CLAY PLATES WITH STYLIZED ORNITHOMORPHIC IMAGES FROM THE VI SECTION OF THE GORBUNOVSKY PEAT BOG*

The article presents the technical and morphological characteristics of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images found in the VI Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog in 1926 and 2009. Suggestions are made about the functional purpose and dating of the products. Decorative and morphological characteristics of clay plates find analogies in the materials of the Suzgun culture and the late Cherkaskul culture, dated respectively not earlier than the XIII and XIII-XII centuries BC. Probably, the existence of these objects can be tentatively attributed to this time. Comparison with the Suzgun cult monuments and Andronovo funerary sites does not exclude the interpretation of the complex associated with plates as sacrificial or memorial.

Keywords: Trans-Urals, VI section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog, clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, archaeological context, technical and morphological specifics, Bronze Age.

Archaeological context

Fragments of clay plates were found in the sixth Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog in 1926 in the pit A of D. N. Eding [1927] and in 2009 in the excavation No. 60 of N. M. Chairkina. They were not found on the rest of the studied area (it is not less than 1500 ^m2), as well as on other peat and coastal monuments of the Trans-Urals, with the possible exception of the Kalmatsky Brod settlement. Special articles are devoted to the conditions of detection and characterization of the collections of these items stored in the State Historical Museum (GIM)**, the Nizhny Tagil Museum-Reserve (NTMZ), and the Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IIA), as well as to the analysis of clay plates without stylized ornithomorphic images [Chairkina, 2012, 2013]. questions are not considered in detail.

In pit A with an area of 18 m ², the cultural layer in which the plate fragments were found was located at a depth of 0.98-1.40 m from the surface in black peat. It contains the remains of a wooden structure, a large amount of coal and small calcified bones; a small area of light clay and a cluster of stones that were clearly imported. Fragments of more than 100 Circassian-type vessels and at least 275 plates were found (Eding, 1929).

A significant part of the plate fragments found in excavation No. 60 in 2009 come from the dumps of pit A, located a few meters to the north, the rest - from the cultural layer recorded at a depth of 0.67 - 0.93 m. It contained accumulations of coal, small indeterminate calcified

* "The research was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Natural Sciences in the framework of the research project" VI Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog: sacred and everyday space "(N 10-01-00216a).

** I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the staff of the Department of Archaeological Monuments of the State Museum of Natural History for the opportunity to process and publish the archaeological collections of the Gorbunovsky peat bog.

bones, slate tiles, and chunks of quartz; patches of light clay; vertically driven stakes. On an area of no more than 20 ^m2, the concentration of fragments of vessels and plates from the Bronze Age is noted. A radiocarbon date of 3,150 ± 70 BP (SPb_509) was obtained from the host layer, peat, from a depth of 211-220 cm.

Materials

Plates - products of a round shape with raised edges and a flat bottom, the diameter of which is about 2 times smaller than the outer one. They are divided into deep, resembling low bowls, and flat. The inner surface of the plates was decorated, sometimes-the edge section, rarely-the outer edge. In the molding mass, an admixture of talc, mica, and more rarely chamotte is visually recorded, which corresponds to the recipe of settlement dishes of the Bronze Age of the Trans-Urals.

GIM collection - 671 fragments originating from at least 211 plates, and 347 fragments that are difficult to identify as belonging to one or another marked plate.

The NTMZ collection consists of 70 fragments from at least 20 plates. Part of the wreckage belongs to products stored in the GIM and IIA. Perhaps no less than 10-12 plates (six with stylized ornithomorphic images) are not represented in other collections. Initially, they were stored in the GIM, and then were transferred to the NTMZ.

The IIA collection consists of 320 fragments of 91 plates and 155 fragments (walls, edges, bottom parts, and bottoms) that are difficult to identify as belonging to a particular product. Seventy plates out of 91 are presented in the collections of GIM and NTMZ.

