The Image of the Hare in the Worldviews of the Peoples Inhabiting the Irtysh and the Ob Regions in the 1st and 2nd Millennium AD

The worldviews of the peoples inhabiting Western Siberia developed in close connection with the outside world. Every human life depended on the natural environment. The world outlook reflected in material objects that people used in rituals, or as amulets and talismans. Such animals as the bear, the elk and the beaver were especially worshipped in the taiga zone. Images of the hare are much less frequent. The aim of this study is to review the published literature in order to identify images of hares in repousse works of art coming from the area under study, to analyze the composition of goods from graves and treasures, in which images of hares have been found, and to explain their purpose. A total of 16 images have been analyzed. These are either individual figures of hares, or pendants and buckles on which hares are depicted together with other animals (bear, elk, owl, bull). Heads of these animals or a bear head with front legs in a sacrificial posture were depicted. The article describes these artifacts and highlights distinctive features of their decoration. Such techniques as pearl edging; twisted rope; pearls, squares, and rectangles located in grooves and various recesses were common in the Early Middle Ages. This style in a modified form still existed at the beginning of the second millennium, but artists rarely used it. Hares are found in different poses: sitting, running, crouching, stretched, hanging. They are depicted both on locally produced and imported (e.g., a silver bronze bowl) items. Most of the items with images of hares come from graves. The analysis of the grave goods showed that most of them contained military items (Arkhiereyskaya Zaimka, graves from the Likinsky, Kip III and Ivanov Mys I burial grounds). The hare was associated with the cult of fertility. In warriors' graves, hares were likely to serve as a guarantor of a warrior's life and, therefore, his procreation. Figures of hares in shrines and treasures are also associated with the preservation and prosperous life of the community to which these items belonged. The significance of the hare is evidenced by the ethnography of the Khanty and Mansi. They still keep medieval items with images of the hare. It is particularly noteworthy that the image of the hare represents a hypostasis of the female deity. “Hare ears”, one of the most common ornaments in the Khanty culture, are likely to be associated with the symbol of fertility.

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