Fibulae with a button at the end of the catch receiver in the Kama region and the probable ways of their receipt

Abstract

The article continues the series of publications devoted to the problems of changing cultures in the Kama region at the turn of the early Iron Age and the early Middle Ages. Important in dating these processes are the types of imported brooches. The paper considers the finds of brooches of the Almgren-204 group — with a button at the end of the catch. In total, 10 specimens of such fasteners were found in the Kama region, only in two points – opposite the mouth of the Ik River (Nyrgynda) and in the middle reaches of the Ik River (Sasykul’). In Sarmatian monuments, these types are represented almost exclusively at the mouth of the Don River, and are extremely rare in other areas. A slightly higher concentration is observed in the upper Don region. Another significant problem is the circumstances of the arrival of certain categories of finds in the Kama region. Taking into account the peculiarities of the distribution of fibulae of the Almgren-204 group, their arrival from the «Sarmatians» is hardly possible. Recently, a number of works have appeared that make it possible to trace the chain of «Western» contacts in the I-II (possibly at the beginning of the III) centuries between the Kama region, Sura region (Andreevka-Piseraly monuments), the middle Oka region (monuments of the Upa-2 type), and beyond to north, west and south. The concept was called «the war of the 1st century», although the chronology of events itself is much wider. The considered fibulae with a button at the end of the catch may be one of the markers of these processes.

Keywords

• the kama region
• middle oka region
• upper don
• chronology
• fibulae
• pyany bor culture
• andreevka-piseraly monuments
• upa-2 sites
• buckle
• sword