The total number of plates in the GIM and IIA collections under consideration is rather difficult to establish, probably at least 234. Given the presence of about 500 fragments, including 150 fragments of edge parts from various unmarked products, we can assume that there were at least, and most likely more than 300 of them. Among 234 specimens, 122 (52.1 %) were with stylized ornithomorphic images, 101 (43.2%) were without them, and 11 (4.7%) were unornamented. The GIM and IIA collections contain 77 wall fragments, 33 marginal and 15 bottom parts with fragments of ornithomorphic images that are difficult to attribute to any numbered plate. They are made in the same style and are combined with the same decorative elements as on the products discussed below. Only two bird-like images on the wreckage of the bottom part and the wall from the GIM collection differ somewhat. These figures have a" closed " body of a rhombic shape and are made with single lines.

Technical and morphological characteristics

There are very few reconstructed items with stylized ornithomorphic images. The vast majority were probably deep plates; shallow ones made up no more than 15 %. Most of the products had a diameter of 26-30 cm, about 30% - more than 31 cm, some - 15-17 and over 40 cm. The edges are most often smoothly inclined, at least a quarter of the specimens are sharply curved inwards, there are almost straight lines.

76 plates (62.3 %*) are decorated in carved technique and smooth stamp, 33 (27 %) - combed, 13 (10.7 %) - their combination. Oblique lines, horizontal zigzags, and ornithomorphic images were most often made in the carved technique, while arc-shaped impressions ("brackets") were made only with a smooth stamp. Most of the slashes are slanted to the right. There is no correlation between the technique of drawing, stylistic features of bird-like images and their localization on plates (see the table).

Ornithomorphic figures are schematic and shown in profile. On 86 (70.5 %) items, they face to the right, on 11 (9.0 %) - probably to the right. In this group, about 62 % of the plates are decorated in carved technique, 28 % - with a comb stamp and 10 % - with a combination of them. Bird-like figures were most often represented by double parallel lines with "open" contours (31 specimens - 25.4 %) or three with " closed "contours (23 specimens - 18.9 %), less often - two with" closed "contours (11 specimens - 9.0 %) or three with "open" contours (6 specimens - 4.9 %). On six plates, they are made with two (N 25, 30) or three (N 6, 33, 34 - 1, 34-III) lines with" open "and" closed " contours. There are even fewer items with ornithomorphic figures, parts of which have a different number of lines: three and four (3 copies - 2.5 %) or two and three (1 copy - 0.8%). Images made with four parallel lines with "open" contours are also rare (2 copies - 1.6 %). Figures are significantly fragmented, which may be transmitted by a single (1 copy - 0.8 %) or one and two (2 copies - 1.6 %) lines. The bird-like figure on plate No. 158 is stylistically similar to the rock ornithomorphic images of the Trans-Urals: the head and neck are shown as single lines, and the "closed" body is shown as double lines.

Significantly fewer plates with figures oriented to the left (25 copies - 20.5 %). In this group, 72 % of products are decorated in carved technique and smooth stamp, 12 % - combed and 16 % - IIx combination. Ornithomorphic images are more common

* Hereafter, the percentage of the number of plates with stylized ornithomorphic images.

Decor of clay plates from the VI Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog

Continuation of the table

End of the table

Notes: in the description of decorative elements, the first or only digit in parentheses indicates the number of rows; p - orientation or inclination to the right, l-to the left; for ornithomorphic images, the number of lines that they are made with is indicated below, o - " open "contours, h - "closed". * Plates that are not marked by D. N. Eding have their own numbering-B. N 1-55. **The first position indicates the number of fragments stored in the GIM, separated by a slash - in the IIA.

They were applied with double lines with " open "(6 copies - 4.9 %) or" closed "(5 copies - 4.1%) contours, less often - with three lines with" closed "(3 copies - 2.5 %) contours, and in one case - with" open "and"closed". Individual items with bird-like shapes drawn in single lines and with a different number of lines are unique. On plates N 5 (Figs. 1, 10) and B. N 44, some ornithomorphic images are made with double lines with "closed" contours, while others located above them are made with single lines.

