial. The "wights" item

* See M. G. Kramarovsky's article in this issue of the journal.

** I thank L. N. Ermolenko for pointing out this source.

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Fig. 3. Figures of ytterm-temporary receptacle of the soul - with photos of the faces of the deceased. Berezovsky district of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, village. Hurumpaul, 1983 (a), the village of Lombovozh, 1985 (b). Mansi.

li", cutting it into five longitudinal plates, after which the central part with the head (face) of a man was cut out from the extreme right plate (the unfinished corner near the male hand is clearly visible on the remaining fragment of the badge with a loop). Why did you do this? It can be assumed that during his lifetime the owner of the badge identified himself with the male character represented on it, and so, apparently, did his entourage. After the owner's death, his "portrait" was removed from the burial inventory, most likely for a specific purpose - to make a posthumous image - a container of the soul. In the late ethnographic practice of the Ob Ugrians, a similar phenomenon associated with the production of the figure of the deceased-the temporary receptacle of one of his souls (ytterma, ittarma) - has been known at least since the beginning of the XVIII century. [Novitsky, 1941, p. 52].

The tradition of making such figures could have existed in the Middle Ages: I will mention anthropomorphic dolls with disguises of the VIII-IX centuries, found on archaeological sites in the vicinity of Surgut. According to K. G. Karacharov, there are at least 10 items that were known to have a complex structure: the base was a flat frame made of twigs, the volume of the figure was given by moss stuffed inside; bronze or wooden masks were attached (sewn) to the dolls. The researcher suggested interpreting these finds as images of the deceased, and the presence of strands of hair on some of them seems to indicate a connection between the figure and a specific person (Karacharov, 2002). It is possible that a similar "doll" was made for the late Kondinsky man, only in this case her face was marked with a specially carved fragment of a silver badge.

According to ethnographic data, images of the dead (ytterma, ittarma) in the XVIII-XX centuries are characteristic of the northern groups of Khanty and Mansi (see, for example: [Gemuyev, 1990; Sokolova, 2009; et al.]), but most importantly: the Lyapin Mansi recorded the tradition of attaching (sewing*) to the figure of ytterma photographs of the face of a deceased person (Gemuev, 1990, p. 209) (Fig. 3). Such a close semantic comparison (a fragment of a plaque with a face - a photo card with a face) in the version of the possible use of a fragment of a plaque for making a posthumous container of the soul allows us to cautiously speak in favor of the Ugric belonging of the burial complex discovered in the upper reaches of the Konda. This does not contradict the above-mentioned bronze zoomorphic bracelets, knife pommels, and above all a large bronze round plaque with the "Ugric" plot of the so-called bear festival.

* "...ytterm figurines... Sometimes faces cut out of photographs are sewn to them. My relatives have such figures. I sewed them on, took out the sacred box, put it on the table, put a glass and food in front of them. They are fed once a year. Keep in the house "(R. P. Khozumova, pos. Khurumpaul, Berezovsky district of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. Field materials of I. N. Gemuev. 1983).

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4. Bronze plaque with images of a bear, fish and two snakes.

Bronze plaque with images of a bear, fish and two snakes

The badge is a round massive bronze disk with a diameter of 9.2 cm, along the contour decorated with edging of large "pearls" (Fig. 4)*. A hole is punched in the edge of the product, to which a copper loop for hanging is attached by means of a pin. The central place on the front side is occupied by a" flattened " figure of a bear, in front of whose head lies a large fish; on the sides there are two snakes with open mouths.

On the one hand, we have a badge made in the well-known animal style with a recognizable scene of the Ugric holiday, when fish is placed in front of the head of a dead bear as a treat. On the other hand, the "bearish" plot here is quite specific. First, the bear pose with its hind legs pulled up to its stomach is unusual (perhaps it is due to the need to fit the figure into a circle). Secondly, the snakes are depicted in poses that are not typical for the animal style: in bronze casts of the Urals and the north of Western Siberia, they are usually shown coiled up in a spiral [Baulo, 2011, cat. 387; et al.]. The bodies of both snakes on the badge are connected in rings, which is more typical for eastern subjects: in a similar way, they are shown as snake on a bowl with the image of a lion, published in the" Sasanian section " of Y. I. Smirnov's atlas (Smirnov, 1909, cat. 97), an East-Iranian bowl of the tenth century from c. Ukan (Udmurtia) [Ibid., cat. 132; Marschak, 1986, Abb. 129], a dish with images of humans and animals (Volga Bulgaria, XI century) [Treasures of the Ob region, 2003, cat. 23]. The plaque can be dated within the IX-XI centuries.

Thus, we have a badge that combines Siberian (Ugric) and southern (eastern) features. In this sense, it is close to the famous bronze plaque with the image of a standing owl [Ancient Bronzes..., 2000, cat. 28] - an actual copy of the silver dish medallion [Baulo, Marshak, and Fedorova, 2004, p. 108]. I believe that it is not by chance that such samples have the shape of a round disk with an edging of "pearls" around the edge - this is a kind of imitation of the medallions of silver dishes.

