Folia archeologica 54.

Kocsis László - Mráv Zsolt: Egy késő római sisak arcvédő lemezének töredéke Dunafalváról (Bács-Kiskun megye)

252 ANDREJ M. BELAVIN-NATALJA В. KRILASZOVA Countless metal pouch adornments from Hungary

1

3 have their counterparts among the finds from the Volga-Kama region, Sarkel, the northern Caucasus, the Baltic region and southern Sweden. István Dienes believed that pouch plates developed from the fusion of smaller metal mounts.

1

4 Pouches of this type were most popular among and most frequently worn by the ancient Hungarians and in the western Uralian cultures whose ethnic make-up included a significant Ugric element. The cemeteries of the Hungarian Conquest period have yielded several silver gilt and copper pouch plates which had originally covered the pouch lid. These plates are occasionally unadorned,

1

5 although most are lavishly decorated with an exuberant palmette design.

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1' The single piece on which the foliate design is complemented by mythical creatures recalling peacock-dragons (senmurv) comes from Tiszabezdéd:

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7 the Tree of Life in the centre is flanked by senmurv-like animal figures.

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8 Pouch plates of the type so widespread in the Carpathian Basin, however, are very infrequent in the east. Only a few comparable pieces are known, one of these being the pouch plate from the ancient Cheremis cemetery at Veselovo (Fig. 1. 25). According to Vladislav P. Darkevich, the delicate silver gilt plate decorated with a Tree of Life motif flanked by two lions standing on their hind legs

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9 was an import from the Carpathian Basin

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0 and it should therefore be dated to the 10

t

h century like its Hungarian counterparts.

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1 In the light of the above, a pouch plate found in the Perm area (Fig. 1. 24, Figs 2-3) definitely merits attention. Unfortunately, this remarkable plate was discovered by treasure hunters and we have nothing but a few poor-quality photographs to go by (Fig. 2). The exact lindspot in the Perm Territory is not known. However, judging from the fact that the plate had been secondarily re-used as a funerary mask (the eyes and the mouth had been cut out), it seems likely that it was one of the grave goods in the cemetery plundered during the illicit excavation conducted by the treasure hunters. The trapezoidal plate measures 11-15 cm by 15.5 cm. The design on the plate was created by engraving and punching (Fig. 3). The lower part of the plate, decorated with a Tree of Life motif and the figures of a lion and a panther sitting on their haunches, recalls the composition of the Tiszabezdéd and Veselovo pouch plates. Darkevich believed that the lion figures on the Veselovo pouch plate had been adopted from Central Asian metal vessels of the 9

t

h century.

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2 The composition of a man bridling (or feeding) a deer on the upper part of the Perm pouch plate is more intriguing. The human figure, clad in a long robe reaching to the ankles and sporting a bracelet on the right arm, is portrayed rather clumsily. Although the sex 1:

1 DIENES 1964; RÉVÉSZ 1996, 133-144. 1

4 D

IENES 1973, 206-207, 216; BÁLINT 1988, 119. 1

5 FODOR 1996, 95, 153, 154, etc. 1

6 FODOR 1996, 72-73, 88, 112, 120, 126, etc. 1

7 FODOR 1996, 182-183. 1

8 DARKEVICS 1976, 170. IS

I ERDÉLYI 19 1961; DIENES 1972. Fig. 23.; ARHIPOV 1973, Fig. 49. 2

0 D

ARKEVICS 1976, 173. VŐ. FODOR 1979, 69-70; 2008, 167-169; 2010, 267. 2

1 ARHIPOV 1976, 125-127. 2

2 DARKEVICS 1976, 170.