Chinese mirrors from the burials of the nomads of Eastern Europe of the second half of the 1st millennium BC-first centuries AD: Typology, chronology, distribution and technology of manufacture

Abstract

The article is devoted to the Chinese mirrors found in the burials of the nomads of Asian Sarmatia. The typology and chronology of mirrors is presented, the earliest of which dates back to the period of the Warring States, but most of them, dating back to the 1st century BC – 2nd century AD. In the complexes of the second half of the 1st century BC – the first half of the 1st century AD the number of Chinese items in Asiatic Sarmatia is increasing. They are represented, among others, by two mirrors of the Western Han type, which come from the Lower Volga and Don regions; they are not known in the South Urals. In the complexes of the second half of the 1st– the first half of the 2nd century AD the Chinese mirrors are much more common. As before, they are not known in the Urals, but they are also represented in the Kuban and Lower Volga, and especially in the Lower Don region. In the burials of the late Sarmatian period of the late 2nd – middle / second half of the 3rd century AD Chinese mirrors are relatively abundant in the Urals, where the mapping of finds allows us to distinguish two local groups (1 – South Urals: Lebedevka and burial grounds in the Ilek river basin; 2 - South Bashkiria, interfluve of the Sakmara and the Urals rivers, and the Trans-Urals), while further to the west – in the Lower Volga and Don regions, they generally ceased to fall, only two mirrors are known outside the South Urals – in Trans-Kuban and Central Ciscaucasia. The issue of deliberate damage to mirrors is specially considered.

Is it possible to consider the Chinese bronze mirrors as trade items? If we assume that they belonged to the items of trade along the Silk Road, then two conclusions following from the dating of the finds should be taken into consideration. Firstly, these mirrors were not distributed to the ancient centers of the North Pontic area and further to the territory of the Roman provinces. Thus, the way of the mirrors ended in the steppe. Moreover, starting from the second half of the 2^nd century AD (late Sarmatian culture) Chinese mirrors cease to fall to the west of the Urals – their finds are unknown neither in the Lower Volga region, nor on the Don. This means that the connection between the distribution of the Chinese mirrors and the functioning of the northern branch of the Silk Road is unlikely.