Fibulae from the Ust-Kamensky Cemetery in the Lower Dnieper Region

Abstract

This article is devoted to analyzing 24 fibulae originating from the Ust-Kamensk kurgan cemetery. Typologically, these finds are not very diverse. The bow fibulae (18 pieces) are the most numerous among them. Hinged arc-shaped brooches (3 pieces) and military clasps (2 pieces) are represented in a significantly smaller number. The spring fibulae with the button at the end of the continuous lamellar receiver are observed only in one fibula. The overwhelming majority of the specified decorations (21 pieces) form a single chronological group dated according to different chronological schemes to the second – third quarters or the second half of the 1st century –early 2nd century AD. Only three pieces do not belong to this group: two military fibulae date back to an earlier period and one spring fibulae with the button on the receiver end was made later. Taking into account modern research, military brooches cannot date back later than the early 1st century AD. The brooch with the button on the receiver dates back to the first half – middle of 2nd century AD. Considering that fibulae are the most reliable and precisely dated indicators in the inventory of the Ust-Kamensk kurgan cemetery, their dating can be confidently extended to the chronology of the whole burial ground. Thus, the monument was used for at least 100 years, from the early 1st century AD up to the first half – the middle of the 2nd century AD, but not just in the middle of the 1st –beginning of the 2nd centuries AD, as it was considered earlier. The majority of fibulae from the Ust-Kamensk collection have possibly been made in Olbia or delivered through it from the Roman provinces. Only the military brooches and the spring fibulae with the button on the receiver end, apparently, are of a different origin.

Keywords

• fibulae
• sarmatians
• burials
• kurgans
• middle-sarmatian culture
• lower dnieper region
• roman time