Two Cimmerian Steles from the North-West Black Sea Region

New finds of stone sculptures from the epoch of early nomads are quite rare. Therefore, the publication of such new sculptures of pre-Scythian times, besides, two more at once, should be of interest. Moreover, both steles were found in a very limited area of the North-Western Black Sea region and ea...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bruyako Igor V.
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, A.Kh. Khalikov Archaeology Institute 2024-03-01
Series:Поволжская археология
Subjects:
Online Access:http://archaeologie.pro/en/archive/47/917/
Description
Summary:New finds of stone sculptures from the epoch of early nomads are quite rare. Therefore, the publication of such new sculptures of pre-Scythian times, besides, two more at once, should be of interest. Moreover, both steles were found in a very limited area of the North-Western Black Sea region and each of them has a unique iconography and a rather original repertoire of objects. The stele from Kairy village is a type of pillar-shaped sculpture. The most original image on it is a round shield with a very rich ornamental composition. The stele from Aleksandrovka belongs to the stele-slabs. This type of sculpture is possibly an intermediate link between purely phallomorphic (Cimmerian) and anthropomorphic (Scythian) sculptures. Since markers of relative chronology are columnar and slab steles – the first are early, the second – late, this may mean that in the upper reaches of the Tiligul estuary in a fairly limited area, the tradition of installing the Cimmerian sculptures persisted for quite a long time.
ISSN:2306-4099
2500-2856