Abstract
The author proposes a classifi cation of species and types of neck-rings tor of the Sarmatian-Meotian population of the Kuban in the Hellenistic and Roman times. So far, these artifacts have not been specially studied by anyone. Since torques were an important sign of social and property status, the author draws conclusions about the social diff erentiation of the Sarmatians and Maeotians in the period under consideration. The evolution of neck-rings refl ects the complex history of the Sarmatian-Maeotian population of the Kuban of this time. All torques from the Maeotian and Sarmatian sites of the Kuban fall into two chronological groups. The fi rst group, the 4th c. BC, includes torques exclusively from Maeotian sites. Their appearance as a symbol of power and high social status can be associated with the establishment of extensive economic contacts with the Bosporus, which led to the enrichment of the local nobility. Disappearance of neck-rings from the Maeotian burials in the 3rd – 1st cc. BC is associated with the destruction of the Maeotian nobility as a result of the Sarmatian invasion of the Kuban region in the second half and the end of the 4th c. BC and the transition of the rightbank steppes into the possession of the Siraces. The second group combines various types of torques from the Sarmatian and Maeotian sites in the Kuban. The earliest specimens come from rich Sarmatian burials of the 2nd c. BC – the fi rst half of the 1st c. AD, from the territory of the right bank of the Lower Kuban and the “Zubovskiy-Vozdvizhenskaya” group. These are tubular neck-rings made of gold, decorated with images of animals. The bulk of simple gold, silver and bronze torques comes from the mounds of the “Golden Cemetery” and adjacent Maeotian ground burials of the second half of the 1st and beginning of the 3rd century BC and refl ects the formation in the Maeotian-Sarmatian environment of groups with a high social status (warriors and “priestesses”). The study of torques from the Kuban sites shows the change in the social status of the Maeotians during the Hellenistic and Roman times, as well as the strengthening of the political status and social diff erentiation in the Sarmatian environment in the 2nd c. BC to the 3rd c. AD.
Keywords
Sarmatians, Maeotians, Kuban, neck-rings, metal jewelry.
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