Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (2) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.2.107-112

Annotation:  “Ceramics” from the Zaraysk Upper Paleolithic Site Koksharovsky Kholm and Chertova Gora, Two Neolithic Sanctuaries in the Ural and in Western Siberia: Technical and Morphological Model of Chalcolithic Chopping Tools of the Russian-Karelian Type from K Geochemical Soil Analysis and Environmental Reconstructions at the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Settle Issues in the Calendar Chronology of the Seima-Turbino Transcultural Phenomenon Beads in the Finno-Ugric Women’s Costume: The Evidence of Tarasovo Cemetery on the Middle Kama (0–50 Comprehensive Geophysical Studies at the Suzdal Opolye Settlements Metal Bowls from a Medieval Cemetery at Rusenikha Newly Discovered Bronze Artifacts of the Scythian Period from Archekas Mountain, Kuznetsk Alatau Bronze Age Axes from the Forest-Steppe Altai Wooden Paddles from Trans-Urals and from Eastern and Western European Peat-Bog Sites A Golden Plaque of the Hellenistic Period from Zeravshan, Uzbekistan Albazin, a Russian Town on the Amur: Population Size in the Late 1600s The Variation of Russian Festive Ritualism in Russian Ethnography Ust-Tsilma Female Headdress: Description and Use (Mid-19th to Early 21st Century) Principles of the Information Modeling of Cultural Heritage Objects: The Case of Wooden Buddhist Tem Cranial Injuries in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Population of the Shnogh River Basin, Armenia   

A Golden Plaque of the Hellenistic Period from Zeravshan,
Uzbekistan

A.P. Borodovsky

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

A rare Sogdian golden plaque from Zeravshan, Uzbekistan, dating to the Hellenistic period, is described. Results of science-based analysis are relevant to the assessment of the sources of gold and the technology used. Stylistic analysis helps to establish cultural ties and contacts between various manufacturing centers of the Hellenistic era in Central Asia. In terms of decoration, the Zeravshan plaque is indirectly paralleled by several Early Iron Age toreutic items from southern Siberia and Central Asia, specifically those from the Peter the Great Siberian Collection, Oxus and Kargaly treasure hoards, and Tillya Tepe. The central part of the Zeravshan specimen is reminiscent of Near Eastern and Scythian toreutic art and of Hun bronzes. Similarly rendered heads of animals are found on late first millennium BC carved bone artifacts from the southwestern Siberian forest-steppe (Novotroitskoye, Ust-Ishtovka). This similarity may be due to close contacts between various manufacturing centers in the Early Iron Age. The distinctive feature of the Zeravshan plate is its small size. The artifact evidently belongs to the Yuezhi-Kushan cultural complex (200 BC–100 AD). The high content of gold in the plaque may be due to its having been manufactured from native gold, which is a rather archaic technique.

Keywords: Toreutics, Central Asia, Hellenistic period, alloy composition, manufacturing centers, cultural ties.