Ancient nomads of Eurasia: generalized images of nomads in historical reconstructions of costume

The article covers works by scientific-restoration laboratory "Ostrov Krym" on creating generalized images of ancient nomads of Eurasia - Sakae warrior-leader and Sarmatian leader, created within the bounds of Strategic National project of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Cultural heritage". The works are based on materials of investigations of burial mounds on territory of Kazakhstan with using of synchronous archaeological monuments from other regions, so-called "mountain belt". It is reviewed in detail the reconstruction of warrior costume of Sakae leader, main attributes of him are taken from Baigetobe burial mounds of Shilikty burial ground (Kazakhstan) and Arzhan- 2 (Tuva), which have typological similarity of decorations. Shape of separate items of clothes correlates with analogies from several burial mounds. It is elaborated in the laboratory the possible variant of placement of decoration of caftan, based on graphical analysis of photo fixation of finds in Arzhan-2 burial mound. It is revealed the system of decor in the shape of tiger fell, imitating the armour of rider-warrior. In decoration of belts (gala and waist) there are used elements from Arzhan-2 and Baigetobe burial mounds. Using the method of archaeological experiment the reconstruction of pair buckle of belt is made and its functional perfection is proved. The Scythian asymmetrical-sigma-shaped bow is reconstructed according to bad preserved find from Arzhan-2 burial mound, its proportions are reproduced according to analogy of bow from Subeshi necropolis, the correctness of computation is proved by accurate placement of existing overlay-applications. Basing on long-term practical experience of the author on conservation and reconstruction of metallic items from archaeological excavations, there are reviewed some points on technologies of metal-working. The most important phase of reproduction of castings - preparation of wax models, as direct copying of originals is unacceptable for following reasons: 1) often the condition of original decorations doesn't allow to make a contact copies in order to avoid their damage; 2) casting with mould doesn't reproduce accurately the sizes of the original because of shrinkage of the mould itself, wax and metal, therefore wax models should be bigger by the shrinkage size; 3) the mould would reproduce all defects of an item, aroused in the process of archaeologisation; 4) there is not always an opportunity to use the original, more often only the photos of artifacts are available. Reconstructions created in method of generalized images of nomads have a summarizing, to some extent a hypothetical character, but they give pictoral presentation about historical costume of ancient nomads of Eurasia.

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