Istvánovits Eszter (szerk.): A nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 55. (Nyíregyháza, 2013)
A 2010. október 11-14. között Nyíregyházán és Szatmárnémetiben megtartott Vándorló és letelepült barbárok a kárpáti régióban és a szomszédos területeken (I-V. század) Új leletek, új értelmezések című nemzetközi régészeti konferencia anyagai - Gheorghe Alexandru Niculescu: Az etnikaijelenségek régészeti kutatása és a társadalomtudományok
Maeotian plastic arts: nomadic influence or nomadic order? Fig.3 The bottom part of a grey burnished vase 3. kép Szürke, korongolt, besimított edény alsó része elements on bodies and necks of jugs are the result of stylisation of the details of metal vessels but not animal images. Studying the grey burnished jars from the kurgan graves of the nomadic nobility in the Lower Don region, 1 concluded that some jugs feature zoomorphic handles and handles imitating the metal ones at the same time (Raev 1986. 45, 48ff.). Sometimes, the décor of a handle bears zoomorphic elements that combine details typical for the imported metal ware and ornamentation of the cast bronze cauldrons of local production. The best evidence on the relationship between the Maeotian sedentary tribes and the nomadic population surrounding them is represented by a kind of décor, which is a feature of typical nomadic vessels. The knobs on the horizontal handles of the grey burnished bowls (Fig. 2: 9, 10) have their prototype in the vertical handles decorated with three knobs known on bronze cauldrons, which represent a widely spread nomadic ware. Despite the fact that the position of the handle was changed, the prototype is obviously clear (Demidenko 2008., cf. handles of Type VI). The shards of the jugs with attached relief rolls belong to the same group. They repeat the relief decoration imitating tamga signs, which run down from the lower edge of the handle on the body of the Sarmatian bronze cauldrons. Two fragments were found: one fragment with a sign in the shape of an anchor, and the second one is the lower part of one of two tendrils (Fig. 4). The most representative fragments are the ones of the grey burnished jugs found in 2007. Decorations of their handles depict typical Sarmatian tamga signs. The tamgas are executed as relief rolls running from the bottom part of the handle to the vessel’s shoulders (Fig. 5: 1—4). Similar signs are known from the archaeological sites of the first centuries AD in the city-states Panticapaeum (Drachuk 1975. PI. Ill: 139-145), Olbia (Drachuk 1975. PI. XLVI: 139, 141-144), and in the layers of the Crimean settlements (Scythian Neapolis: Drachuk 1975, Pl. VII: 500, 501). These tamgas constitute the contacts of nomadic tribes with ancient states of the North Pontic. Participation of the Sarmatians in the political and military events in the Black Sea region during the first centuries AD is well-known from the ancient written sources. It is interesting to note that the tamga signs from the jugs of the first centuries AD continued to exist in the culture of the native population of the North Caucasus up to the Middle Ages. Some images of the patrimonial tamgas similar to the one found at the Kazanskij-I settlement were recorded by the ethnographers in the 19th, and even in the first half of the 20th centuries (Jahtanigov 1993. Abadzekhian: 13, 52, 53, 81; Abazinean: 534, 537, 607; Abkhazian: 1,3, 13; Balkarian: 6, 37, 38, 62, 63; Beslaneev: 23, 41; Ingushetian: 9-12; Kabardian: 123, 124, 193, 201, 204, 236, 986, 989, 1100; Ossetian: 9, 55, 67, 68). 383
