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Sarmatian Mound Treasure

An exhibition  “The Treasures of the Steppes” was opened on April, 23, 2012, in the Excursion-Exhibition Centre “The People’s House’’ of the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve. The unique exhibits from the rich collection were presented by the Azov Historical-Archaeological and Palaeontological Museum-Reserve.

Over 2320 rare displays show the inner world and cultural peculiarities of the steppe population which inhabited the areas bordering Asia and Europe, the ways the ancient peoples were formed and developed.

A great part of the Azov collection comprises finds from the interments of Sarmatian nomads, who lived in the IV century B.C. – IV century A.D. The prime of the Sarmatian culture climaxed in the II-I  centuries B.C.

The archaeological memorials from the interment complexes of the burial grounds are primary in the reconstruction of the Sarmatian history.

Sarmatians, like many other ancient people, believed in the afterlife, so they buried the deceased with their personal belongings, gifts, sacrifices of their relatives, everyday-life utensils.

The exhibition “The Treasures of the Steppes” presents a wide picture of the everyday life of Sarmatian nomads by displaying ceramics and pottery, censers used in ritual ceremonies, articles used in home work – spinning, dress-marking and others.

In the burial sites of women jewelry was usually found – earrings, bracelets, finger-rings, necklaces of glass and stone beads, buckles, as well  as toilet articles – bronze looking-glasses, bone combs and others.

The unique gold jewelry will  be of particular attraction for the viewer.

The martial tribes who inhabited the steppes from Middle Asia to the Black Sea two thousand years ago, jewerlled not only themselves, but also their weapons and horse harness.

Such finds is a rare luck for scientists.

In the course of the past millennia many ancient burial  grounds were ransacked. Some of them were safely preserved in the hiding places below the burial grounds. In the mound burial grounds there were found unique parts of the horse harness  Therethrough suggesting an idea of the horse harness evolution in the Sarmatian Age. The whole set comprises very beautiful works of art. The exhibition displays a big gold badge to adorn a horse chest. It is inlaid with turquoise, corals and almandine. Two big decorative badges were to be fixed over the shoulder joints of the horse. They are decorated with agates and pictures of lying lions.

Gold and silver were used for making cult things. Among them there is a belt tip made in the form of  a panther rolled up in a ball, a massive gold buckle, a wonderful three-leaved bracelet consisting of raindeer figures decorated with turquoise, coral and glass insertions. The articles are made at the highest technological and artistic level.

The pearl of the exhibition is a fragment of  a world unique gold horse-cloth, a cover for a sacrificial horse, of the last quarter of the I century AD. It consists of 2000 small different shape gold plates sewn on. On the whole, they number 15 thousand storage units. To keep the unique exhibits safe the gold horse-cloth is laid out by hand.

The exquisite wine sets are decorated with pictures of deities and a subtle ornament. The gold and silver plates and cups from the  antique centres of Bosporus and articles of precious metals came to nomads as gifts or plunders from the overseas campaigns.

Jewelry, horse harness parts, ceramic, gold and silver plates, arms exposed at the exhibition “The Treasures of the Steppes” were found in the sites of archaeological excavations in the Rostov Region.

Most of the displays were exhibited in Japan, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, as well as in Moscow museums and in the Hermitage.

Now the residents and guests of the Sholokhov District can enjoy the ancient art masterpieces made by Sarmatians thousands years ago.

The exhibition “The Treasures of the Steppes” welcomes the visitors from April, 23, till July, 8, 2012.

Elena Tolstopyatenko