NEW FIND OF THE SCYTHIAN SWORD NEAR MOTRONYNSKE HILLFORT

Abstract

In spring 2023 two kilometers south-west of the well-known Motronynske hillfort of Scythian Age on a flat plateau the iron Scythian sword was found out by chance on a little depth. In the Steppe and Forest-Steppe of North Pontic region swords and daggers of this type date to the second half of 6th—5th cc. BC (rather by the first half of the latter century). Near Motronynske hillfort a few finds of Scythian swords and daggers are known but swords of similar type have not occurred before.
 The site was examined by the author. It is a flat plateau with small depressions, located near the road to Hruskivka and Kamianka villages. Nearby the kurgan burial ground was located, investigated in 2018 by an expedition headed by O. D. Mohylov.
 The sword was found at a depth of 0.5 m from the modern surface, in forest loam. No cultural layer can be traced here but to the south of the site there are remains of defensive structures in the form of an earthen rampart with a moat that covers the plateau spurs from the side of Hruskivka. Near this rampart in 2019, a bronze triangular arrowhead with a spike was found, which according to A. I. Meliukova’s classification belongs to type 1, group 1, division III.
 In recent years several more swords and daggers of the 7th—5th centuries BC have been accidentally found in this area of the Kholodnyi Yar tract. This sword has a simple antenna-shaped pommel and butterfly-shaped cross-bar, i. e., according to the well-known classification of A. I. Meliukova, it belongs to the edged weapons of the II department of the 2nd type, which was widespread in the 6th — first half of the 5th century BC. The sword is 61.3 cm long, double-bladed, with a blade tapering in the last third of its length, well preserved. It weighs 650 grams. Finds of the edged weapons of infighting near the largest settlement of the Scythian Age in the Tyasmin-river-basin, presumably, are the evidence of a military collision of it’s inhabitants with the representatives of the nomadic world of Steppe.