Finds in the Zaporozhe Barrow: New Light on the Siberian Collection of Peter the Great

Abstract

Discussed are gold inlaid objects found in the destroyed barrow of Zaporozhe near the Dnieper River (USSR) in 1968: a bracelet; two belt plaques with reliefs, on iron bases; six round plaques/phalerae on bronze bases, which served as bridle decorations; and two round plaques/rosettes on iron bases which are the ends of psalia. Comparable objects in the animal style (belt plaques and plaques/phalerae) are found in the so-called Siberian collection of Peter the Great, the precise origin of which is unknown. Similar round plaques/phalerae come from kurgans of the northern Black Sea area (Zubovsky Khutor, Kurdzhipskaya, Sadovy, Ust-Labinskaya, Buerova Mogila and others), and parallels may be seen in the decoration of a sword sheath in the animal style from Roshava Dragana kurgan near Stara Zagora in Bulgaria (in ancient Thrace). The abundance of precious metals in the Balkan peninsula, the knowledge of the necessary manufacturing techniques and the similarity to the Roshava Dragana artifacts suggest a Balkan origin for the Zaporozhe finds, as well as for those in Peter the Great's collection. The Zaporozhe complex may be dated by comparison with the Migulinsky vessel in the polychrome animal style, the inscription on which is assigned to the second century A. C.