Мідний кований казан ранньоскіфського часу з округи Більського городища

Abstract

In the article, for the first time, data on the accidental discovery of a thin-walled copper cauldron in the floodplain of the Stara Vorskla River (Left Bank Dnipro Forest-Steppe), in the nearest district of Bilsk fortified hillfort, are introduced into scientific circulation. On the basis of morphological and X-ray fluorescence analyses of the object, its place among other few similar finds in the territory of Forest-Steppe Scythia is shown, the connection with the Central Caucasian production centers, as well as the influence of Urartian art in the design of handles, are traced. Previously, the item was assigned to the first half of the 6th century BC. The rare artefact could have reached the left bank of the Dnipro with the nomads advancing to the Ukrainian forest-steppe through the Caucasus. The cauldron found differs in appearance from other similar artefacts and hasn’t had any exact analogues yet. However, the high rims and the probable presence of a low pallet may indicate a production tradition of Caucasian craftsmen. At the same time, the design of the figured overlays for fastening the handles in the shape of a stylised bird with spread wings definitely points to the Urartian (East Asian) cultural tradition. The technique of making cauldron attachments, with a perpendicularly placed, separately cast ring, used by Urartian foundries is indicative, which, at first glance, could suggest an Urartian import. Clarity is provided by the results of spectral analyses. According to the elemental composition of the metal, each of the three cauldrons known today with similar handle attachments, found in the territories of the Ukrainian forest-steppe, has a copper body and bronze handles with a significant content of lead (from 10 to 15%), which indicates the possibility of their manufacture in workshops, located on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, where at the end of the 8th—6th centuries BC there was a large centre for the production of various types of metal utensils. In our case, the attachments on the cauldrons were cast according to the local recipe, but based on Urartian prototypes. Based on the archaeological context and the results of RFA analyses of the metal of thin-walled cauldrons of the Early Scythian period, found in the territory of Forest-Steppe Scythia (Bilsk, Repiakhuvata Mohyla and Kruhlyk), it can be concluded that all of them were made in the first half of the 6th century BC in one of the Central Caucasian production centres by order and according to the taste of the nomadic elite. The possibility of Urartian craftsmen working in one of these production centres cannot be eliminated.