Bone Skates from an Early Stage of the Alan Culture Burial of the North Caucasus

Abstract

The article publishes a mortuary complex of the late 3rd – early 4th centuries AD of the early stage of the North Caucasian Alan culture from kurgan 23 of the Oktyabrskiy I burial field in the Republic of North Ossetia –Alania, which contained a pair of bone skates. Bone skates have been known from written iconographic and ethnographic sources since the 12th century until the first half of the 20th century; however, the attribution of these items as skates raises doubts among a number of researchers, most likely due to the fact that almost all such artifacts, along with other similar bone items (tools), were found in the material remains of settlement sites. The researchers’ doubts resulted in a discussion, the main aspects of which are specified in the paper. The skates being published are made from the hind metapodia of the right legs of two domestic horses. Each of the artifacts has two holes for strings to attach the skates to the shoes. The skates are part of the grave goods of a young man or a youth, along with other leisure items (astragals) of young people. Finds of bone skates in burials are few in number, and, apart from the North Caucasian finds, there are only four Viking Age complexes in Swedish burial grounds. Bone skates were not a regular part of grave goods for centuries among any of the peoples, as evidenced by the insignificant number of burials with skates. Most researchers are convinced that bone skates were mainly used for entertainment by children, teenagers, and young people, which, in our opinion, is consistent with the material remains from kurgan 23 of the Oktyabrskiy I burial field. The grave goods also included a set of astragals (48 examples) associated with leisure items.

Keywords

• alan culture of the north caucasus
• late 3rd – early 4th centuries ad
• burial mound fields
• bone skates
• astragal