The Complex of Metal Objects from the First Turkic Khaganate Period from the Beslan Burial Ground (North Ossetia)

Abstract

The article discusses metal finds from the burial 1 under the kurgan 876 of the Beslan kurgan catacomb burial ground which are suitable for reconstructing the appearance of the objects. The results of these kurgan excavations are presented in the same issue of the Journal by D.S. Korobov and V.Yu. Malashev; this article is an analytical appendix to their research paper. Small hollow B-shaped buckles with a fixed plate in the form of a “heraldic shield” with side notches are divided into five blocks of variants. The author has presented their catalog, map, and basis for dating. The buckles from Beslan are a synthesis of Eastern European and Byzantine traditions, their closest analogue is found in Karshi-Bair (Southwestern Crimea) and is dated from about the mid – 3rd quarter of the 6th century AD. Other close analogies are indicative mainly for the second half of the 6th – early 7th century. The flat four-petal belt mounts with beveled edges are divided into three blocks of variants. Their catalog and map are presented, the evolution in time and area are considered, taking into account mounts of similar shapes. The Beslan belt mounts belong to the block of variants 2 formed in the Lower Kama basin or in the zone that includes this region. Their emergence in the North Caucasus is connected with the establishment of the control of the First Turkic Khaganate here between 569 and 576. The distribution of similar objects in a number of regions is explained by the involvement of local troops in the military actions of the Turks. For the sedentary population, this also marks the distribution of early versions of pseudo-buckles. Three fragments from Beslan are interpreted as strap-ends imitating expensive products decorated with inserts and grains. The spring with a bowstring and a needle on a T-shaped stand belonged to a fibula, most likely double-plate characteristic of the North Caucasus in the mid-5th – 6th / first half 7th century AD. The complex 876 of the Beslan kurgan catacomb burial ground, as well as a number of other complexes from the North Caucasus, dating to about the 3rd third 6th – early 7th century, are indicators of the First Turkic Khaganate period in the history of the Alans and other peoples of the North Caucasus.