The composition "horizontal zigzags and ornithomorphs" prevails on products with bird-like figures (Fig. 1; 2; 3, 5; 4,1, 2; 5,1; 6, 4), recorded on 57 (46.7 %) plates. On most of them (80.7%), the figures face to the right. A combination of stylized ornithomorphic images, oblique lines, and zigzags was observed on 19 (15.6 %) plates (see Fig. 3, 6, 8, 9; 4, 3; 6, 3; 7; 8,1); combination of bird-shaped figures with arc - shaped impressions ("brackets") - by 16 (13.1 %) (see figure. 5, 2; 8, 3 - 6; 9), with slanted lines - for 8 copies. (6.6 %) (see fig. 3, 1 - 4,10; 8, 2). The compositions "oblique lines, arc-shaped impressions and ornithomorphs" are less typical (6 specimens - 4.9 %) (see Fig. 3, 7; 6, 2; 8, 7), "arc-shaped impressions, zigzags and ornithomorphs" (2 specimens - 1.6 %). In one case, a combination of bird-shaped figures with a "herringbone" was found (see Figs. 8, 8). It is possible that only 13 (10.7 %) plates are decorated with ornithomorphic images (Fig. There are no polylines or shaded ribbons in the decor of the products under consideration. Note the stylistic features of the ornament on plates N 13-1 and 13-II (see Fig. 6, 1: 8, 9). Inclined lines and arc - shaped impressions are applied along their edges; ornithomorphic images are made on the walls with double lines with an "open" and "closed" (N 13-II) or "closed" (N 13 - 1) contour, in the latter case the figures are shaded.

Among the plates without ornithomorphic images, products decorated in carved technique slightly predominate; the percentage of those decorated with a comb stamp is high; a combination of different technical techniques was used less often. Inclined lines were most often applied with a comb stamp; it was also used along with the carved technique to apply a horizontal zigzag and"herringbone".

At least half of all plates without ornithomorphic images contain only one element of the pattern. The most common type is oblique lines, less frequent are horizontal zigzags, arc-shaped impressions ("brackets"), "herringbone". Approximately one-third of the products combine at least two elements: slanted lines and arc-shaped impressions; slanted ones

Fig. 1. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images and horizontal zigzags.

1 - N36-II; 2 - N30; 3 - N37; 4 - N 111 - 1; 5 - N 36 - 1; 6 - N 4-III; 7 - N 93; 8 - N 3; 9 - N 4 - 1; 10 - N 5; 11 - N 156 - 1; 12 - N 94; 13 - N 35 - 1; 14 - N 31-II; 15 - N 2-III; 16 - N 34; 17 - N 7; 18 - N 7-III; 19 - Б. N 17; 20 - N 34-V.

2. Reconstruction of plates N 15 (1) and 16-III (2).

3. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, inclined lines and horizontal zigzags.

1 - N24; 2 - N 16-II; 3 - N 50; 4 - N 14; 5 - N 2-II; 6 - N 23; 7 - N 18; 8 - N 2 - 1; 9 - N 60 - 1; 10 - N 176.

Fig. 4. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, inclined lines and horizontal zigzags. 1 - N 34-II; 2 - N 34 - 1; 3 - N 29.

5. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, horizontal zigzags and arc-shaped impressions. 1 - N31 - 1; 2 - N28.

6. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, inclined lines, horizontal zigzags and arc-shaped impressions.

1 - N 13 - 1; 2 - N 82; 3 - N 8-II; 4 - N 34-III.

Fig. 7. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, inclined lines and horizontal zigzags. 1 - N 26; 2 - N 8 - 1.

Figure 8. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images, inclined lines, horizontal zigzags, arc-shaped impressions and a "herringbone" pattern.

1 - N 25; 2 - N 12; 3 - N 98 - 1; 4 - N 43; 5 - N 106 - 1; 6 - N 84; 7 - N 45; 8 - N 20; 9 - N 13-II.

9. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images and arc-shaped impressions. 1 - N6; 2 - N 40-IV

Fig. 10. Fragments of clay plates with stylized ornithomorphic images. 1 - N 16-1; 2-N 9; 3-B. N 27.

and zigzag; oblique and herringbone; zigzag and arc-shaped prints. Much less common are the combinations of "zigzag and broken tape", "arc-shaped impressions and broken shaded tapes" (Chairkina, 2013). Despite some differences in the technique of ornamentation and pattern compositions, clay plates from the VI Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog form a single complex with a similar set of technical and morphological characteristics.

Discussion of the material

Fragments of clay plates, especially whole copies, have not yet been found on other monuments of the Urals, which may indicate the manufacture of these products on the territory of the VI Section itself, although there are no direct indications of this. However, a significant part of the monument has not yet been excavated, and the structure and functional purpose of a number of structures studied in the first half of the XX century are not clear. The" non-stationary " production of these plates can be indicated by their unsatisfactory preservation (the vessels were preserved much better), obviously associated with not very careful manufacturing, and probably a few times of use. The surface condition of some products does not exclude the possibility of prolonged high-temperature exposure to them. These containers could have been used for carrying (storing?) materials that retain high temperatures for a long time. Coal, ash and the smallest calcified bones were found in large quantities in the cultural layer containing fragments of plates. The considerable fragmentation of these products is also noteworthy. Perhaps, after performing some procedures, they were deliberately broken and thrown away.

We do not know of plates of a similar shape, especially shallow ones, on other monuments of the Urals. Deep containers with a certain degree of conventionality can be considered as a kind of bowls that are found in the cultural layers of the Bronze Age in the Trans-Urals. However, they usually have a much larger bottom diameter than the Gorbunov ones, and, crucially, they are decorated from the outside.

Ornamental motifs and the technique of applying decoration on plates from the VI Section find analogies in the materials of the Koksharovsky version of the Cherkaskul culture [Obydenov and Shorin, 1995], but there is no complete correspondence. On the Gorbunov plates, there are no pits, grooves and drawn horizontal lines; they are not characterized by rollers-collars, angular depressions, columns of inclined lines, rhombic grid, "ribbons" and vertical zigzags; pseudo-wood and impressions of a rolled comb are not fixed.

The impressions of an arc-shaped smooth stamp ("brackets"), which are often found on Gorbunov plates, are characteristic of the decoration of ceramics of the Suzgun culture. Let us also pay attention to the general structural elements of the cult monuments of this culture and the VI Section: the abundance of ceramic material and its concentration in local areas, the presence of ash pits, small calcified bones and wooden structures, as well as clearly introduced pebbles and stone tiles [Potemkina, Korochkova, and Stefanov, 1995].

Images of waterfowl on ceramics are typical of the Neolithic period - the early metal age of the Urals and the forest zone of Eastern Europe. Wood, bone, and flint ornithomorphic sculptures are well-known in the Trans-Urals, and bird images on ceramics and rocks are the most common and stylistically diverse. On the vessels, bird-shaped figures form a separate frieze, usually located in the upper part of the body. Typical silhouette images are those whose contours are represented by one or three straight line segments (Chairkina, 2005).

Stylized ornithomorphic figures on vessels, so-called ducks, are known in the Abashev, Petrovsko-Alakul, and Sintashta cultures (Gening, Zdanovich, and Gening, 1992). The greatest number of analogies is observed in the materials of the Andronovo cultural community (Kuzmina, 2008; Stefanov and Korochkova, 2000). They are recorded on vessels from the Alakul burial ground, from the monuments of Isakovo, Chernyaki I, Subbotino, Spasskoe I; on the Feodorov ceramics from the burial grounds of Petrovka II, Raskatikha, Borovoe, Burluk, Sangru II, Zevakino, Near Elbany XIV, Novaya Chernaya II and III; on dishes from the monuments of the Yenisei basin (Maksimenkov, 1978).. The "ducks" on these vessels are highly schematized and, as researchers believe, were the result of the transformation of the meander pattern, its division into separate elements and figures. Such images - highly schematized and associated with an open meander pattern - are found in small numbers on plates from the VI Section, but most of them are arranged in an oblique grid rather than in a straight line. They are certainly stylized, but they are easily recognized as bird-shaped, their dynamism and individuality are emphasized by the position of the head and neck, the design of the trunk.

