A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 44. (Nyíregyháza, 2002)

Régészet - Igor Gavritukhin: On the study of double-plate fibulas of the first subgroup

Igor Gavritukhin closer to the coast have an extended narrow foot (fig. 10: 25, 31-32). The variant Zhurovka-Kurniki is widespread in the forest-steppe zone of Ukraine, in the right-bank valley of the Dnieper, and, though having the nearest analogies in the Bosporus (fig. 11: 8-9, 15-16, cf. fig. 11: 10, 17), is even more typologically compact. The specimen of fibula from Tiszadob (fig. 11:4) will be examined below. The tendency to "lengthening" the foot and "move" its area of maximal extension closer to the bow is also characteristic of the fibulas with a B-shaped post for the spring that come from the region Black Sea-Azov Sea (fig. 9: 10-11, 10: 25, map 5: 8 + 3). Judging by the stylistic features of foot and by the other details, the fibulas from Kachin (fig. 10: 12-14, map 5: 8 + 16) are connected with the North Pontic context by a three-spring construction, roundish contours of the post for spring, and a type of lateral post for springs, surprisingly reminiscent of the fibulas of Sackrau/Zakrzów circle (fig. 1: 31-33). We hope to fill the chronological lacunae (between D2 - Kachin - and C2 - Zakrzów - about one century) with specimens connected by tradition with Northern European ones (fig. 15: 4 and, probably, others that allow us to retrace the stages and forms of evolution of the objects of the Zakrzów circle in the North of Europe). Another basis for setting such an accent in the interpretation of the Kachin fibulas is provided by the repeatedly marked parallels in Northern and Western Europe to the other objects from the Kachin hoard (fig. 10: 8-11, 16, 17) and to their analogies from the Danube and the North Pontic region (KUKHARENKO 1982. with further references). The complex formation of many forms and shapes of the objects of the Migration Period is stressed by the unquestionably North Pontic style of the foot of the Kachin fibulas; we shall mark also the analogies to Kachin fibulas in the shape of a lateral post for springs found not only in Kerch, but in Zakrzów too (fig. 9:9, 15, 16 etc.). The post for the spring of a find from Terekhovo (fig. 11: 12, map 5: 11 + 1) recalls the post for springs typical of many fibulas of the Dniester-Danube zone, but, judging by the remnants of spring, its string was not situated under the pin; this means that the construction typical for the variations with upper string or with B-shaped post for the spring has an imitative nature. These facts, as well as the sum of the signs alien to the jewellery traditions of the Oka region, allow us to consider this object in the context of the aforementioned North Pontic region series; this is also obvious in the case of another find from the Oka region, unfortunately known only by a photograph (fig. 10: 23). The examples of finds from the Oka region show, on the one hand, the necessity of extreme caution in the "exact" definition of the cultural context of many fibulas with lost details, and, on the other hand, the diversity of details of fibulas of the North Pontic region. At the same time, judging by the results of mapping (map 5) and typological observations of the evolution of series of double-plate fibulas in other zones, the lengthened narrow foot and a number of other features can be quite expressive parameters for the typological definition even of fibulas about which we do not have enough complete information (fig. 10: 1-2, 20-24, 26 etc.). A narrow extended foot can be found on a number of the Crimean single-spring doubleplate fibulas, both on ones with the area of maximal extension situated roughly in the middle (fig. 8: 1, 4, 13, 16 - block of variants Zamorskoe; fig. 8: 18, 21, 24, 29 - block of variants Luchistoe, map 5: 10 + 1), as well as on ones with the maximal extension area situated closer to the edge of foot (fig. 8: 25, 31 - Skalistoe variant, map 5: 10 + 5). The style of the foot and proportion of the latter ones make obvious the fact that the original specimen from 126