SACRIFICAL COMPLEX FROM TAT-BOYARY BURIAL 33 OF EMANAEVO ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURE: INFORMATION POTENTIAL

Abstract

The paper introduces into scientific discourse materials of the sacrificial complex, unique in its content, recovered from burial 33 of the 6-8 cen. Tat-Boyary cemetery. The site correlates with the early medieval formation of the western part of the Ancient Perm oecumene in the Kama-Volga Interfluve, and from the archaeological perspective - with the Emanaevo culture. The sacrificial complex is a birch bark box with a number of artifacts that was located in a special niche of the cenotaph. The paper gives a detailed description of the sacrificial complex consisting of bronze and silver elements of the detachable pectoral plate, belt, set of pectoral decorations, and the wallet, as well as fabric and leather elements of the female ceremonial costume. A wide range of parallels quoted in the paper allows to date the complex to the 8 or, possibly, the early 9century and to justify the high-scale involvement of the Vyatka population into the ethnocultural and trade Eurasian long- and close-distance contacts. They demonstrate the most stable contacts with the Volga-Finnish world and Ancient Perm cultures of the Cheptsa and Kama basins. Being introduced into scientific discourse, the materials of the Tat-Boyary sacrificial complex enhance our insight into the cultural specifics of the Vyatka population in the Middle Ages; besides, they are important to a better understanding of archaeological origin of the Kama-Vyatka Interfluve local ethnographic costumes.