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 bow and "boat-shaped" catch-plate are all significant for the pair of fibulas from Lazo (fig. 9: 1). At the same time, some stylistic details of these objects are obviously connected to other contexts: the large size and contours of the feet of the fibulas from Ranzhevoe are close to the specimens from Kachin and Siniavka, and the last ones are the basic assemblages for the allocation of horizon D2 in Eastern Europe (fig. 10: 1-16); the contours of the feet and the presence of "knob shaped rivets" in the case of finds from Lazo - all of these features obviously reflect the Crimean influence, but we also find analogies in plain fibulas from Untersiebenbrunn (map 6: 9, fig. 15: 9-12) (GAVRITUKHIN 1999.). The affinity of the mentioned objects to the "classical" specimens of horizon D2 appears to me to indicate that they belong to one uniform chronological horizon, a hypothesis which is not contradicted by the dating of glass beakers from the burials (fig. 9: 2, 10: 30 - basically 5

th c, only as a possibility - the end of 4

th c.) (GAVRITUKHIN 2001.). There is no reason to date some Eastern European analogies to the finds from the assemblages of the Untersiebenbrunn circle to an earlier time except for the fact that the first are more "archaic" and for some considerations of migrations from the East to the West. However, the "archaic look" of some Eastern European objects is easily explained by the local specificity of fibula manufacturing, about which Ambroz wrote repeatedly (regarding the case of Kerch series). We have no reason to argue with the assignment of fibulas from Kachin and Siniavka to horizon D2, and they obviously differ from some fibulas of the North Pontic region only in the larger size of the former. We must bear in mind that the increasing size of the fibula as a chronological parameter does not mean that small fibulas were not being manufactured synchronously. In this case we must consider the fact that large specimens come from rich assemblages, the status of which proves the objects were made within Roman provincial traditions or under the direct influence of them (fig. 10: 3, 7, 9-11, 16). The fact that stylistically related fibulas are of a smaller size in the burials of a "lower" rank is quite normal. Concerning the "migratory" argument, we should note that we have no reason to consider Eastern-European finds to be substantially earlier than those in the Danube zone; furthermore, regarding the antiquities of the Hun Age, we can determine a number of examples of influences flowing from both the East to the West and the West to the East. In discussing the cultural connections of period D2, we must note the contacts of the cultures of the Baltic and Vistula regions with more southern ones. In this regard, I should mention a find from Rothebude, the shape of which recalls one of the fibulas from Lazo (fig. 9: 1 and 3, map 5: 16), and one from Kozminka (fig. 9: 5, map 5: 5). All of the latter's features point to prototypes from Southeast Europe and to the fibulas with knob-shaped rivets (fig. 9: 1, 15: 2, 4, 9-12, map 6: 6, 9). The affinity of the objects with engravings of a circle extending from Kachin-Co§oveni to the Sösdala style, and of the above-mentioned northwestern analogies to the details of Kachin fibulas, are clear in this context. The process of the appearance of fibulas with narrow rhombic foot is of great importance, because the series, typical of the Migration Period and of Early Medieval times (subgroup II by Ambroz is not dealt with in this work) (AMBROZ 1966. 86-91, TEJRAL 1997., KAZANSKI-PERIN 1997., GAVRITUKHIN 1997/98. note 1, with further references), was formed on the basis of these fibulas. It was demonstrated above that the process of the appearance of the fibula shape examined here is connected to Crimean traditions and the "North Pontic region" of their influence. Also, the fibulas that demonstrate the tendency of evolution significant to this 128