A BRONZE TORQUE FROM KHERSON REGIONAL MUSEUM OF LOCAL LORE

Abstract

Torque is a special type of neck decoration in the form of a metal hoop. The bronze torque at the Late Scythian hillfort Liubymivka is published in the article. Now it is a part of the archaeological collection of Kherson Regional Museum of Local Lore. The torque can be classified to type 5A or 6A. According to the typology of A. A. Stoyanova these are torques made of smooth wire with a clasp in the form of two hooks, or a loop-hook type. Similar finds come from Crimean assemblages dated within the 1st century BC — 3rd century AD. The finds on the Lower Dnieper do not contradict this dating, here assemblages with torques of similar types are dated to the 1st—3rd centuries AD. As already noted in the previous publication, most torques in the Lower Dnieper accompanied children’s burials, although few finds were discovered in both female and male burials. According to the similar artifacts from Crimean and Lower Dnieper assemblages, the torque is dated to the 1st century BC — 3rd century AD. The small diameter of the hoop (12.6—13 cm) makes us assume that the owner of the adornment was a woman or a child. The torque from Liubymivka completed the collection of decoration of similar type from the barbarian sites of the Lower Dnieper Region. The torque from the Kherson Regional Museum of Local Lore is another find of the Stoyanova 5A or 6A type, with a hook-shaped clasp. It belongs to the circle of ornaments that were used by the Late Scythians, Sarmatians, and the population of the provincial Bosporus. Analogies from barbarian sites of the Crimea and the Lower Dnieper Region indicate a stable tradition of their use. The design of the torque from Kherson Regional Museum allows us to attribute it to the most widespread group of similar ornaments, which were in demand among both the Late Scythians and the Sarmatians. The lack of ornamentation, the simplified design of the clasp, and the morphological similarity to a number of similar finds indicate a relatively small material value of the torque. However, the presence of such adornment in the burials of young women and children indicates a possible apotropaic function of the torque — symbolic marking of the body or its protection.