Artefact In Culture: New Evaluation Of An Old Find

Abstract

This paper examines a unique item which has been mentioned as a ‘belt cult pendant’ by researchers of the Ananyino culture in their studies over the past 120 years. It is a horn item discovered by Alexander A. Spitsyn in 1898 during the excavation of burial No. 94 at the burial ground near Zuyevskiy Pochinok on the Kama River. The new interpretation of this artefact as the grip of a horse whip proposed and substantiated in this article logically and consistently explains its function and why it was included in the other items accompanying the buried. At the same time, new information is provided concerning the fate of the collection of artefacts from Zuyevskiy burial ground (particularly the finds from burial No. 94) since excavations and until their transfer to the collections of the State Hermitage and first summarizing publication.

Keywords

• archaeology
• alexander a. spitsyn
• mikhail g. khudyakov
• zuyevskiy burial ground
• burial no. 94
• ‘cult pendant’
• ananyino сultural and historical region (akio)
• horse whip