Budapest Régiségei 39. (2005)

Tézer Zita: Szkíta kori tükrök a Kárpát-medencében = Scythian-period mirrors in the Carpathian basin 5-38

SZKÍTA KORI TÜKRÖK A KÁRPÁT-MEDENCÉBEN From the 7-8 centuries BC onwards two types of mirrors, the one with a shaft and the round one without shaft have spread towards the Carpathian Basin starting out from the Black sea through Podolia. (figs. 1, 2, 4, 5) The origin of each leads us into different directions. The round mirror with or without shafts became known to Scyths through the Chinese-Altay Siberian zone. They vary from the simple, undecorated disc with a rim to the buttoned, the shafts with vertical or horizontal animal ornaments, (fig. 6.1-2-3-4~5-6a). There are only some mirrors with shafts known from the Carpathian Basin. On the shaft of the one from Maroscsapó there are two tiny columns holding an openwork buttoned lid. (fig. 7.1b) It has got a parallel from the Ukraine, the number one piece from the Gerasimovka (fig. 6.3a) and the one found on the Romenskij kurgan (fig. 6.5a) from the period around 700-650 BC The star-shape decoration of the shaft of the mirror from Mariselu (figs. 6.6c, and 7.4c) is similar to those of the two mirrors from the Romenskij kurgan (fig 6.b, c) and that of the mirror from Dobrina, Bulgaria, (fig. 6.6b) dating from the 6

th century BC. The dating of Mariselu to the early Scythian period, the end of the 7

th and beginning of the 6

th centuries BC was modified to a later phase of the Ferigile circle on the basis of the collection of finds from Csombord and the Akinakes and fibulas. The mirror from Nagyenyed (fig. 7.2a) with its parallel from Lenkovcy (fig. 7.5a) differently from the items from the Ukraine, can be classified as a mixed type of the shafted and handled mirrors the supposed time of production of which is the turn of the 7

th and 6

th centuries and the place of production could even be Transylvania. The prototypes of shafted mirrors were made in the area of the Black Sea by Greek tenants. Proofs have come to light from several Scythian period graves. Olibia, for example was a center of metalwork, 13 Scythian-type shafted mirrors have come from there. And there are two further ones from Berezan. The characteristic feature of the so called Olibian type shafted mirrors is the decorating the end of the shaft with a cat-like feature or with the joining of the upper part of the mirror by a deer. (figs 8, 9, 10) As Greek goods are to be found all over in the graves of Scythian kurgans, an extended trade can be supposed upwards along the rivers Dneper and Bug (Smela-Zurovka-fig. 9.2b, Gulajgorod fig. 10.3b), towards the east, northwards on the rivers Ural and Volga (Bis-oba/zg. 8.2a, Orsk fig. 8.5c, Ulan-Erge fig. 10.3b, Elga fig. 8.4a) and in the direction of the Cyscaucasus (Krasnodar fig. 9.5d). Nowadays, the opinion is well accepted that originally, the different types of Scythian shafted mirrors were produced in areas inhabited by Greeeks meeting the requirements of the aborigines, but soon they learnt the technology and they produced the mirrors in local workshops. This opinion is supported by the primitive mirrors dating from the 6

th century BC, e.g. the item found in kurgan No. 255 in Zurovka. (fig. 9.2b) Local production of mirrors made in the northern area of the Black Sea is likely in the Carpathian Basin, it can be observed on the pieces from Pókafalva (fig. 9.4e), Oláhzsákod (fig. 9.4d), MiskolcDudujka (fig. 8.4d) and Debrecen (fig. 8.4.d). They can be dated to a later period, to the 5

th century BC, whereas the other ones from Szécsény (fig.8.1c), Makkfalva (fig 8.1a), Piliny (fig. 8.1b), Muhi-Kocsmadomb (fig. 9.4c), Válaszút (fig. 9.1a). Szerencs (fig. 9.4b), Hejőszalonta (fig. 10.4c), Kisgyőr-Bubtető (fig. 10.4d), Tápiószele (fig. 10.4a) date back to the turn of the 6

th and 5

th centuries. Production of riveted mirrors north of the Black Sea was begun from the 5

th century BC on. (fig. 11.1) Some pieces among the ones made in the Carpathian Basin are different from them on the basis of their individual development. On the basis of the fan-tail joining of the shaft and the disc the piece from Csanytelek (fig. 11.5a), Hajdúdorog (fig. 11.5b), Hetény (grave 76 - fig. 11.5c) can be dated to the second phase of the Scythian period. There is another group comprising riveted mirrors the shaft of which ends in a fish-tail represented by finds from Hetény (grave 8 - fig. 11.4a, 12.7f) and from scattered pieces from Tápiószele (fig. 11.3b) Their parallels were found in gravel in Grudek, Podolia and grave 3 in Ivanovcy (fig 11.4c,d) The fragmentary mirror found in grave 71 at Törökszentmiklós-Surján is similar to the ones from kurgan 490 Maleevka on the right bank of the river Dneper, (fig. 11.1b), kurgans 12, (fig. 11.1c), and 13 Ordjonikidze, kurgan 13 Kapulovka, (fig. 11.1a), kurgan 49 Verhnetarasovka and the mirror from kurgan 4 Berestijagi. The latter one being the earliest example of the mirrors riveted at Kuznecova, thus we can date them back to the middle of the 5

th and early 4

th centuries BC. Therefore the straight, iron shafted, bronze disc riveted mirror of 27 SCYTHIAN-PERIOD MIRRORS IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN