دانلود رایگان مقاله شمشیر برنز کمیاب از ساحل دریاچه بایکال

This article describes an unusual high-quality tripartite bronze sword found on the shore of Lake Baikal and apparently dating to the Scythian Age. Because the blade and the hilt are nonfunctional, the sword was not used as an actual weapon. The guard is peculiarly shaped, and decorated with stylized faces. While no exact parallels are known to us, certain features link the specimen to Scythian counterparts, and to a sword from Khotu-Talaakh, Yakutia. Special attention is paid to the semantics of the find, which possibly evidence contact with the ritual practices of the Scytho-Siberian world and those of the Siberian taiga.

Conclusions

The discussed sword was intentionally manufactured in three parts. Its appearance suggests that it can be dated back to Scythian times. The sword demonstrates an unequivocal syncretism of mythological settings resulting from the Scytho-Siberian impact from Southern Siberia, which was probably also manifested in worship involving a sword (sticking it into the ground, followed by some mysteries). It is important that its iconography (a face, bear-heads, ribbed ¿ llets on the hilt) reÀ ects subjects associated with the taiga. Such syncretism allows us to infer that the Cis-Baikal sword could have been used extensively in some rituals. Those could have been both fortune-telling with a sword, and rituals practiced during the bear-festivals, which currently involve mysteries that include manipulations with bladed side-arms—speci¿ cally, with sabers (Baulo, 2004: 102). According to some researchers, they appeared in the taiga zone of Western Siberia in the Early Iron Age (see, e.g., (Moshinskaya, 1953: 100)), or perhaps earlier. It appears that the intentional partition (damage) of the sword had some purpose, undoubtedly ¿ lled with a sacral meaning.