A special group of Feodor ware is made up of clay dishes of oval or rectangular shape, found in burial grounds. Typologically, they differ from the Gorbunov plates.

However, the stylistic similarity of schematic bird-like figures on plates and "ducks" on dishes of the Fedorov culture does not exclude the proximity of their semantic context. The idea of embodying ornithomorphic images on vessels, as noted above, was not new for the indigenous population of the Trans-Urals. However, probably as a result of the Feodorov-Cherkaskulsky contacts, their new stylistic image was perceived, and elements of the ornamental tradition of the Feodorov culture on the northern edge of the Andronovo area were further developed.

The stylistic diversity and variability of the worldview images are especially evident in the materials of the sixth Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog, which is characterized by an unusual location, a large area and an ordered architectural layout. Structures of different eras marked with a similar set of ritual objects (anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and especially ornithomorphic sculptures and plates with their stylized images) are located in the same probably semantically significant places within the monument.

Decorative and morphological characteristics of clay plates from the sixth Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog find the greatest number of analogies in the materials of the Suzgun culture and the late stage of the Cherkaskul culture, dated respectively not earlier than the XIII and XIII-XII centuries BC. e. Probably by the same time, taking into account the radiocarbon date obtained from the host layer (3150 ± 70 BP (SPb_509)), you can also include these products. Comparison with the Suzgun cult monuments and Andronovo funerary sites does not exclude the interpretation of the complex associated with plates as sacrificial or memorial.

List of literature

Gening V. F., Zdanovich G. B., Gening V. V. Sintashta: Archaeological monuments of Aryan tribes of the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes. Chelyabinsk: South Ural Publishing House, 1992, Part 1, 408 pages, 32 l. ill.

Kuzmina E. E. Classification and periodization of monuments of the Andronovo cultural community. Aktobe: printA Publ., 2008, 358 p. (in Russian).

Maksimenkov G. A. Andronovskaya kul'tura na Yenisei [The Andronovo Culture on the Yenisei], Nauka Publ., 1978, 190 p.

Obydenov M. F., Shorin A. F. Archaeological cultures of the Late Bronze Age of the ancient Urals (Cherkas-Kul and Mezhovskaya cultures). Yekaterinburg: Ural State University Publishing House, 1995. - 196 p.

Potemkina T. M., Korochkova O. N., Stefanov V. I. Forest Tobolsk-Iirtyshye at the end of the Bronze Age (based on the materials of Peipsi Mountain). Moscow: PAIMS Publ., 1995, 151 p., 48 figs.

Stefanov V. I., Korochkova O. N. Andronovo antiquities of the Tyumen region. Yekaterinburg: Polygraphist Publ., 2000, 108 p. (in Russian)

Chairkina N. M. Eneolith of the Middle Trans-Urals. Yekaterinburg: Ural State University Publ., 2005, 312 p. (in Russian)

Chairkina N. M. Archaeological study of the sixth Section of the Gorbunovsky peat bog in 1926 (based on the materials of the excavations of DN. Primeval antiquities of Eurasia: To the 60th anniversary of Alexey Nikolaevich Sorokin, Moscow: IA RAS, 2012, pp. 685-708.

Chairkina, N. M., Clay plates of the sixth Section of the Gorbunovsky Peat Bog, Ural. ist. Vestn. - 2013. - N 2. (in print).

Eding D. N. Otchet o raboty na Gorbunovskom torfyanikom v 1926 g. [Report on the work on the Gorbunovsky peat bog in 1926]. Archiv IIMK RAS. F. 2/1927.N 178. L. 8-12, 48.

Eding D. N. Gorbunovsky peat bog: A preliminary sketch of the archaeological works of 1926-1928 / / Materials for the study of the Tagil district. - Tagil: [Gostipografiya], 1929. - Issue 3, polutom 1. - p. 3-27.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 01.10.11, and the final version was published on 11.01.13.

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