ABOUT GOLD «CONES» OF THE SCYTHIAN BURIAL MOUNDS

Abstract

The question of the large cone-shaped gold objects found in a number of Scythian burial mounds of the middle of the end V — IV centuries BC on the territory of the Northern Black Sea Coast and the present Stavropol Territory is considered in the article. In total 8 such genuine objects are known to us.
 Undoubtedly, the purpose of the various cones also varied. Among them are. 1 — Helmets-pylons (Ak-Burun, Perederieva Grave, possibly cone 2 from the treasure in the mound near Sengeleevskoye village, Stavropol Territory). 2 — Tops of Bunchuk — symbols of power (the burial mounds of Bratolyubovsky, near the village of Ilyichevo, from the Kazinsky treasure and cone 1 from the treasure near the village of Sengeleevskoye).
 In our opinion, such bunchuks were a military sign and a symbol of the authority of the heads of the militarily powerful clans that were part of the privileged Scythian tribes. It is not by chance that the mound at the village. Ilyichevo, and the Bratolyubivsky mound are located in the nomadic zone of Scythian-tsar, embracing so-called Wild Field and steppe Crimea.
 As for the owners of pylon helmets, it remains to assume that only separate Scythians (pylophores) received the moral right to wear such helmets for certain outstanding achievements, what allocated the persons who carried them from the general mass. The presence of the pylon helmet, Panathian amphora and a gold crown from the leaves of the laurel in the Ak-Burun burial is an indirect evidence of this.