Conclusion

In an unknown burial complex in the upper reaches of the Konda River, a man's grave was found with a plate-cut plaque dating from the 9th-10th centuries.The place of its production is broadly defined as the east of Europe, while its plot shows southern, Central Asian features (eastern pose of a man, sandals of a woman). Unusual details of the badge include the plot of the presented scene and the round face of a woman. The absence of a fragment of a plaque with the image of a man's head (face) in the burial suggests that it was deliberately excluded from the funeral inventory and then used to make the figure of the deceased - the receptacle of his soul.

Acknowledgements

When preparing this article, I used the advice and advice of A. A. Bogordaeva (IPOS SB RAS), L. N. Ermolenko (KemSU), M. G. Kramarovsky (Department of Oriental Studies of the State Hermitage Museum), A. G. Kozintsev (MAE RAS), N. V. Fedorova (GSU Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District "Scientific Center for Arctic Studies"). deep appreciation. I would like to thank G. K. Revutskaya (IAET SB RAS) for cleaning and restoring the product, and M. O. Eliseeva for the drawings made.

List of literature

Baulo A.V. Ancient bronze from ethnographic complexes and random collections. Novosibirsk: IAET SORAN Publishing House, 2011, 260p.

Baulo A.V., Marshak B. I. Serebryany ryton iz khantiyskogo svyatylishcha [Silver rhyton from the Khanty sanctuary]. -2001. - N 3. - p. 133-141.

* Unfortunately, the photo of the badge at our disposal is of poor quality, which led to the need to publish it as a drawing.

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Baulo, A.V., Marshak, B. I., and Fedorova, N. V., Silver dishes from the Voikar River, in Archeology, Ethnography, and Anthropology of Eurasia. - 2004. - N 2. - pp. 107-116.

Gemuev I. N. Mirovozzrenie mansi: Dom i Kosmos [Mansi Worldview: Home and Space]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1990, 232 p. (in Russian)

Ancient Bronzes of the Ob River: A collection of bronzes of the IX-XII centuries from the collection of the Surgut Art Museum. - Surgut: Publishing House Surgut, art. Moscow, 2000, 28 p. (in Russian)

Karacharov K. G. Anthropomorphic dolls with disguises of the VIII-IX centuries from the vicinity of Surgut // Materials and research on the history of North-Western Siberia. Yekaterinburg: Ural State University Press, 2002, pp. 26-52.

Karjalainen K. F. Religiya yugorskikh narodov [Religion of the Ugra peoples]. and published by N. V. Lukina. Tomsk: Publishing House of the Tomsk State University, 1995, vol. 2, 282 p.

N. Ovitsky Gr. Brief description of the Ostyak people. Novosibirsk: Novosibgiz Publ., 1941, 107 p. (in Russian)

Pugachenkova G. A. Masterpieces of Central Asia. Tashkent: Gafur Gulyam Publishing House of Literature and Art, 1986, 224 p.

Smirnov Ya. I. Eastern silver: Atlas of ancient silver and gold ware of eastern origin, found mainly within the Russian Empire. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of Imp. archeol. commission, 1909. - 18 p., 300 tab.

Semeynaya obryadnost ' narodov Sibiri (opyt sravnitel'nogo izucheniya) [Family ritual of the peoples of Siberia (experience of comparative study)]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1980, pp. 125-143.

Sokolova Z. P. Khanty i mansi: vzglyad iz XXI v. [Khanty and Mansi: A view from the XXI century]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 2009, 756 p.

Treasures of the Ob region. St. Petersburg: Formika Publ., 1996, 228 p. (in Russian)

Treasures of the Ob region: Western Siberia on the trade Routes of the Middle Ages: exhibition catalog. - Salekhard; St. Petersburg: [B. I.], 2003. - 96s.

Fedorova N. V. Ladle with the image of a man holding a beaver on his knees / / Classical art of the Islamic world of the IX-XIX centuries: Ninety-nine names of the Supreme / comp. by G. Lasikova. - Moscow: Publishing House of Marjani, 2013. - pp. 152-155.

Marschak B.I. Silberschatze des Orients: Metallkunst des 3. - 13. Jahrhunderts und ihre Kontinuitat. - Peipzig: VEB E.A. Seemann Verlag, 1986. - 438 S.

Application

TRACE ANALYSIS OF FRAGMENTATION TRACES

The study of the product, which was carried out using a binocular microscope at magnification from 8 to 80 times, allowed us to determine the sequence and features of its fragmentation. Traces of using only one tool - a knife-were found. A sharpened section of its blade, adjacent to the sting of the blade, with a length of about 10 - 15 mm, was used.

Traces of working with a knife when preparing the badge for fragmentation and breaking of the product (see description). in the text).

On both surfaces of the plaque, traces of preliminary marking of fragmentation sites by scratching were not detected. The lines of future faults were marked out with sufficiently deep incisions with a knife on the front side of the object. This operation was probably performed by placing the cutting edge of the knife on the surface of the plaque and hitting the obushkov part of its blade, which led to the formation of characteristic depressions (a; see figure below). A series of such consecutive incisions formed the line of the future fault (b). Their depth reaches half the thickness of the product (c). The lines formed after working with a knife made it easier to break the artifact according to the planned plan of its fragmentation, which was carried out by bending the product face out (d). No traces of repeated bending were found. In some cases, breaking led to fragmentation of the product (e) along the lines of the previously applied ornament (f). Work with the artifact when cutting fault lines was probably carried out on a flat elastic surface; breaking - on weight (without emphasis).

P. V. Volkov

Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS

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