«А дівчат амазонки привчали до зброї, коней та полювання…»

Abstract

У статті розглянуто серію поховань скіфських дівчаток зі зброєю. Завдяки аналізу поховальних комплексів доводиться коректність віднесення дітей до групи амазонок.

According to ancient authors Amazons treated their new-borns differently. They usually gave the boys to their fathers. At the same time, they raised the girls themselves. Moreover, the girls since childhood were taught martial art and hunting. That is, first of all they were taught archery and horseback riding. Based on these data, we drew attention to the Scythian girls’ graves with weapons. 17 such burials of girls are known today in the area of European Scythia. They are fixed on the territory of the Steppe Dnieper Region, Crimea, Transnistria and Don Region. All children’s graves are individual except for one (with a teenager-servant). Only two of them were robbed in antiquity. All graves (with one exception) were excavated in the kurhans. An analysis of the types of burial structures showed that undercut graves and catacombs predominate. Simple pits are represented by only two cases. The spread of these types of graves on different regions coincides with the same graves of adult Amazons. All burials were made according to the rite of inhumation. The western orientation of the dead is predominant. In general, burial sites, rites and anthropological types of Amazons are identical to those recorded for the population of European Scythia. Material support is divided in three main groups: 1) universal (meat meals with a knife and utensils); 2) Female (spindles with spinners, earrings, necklace, bracelets, rings, stone dishes); 3) Male (weapons, horse bridles, hryvnias). The combination of the components of these kits has usually marked the burial of the Amazons. The nature of the weapon shows that it was intended primarily for the remote combat. The evidence of social stratification is, first of all, the size of burial structures and the composition of material support. According to these indicators, three social groups are distinguished in the Amazon girls’ environment. The chronological range of the burial complexes of girls with weapons is determined from the end of the 5th to 3—2 centuries BC. However, the main group of these tombs is dated 4th century B.C.