ADORNMENTS AND ARMS FROM THE EARLY MEDIEVAL SITES IN SUMY REGION: COMPILING THE CATALOG OF FINDINGS

Abstract

The paper contains information about Early Medieval jewelry and parts of bladed weapons from the Sumy region, discovered in the sites and assemblages of the Penkivka and Kolochyn cultures. In total, the information on seven points was collected where twenty four finds occurred. The conditions of finding, typological definition and circle of analogies are determined. These materials supplement the information about the Early Medieval hoards of the Martynivka circle from the Sumy region which were given to the storages of the museums. Adornments from Kolochyn culture presented by finds from Velyki Budky hillfort and settlement, Bezdryk barrow cemetery, Krasne 4 and Mala Rybytsia settlements. There are also two burials with jewe­lry of «antiquities of the Ants circle» known in Sumy region: Berezivka and Riabivka 3. Decorations from Penkivka culture presented by finds from Riabivka 3. All finds presented by radiate-headed fibulas, bracelets, belt sets and beads. Parts of bladed weapons presented by two cross-guards from Kolochyn culture sites — hillfort Velyki Budky and settlement Krasne 4. These finds either belong to the early stages of the existence of Early Medieval Slavic antiquities or find analogies among the decorations characteristic of the hoards of the Martynivka circle. Finds from the Krasne 4 settlement (buckle and cross-guard) and cross-guard from the Velyki Budky settlement belong to the early stage of the Kolochyn culture. The burial from Berezivka can be dated to the late 6th century, and the burials from Riabivka 3 to the second half of the 7th century. Most of the individual adornments have analogies among the decorations characteristic of the hoards of the Martynivka circle. Jewelry from these hoards dates from the second half of 6th — the late 7th century. And deposition into the earth occurs in the middle — third quarter of the 7th century.