Istvánovits Eszter: International Connections... (Jósa András Múzeum Kiadványai 47. Aszód-Nyíregyháza, 2001)
Oxána V. Bobrovskaia: Belt amulet sets in the female costume of the Cherniakhov Culture
Belt amulet sets in the female costume of the Cherniakhov Culture Oxána V. Bobrovskaia The female costume of the Cherniakhov Culture reconstructed on the basis of several hundred grave assemblages (TEMPELMANN-MACZYNSKA 1988, TEMPELMANNMACZYNSKA 1989, 77-83) frequently includes pendants interpreted in the literature as amulets (SYMONOVICH 1963, 58-59, VINOKUR 1972, 137, MAGOMEDOV 1990, 168). In inhumation burials they are usually observed on the ribs, on the bones of the hands or among the hipbones of the dead. The analogous situation of similar amulets found in the Sarmatian burials of the Great Hungarian Plain made it possible to assume that they were included in necklaces and attached to bracelets or belts (VADAY 1989, 58). On the basis of the registration and analysis of authentic cases of amulet finds in burials, we can suggest that the custom of single amulets or sets of them attached to the belt prevailed in the Cherniakhov milieu. This is why they are classified as belt sets and include the following objects: pyramidal bone pendants, mollusk shells of the Cypraeapanterina and Bolinus brandaris species of the Myricidae family 1 , and also animal tusks. The tradition of using belt amulets among the Cherniakhov population requires special study. In this paper, typological, chronological, economic, social and ethnographic aspects of this issue are to be examined briefly. We took into consideration a total of 157 amulets originating from 96 grave assemblages of 44 Cherniakhov cemeteries (fig. 1). Their arrangement (only authentic assemblages have been used) makes it possible to distinguish more than 20 variants. We were able to trace microlocal (within one cemetery) but constant variants of sets of pendants. For example, paired bone pendants were found in the graves of the Tîrgçor cemetery in Muntenia, while in the cemeteries between the Dniester and Danube sets with Bolinus brandaris prevail. The variety of combinations of the amuletpendants probably shows that patterns of cultic sets did not exist; components could be reciprocally exchanged and were perhaps semantically identical. The mode of wearing the pendants was traditional, but at the same time the ingredients of cultic sets depended on the supply of amulets available to the consumers. An analysis of the relative chronology of the grave assemblages with belt amulets allows us to trace a stable common appearance of the following types of dating objects: Different variants of combs type III by G.F. Nikitina (NIKITINA 1969, 147159); G. Rau's Kowalk type and conical thin walled glass beakers with polished ovoids (RAU 1972); two-piece arched fibula with inverted foot, variant 2 and 3, series В and buckles series V, G, D, Zh by E.L. Gorokhovski (GOROKHOVSKI 1988, 35, 42); doubleplate fibulas. Taken together these objects characterize periods C3 and Dl of the Cherniakhov periodization suggested byj. Tejral (TEJRAL 1997). Thus belt assemblages 1 Determined by A.N. Shkliaruk. I am very grateful to him for our consultations. For information on the species' specialities of mollusk shells, see: http://www.gastropods.com/shell_pages/Taxon-pages/Class_GASTROPODA.html.
