Folia archeologica 54.
Kocsis László - Mráv Zsolt: Egy késő római sisak arcvédő lemezének töredéke Dunafalváról (Bács-Kiskun megye)
TARSOLYLEMEZ PKRM KÖRNYÉKÉRÖI 251 A POUCH PLATE FROM THE PERM AREA Andrej M. BELAVIN - Natalja B. KRILASOVA Leather pouches adorned with metal mounts were widely used in several cultures of Eastern Europe from the late 9 t h to the mid-11 t h century (Fig. 1). The most widespread variant was edged with one or more metal bands. Metal fittings of this type have been found in Volga Bulgaria (25 pieces), in the Perm region (30 pieces), along the Udmurt section of the western Ural (10 pieces) and in the Volga-Vyatka Interiluve (30 pieces). 1 An especially high number of pouch plates and metal mounts adorning pouches have been brought to light from the burials of the ancient Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. 2 A few specimens have been reported from the Mordvin lands and the Viking cemetery at Birka. 3 Most pouches were pear-shaped with a wide month and a curved lower half. On the testimony of the finds from the Cheremis lands and the Kachkasur cemetery in Udmurtia, pouches with a different shape were also worn. 4 Seeing that very little has survived of the pouches themselves, usually no more than a few leather scraps near the metal mounts, the shape of a particular pouch can rarely be reconstructed. The best-preserved fragments indicate that pouches were made from tawed leather; the specimen from the Kachkasur cemetery was decorated with stamped honeycomb motifs, 3 while the pouch from Grave 173 of the Varni cemetery had been dyed red. 6 Pouches adorned with a similar stamped honeycomb pattern are known from the Cheremis lands too: 7 the ancient Cheremis cemetery at Dubovo yielded six pouches of Muscovy leather stamped with a honeycomb design. 8 G. A. Arhipov noted that the pouches from this region had been adorned with a variety of other decorative motifs too. In E. P. Kazakov's opinion, the leather known as Muscovy leather (bagaria) was produced by Volga Bulgár tanners. 9 L. A. Golubeva has pointed out that the pouches from the Cheremis lands were embroidered with silver. 1 0 Pouches were often edged with copper plates folded in two or small metal bands, similarly folded in two. 1 1 Pouches embellished with metal adornments were typical accessories of the Volga-Uralian male costume. Pouches fitted with metal bands arranged in a scale-like design were the most widespread in the Uralian foreland. 1 2
