З початку ХХ ст. дослідники звертали увагу на
специфічну серію навершь скіфського часу з пласкими зображеннями птахів на циліндричних втулках. Аналіз археологічного контексту показав, що ці знахідки пов’язані з ритуальними комплексами.
Стилістичні особливості і відмінна від ранніх типів навершь конструкція є відображенням нових
тенденцій в культурі кочовиків півдня Східної Європи у другій—третій чвертях VI ст. до н. е.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, researchers
have paid attention to a series of the Scythian poletops
with flat images of birds. These findings are one of
the indicators of the assemblages of the second—third
quarter of the 6th century BC.
At the moment, there are 4 sites in Central and
Eastern Europe with finds of pole-tops from this series.
These are Ulskii, barrow 2 (1909) and barrow 10 (1982)
in the Kuban region, Răscăieţii Noi, barrow 1 in the
Lower Dniester region and Zashchita, barrow 1 in the
Dnieper Forest-Steppe.
Pole-tops with a flat reduced image of bird heads are
found in the Kuban sites, which can be considered as
ritual places or shrines. Zashchita, barrow 1 can probably
also be considered as a ritual place. There were no
burial pits in such mounds. Under the burial mounds
there were wooden structures with tent-shaped roofs
or wooden canopy, but there were no human burials.
Excavations of recent decades have revealed that a
pair of pole-tops were part of a wooden altar and were
located at the entrance to the ritual place.
Probably, such pole-tops, like other sacred objects
and details of the horse bridle, were ordered in one of
the workshops in the Transcaucasus, where the art was
formed under the influence of Lydian tradition of jewelry
and toreutics. This can explain the fact that the finds differ
from the early group of the pole-tops with rattles and
three-dimensional figures of animals. The finds from Ulskii,
barrow 2 (1909) and barrow 10 (1982) dated based
on a horse bridle to the middle of the 6th century BC.
The artifacts from Zashchita, barrow 1 and Răscăieţii
Noi barrow appear to be replicas. They can be dated to
the second half of the 6th century BC.
Thus, the series of tops with flat reduced images of
birds of prey was formed in the Kuban region and, apparently,
as a result of the contacts of local elites with
the Transcaucasus and the influence of Lydian jewelry
art and toreutics. The archaeological context of the finds
proves their use outside the funeral rite but at the same
time expresses a connection with the idea of sacrifice
and sacralization of space. These objects mark the final
stage of their use in the ritual of the Early Scythian
Age. From the last quarter of the 6th century BC poletops
as a cultural phenomenon also disappeared in the
5th century BC. Future research will have to show why
the tradition of using these ritual attributes faded out
and was “reinstated’ in the 4th century BC. In conclusion,
it should be noted that the results allow us to make
changes in the classification of the pole-tops.
