A Silver Phiale from the Scythian Barrow Semÿkina Mogila

Abstract

AbstractThis article is devoted to the publication of the Scythian barrow Semÿkina Mogila, to the South of the town of Dnieprorudnoye, in the Zaporozhie Region, which was excavated in 1974 and which had contained two funerary structures looted in antiquity. This analysis is devoted to the burial of a warrior in the lateral catacomb: the grave goods from this burial included a set of bronze arrowheads and a silverphiale. The silverphialewhich had been standing next to the funeral feast has been the subject of detailed research. Thephialefrom Semÿkina Mogila has features in common with finds from Bashova Mogila in Thrace, from the Kuban region (now in the Maïkop Museum) and in the cache within Chmÿreva Mogila as regards its decoration, technique of manufacture, dimensions and, in part, weight. This enables us to date it to the first half of the 4thcentury BC, most probably the first quarter of that century. The date of the funerary complex can be determined as falling in the last quarter of the 4thcentury or even the turn of the fourth and third century BC on the basis of the shape of the funerary structure, the location of the monument within a group of barrows in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River and the arrowheads. Consequently the silverphialefrom the Semÿkina Mogila barrow belongs to a period, somewhat earlier than the date of the burial by at least two or three decades and at most by almost a century. Finally finds of metalphialaiin barrows from the Scythian period in the North Pontic region are considered.