Jewelry from the Anatkasi Burial Ground: Towards Cultural Attribution of the Site

Abstract

The authors introduce into discussion and examine jewelry from the Anatkasi burial ground situated on the right bank of the Volga River. They developed typology of these jewelry items and provided a wide range of analogies. The jewelry dates the site by 10th – 11th centuries, which is confi rmed by coins. The identifi ed ethnical markers (details of headdress, temple rings, nakosnik (braid charm), and also certain types of rings and bracelets) point to a similarity of this site to the synchronous Mari burial grounds of from the Vetluga-Vyatka area. Beside the jewelry and the elements of costume typical for the Mari culture, the Anatkasi burial ground also yielded a range of foreign artefacts: Bulgarian, Old Russian, Mordovian, Kama or Cis-Uralic, which emphasizes the originality of this site. Most of the borrowed things could penetrate into this area through trade contacts encouraged by location of this burial ground on the river Tsivil, near the Volga River.

Keywords

• archaeology
• Central Volga area
• Vetluga-Vyatka interfl uve area
• early Middle Ages
• Mari culture
• Bulgar culture
• costume
• jewelry
• typology
• ethnocultural attribution