Headdresses, Headbands, Diadems: continuity of traditions in eneolithic and bronze age

Abstract

The authors publish a selection of the Eneolithic – Bronze Age burials from the North Caucasus and the North Pontic region, in which the remains/traces of headdresses have been found. A comparison with the corresponding metal finds from the Balkans and the Near East is presented. The interpretation of the finds as markers of high social status of the buried is suggested. The finds of details and traces of headdresses indicate that the Eneolithic – Bronze Age society developed in the direction of increasing the complexity of the social structure. The hierarchical, vertical social model prevailed over the age and gender model, as evidenced by the finds of symbolically significant headdresses in adult and children’s burials. Ceremonial headdresses reflect similar processes that took place within a wide area in different types of societies at various development stages – from civilizations of the Near Eastern type to the mobile pastoral groups in the North Pontic region and the Fore-Caucasus. The difference in the level of social and economic development resulted in the phenomenon of imitation of valuable items (metal diadems) using the available material (bone, paint).

Keywords

• archaeology
• eneolithic
• bronze age
• north caucasus
• fore-caucasus
• north pontic region
• near east
• burial sites
• headdresses
• social status