Silver decorations from the Tobolsk Irtysh region (based on the materials from the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground)

The paper aims to introduce the silver jewelry found during archaeological investigations in the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground into the scientific discourse. The monument is located in the Tobolsk district of Tyumen Oblast, near the mouth of the Tobol River. It is not the only archaeological site containing silver jewelry in the Tobolsk Irtysh region; a characteristic feature of such jewelry is the use of manufacturing techniques such as filigree, granulation, blackening and gilding. The objectives of the study include analysis of the burial ground jewelry, its comparison with similar artifacts from other regions, identifying jewelry centers where they could be manufactured. The storage of the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground includes a wide range of products, among which are coin-like pendants, lamellar rings, beads and buttoned shaped pendants and a silver earring. Three copies of coin pendants were found. Replicas were discovered only for one of them among the materials from Western Siberia. One of the coin pendants with an engraved image and solar symbols (a circle and a crescent), in spite of the primitive drawing, was made by a jewelry worker using professional tools. The plot on the plaque includes the image of a rider (a falconer). The finding of the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground allows considering these medallions as amulets with the image of the Mir-Susne-Hum deity which served as ornaments. The fragments of the silver plate rings were found in the archeological excavation. Only three bezels contain drawings. They are represented by an oblique crux inscribed in a circle; an oblique crux with triangles containing plant shoots on the sides; two mutually intertwined arcs. Its comparison with the rings made by Russian craftsmen revealed their significant differences. The resemblance to the Volga Bulgaria rings is traced only in the ornament design of the side faces in the form of hatched triangles and "birds". The ornament on the bezels of the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground resembles the ornament of the rings characteristic of the Ural monuments. However, the ornament in the form of "birds" on the sides of the rings is not known in the Urals. Silver beads and pendants in the shape of buttons found in the burial ground were soldered of two hemispheres using the insert-ring and the beading wires (the filigree). Similar beads are found in the Urals and Siberia, and are unknown in the area of Volga Bulgaria. The silver earring in the form of a question mark, found at the monument, allows age-dating the burial ground within the 13th-14th centuries. So, silver jewelry shows that the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground can be attributed to the era of the developed Middle Ages and age-dated within the 13th-14th centuries. The analysis of silver jewelry from the Ivanovsky 10 burial ground revealed that these products were not imported from the Ancient Rus and Volga Bulgaria, the medieval states. Some items of jewelry are unique among the products of the Perm jewelry center, and the fact allows making a reasonable assumption on the existence of silver jewelry manufacturing workshops near the mouth of the Tobol River.

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