The Red Kaganate

Last Page Update: October 17, 2001 Contact Copyright Information Main Page Structure of the Red Kaganate Gatherings, Events,... Historic Steppes Tribes Legends of the Nomads Flags and other Identifiers Clothing and Apearance Food and related Matters Armour Weapons and Combat Public Forum Resource Links Email: kaganate@yahoo.com Editor: Norman J. Finkelshteyn Studies on the Upper Saltov in 1996 Excerpt: A Khazar felt and leather Boot Excerpted and translated by Dmitriy V. Ryaboy The original article excerpted below is a short report on the excavations in Upper Saltov (Verhniy Saltov) conducted in 1996 by an archaeological expedition from the Kharkov National Pedagogical University. The article is excerpted and published here by permission from the original Russian article "Issledivaniya v Verkhnem Saltove v 1996 godu" by V.V. Koloda, Harkov National Pedagogical University - http://archaeology.kiev.ua/journal/050901/koloda.htm. The so-called "Saltovian culture" refers to the inhabitants of the Saltov region in mid-8th through mid-10th centuries, this group consisted of Khazars, Alans, Slavs, Bulgars, and others. The examination made by V. Koloda's team showed that only a small portion of the site is available for detailed examination, the majority of the site being covered by a forest and modern buildings. However, examination of even the small portion of the site that is available yielded plenty interesting material. The remains of metallurgical production were discovered, with "many pieces of slag, fragments of a melting pot from a Novopokrovsk-type forge." Catacombs 18 through 27 of sepulchre #4 discovered by V. G. Bordulin in 1989 were explored (the first 17 had been explored previously). This exploration yielded much material regarding the burial rituals, as well as a "rich and varied" inventory of items buried with the bodies. These items included tools, weapons, horse harness, ceramics, jewelry, and so on. V.V. Koloda specifically points out three silver dirhems as a particularly interesting find. Of major interest are the unique felt items found in the catacombs. Below is a translation of the discussion of these items in Koloda's article. The remains of felt items are considered unique finds. The remains of a felt hat were found on top of the skull of one of the buried (catacomb #19). The remains of felt-and-leather footwear were found in the burial chamber of catacomb #22. One of the "boots" was conserved better than the other (fig. 1). Judging by the decoration details it was a left one. Its base was made of felt, as testified by the felt traces found on the lower part of the item. Fig. 1. Remains of the leather and felt boot from the burial chamber of catacomb 22. The felt was better conserved on the calf, where it was stiched horizontally and supported on the inside by a leather base. There is a vertical strip of leather on the outside of the shoe. A bronze rectangular buckle is attached to it. The bottom part of the boot was also outfitted with leather straps 1 cm wide; inside the upper part of the shoe it is attached to the leather base, and then goes down to the sole. It is possible that it passed under the sole and then came up over the foot on the other side. This is supported by small pieces of leather of the same width found in the felt remains, as well as ethnographical studies of Eurasian nomads. The shoe was decorated with bronze plates depicting a face (1, 3). One of the plates was round, decorated with a 6-leaf flower (2). Also found were silver plates with a geometrical design (4), one of which is still has a belt attached to it. The shoe was also decorated by another type of plates -- lotus-shaped silver plates with a face. Immideately next to the straps and the plates were thin strips of bronze with which they were attached to one another. The study of such an important and interesting burial definately requires continuation.