The Red Kaganate

Last Page Update: February 19, 2002 Contact Copyright Information Main Page Structure of the Red Kaganate Gatherings, Events, . . . Historic Steppes Tribes Legends of the Nomads Flags and other Identifiers Steppes Nomad Clothing Games and Military Arts Public Forum Resource Links Email: kaganate@yahoo.com Editor: Norman J. Finkelshteyn

"Olen-Kolodetz" - A Golden Horde aristocrat's burial . . . The Male Burial By Dmitriy V. Ryaboy The following is a short summary of the article "Zolotoordynskie pogrebeniya iz mogil'nika Olen'-Kolodez'" by K. U. Efimov, which appeared in Donskaya Arkheologia, No. 3-4 1999. No ISBN is listed. Photographs labeled as Donskaya Arkheologia are courtesy of the Donskaya Arkheologia magazine and used by exclusive permission. The online summary of the magazine is provided in Russian and English at http://www.da.aaanet.ru. This summary concentrates on specific artifacts found in the two mounds described in the article; much detail is left out for the sake of brevity as well as respecting the author's copyright. The reader is encouraged to read the original article, should the reader be able to do so. The Olen'-Kolodez' mounds are located on the left bank of the Don river, in the Voronezh district. Although they were first mentioned in an archeological map by L.M. Savelov in 1902, they hadn't been explored until 1996, when despite the government protection of the site a construction company started building a road through it. Six mounds were destroyed by the construction work, and then inspected by a team of archeologists. Three of them were nomad burials, two of which are described in detail by Efimov. These two barrows, #7 and #9, are burials of nomad aristocrats, a male warrior who was buried with his weapons, armour, belt with golden plates, and other items, and a woman (his wife?), buried with rich and highly decorated clothing (very little of which survives) and various "feminine" items such as scissors, a mirror, etc. Both are buried with stirrups, bits, and other elements of a horse harness. The suggested date for the burial is the end of 13th-beginning of 14th century. This article only describes the items found in the man's grave; the woman's will follow. Donskaya Arkheologia The man in barrow #7 was buried lying on his back, his head pointing North-North-West. Near his head lay a rolled up maille shirt. It had rusted together over time and its original shape could not be determined. The diameter of the rings is 12 mm, with an oval cross-section, 15x20 mm (this is what the article says. I am guessing that's a typo and it's supposed to be 1.5x2.0 mm). Traces of gold coating were found on some rings. A helmet was found next to the maille shirt (see figure 1). The helmet is made of two welded halves, a conical upper and a cylindrical lower part. There is a small brim on the front of the helmet. In the top of the helmet there is a small 4 mm opening used for mounting a feather plumage -- traces of the feathers were found on the back of the helmet. A maille aventail no more than 20 cm long was attached to the sides and the back of the helmet by a 2 mm rod which was laced through the top row of rings and then rivetted to the helmet with 8 large rivets with semispherical heads. According to K.U. Efimov, the aventail was fastened in front by an iron buckle which did not survive. The helmet is 25.5 cm tall, and 20.8 cm in diameter at the bottom edge. A highly decorated bowl with a handle made to resemble a winged dragon was placed close to the helmet (see figure 2). The band on the side and the bottom of the bowl are etched with an herbal motif. The hollow handle is made of two stamped silver plates, and finished with etching. The corners of the dragon's mouth have holes, presumably for a ring to pass through. A floral motif adorns the bottom of the bowl. The bowl is 4.7 cm tall, with a 9.5 cm diameter at base and 14.5 cm diameter at the upper lip. The top illustration is based on the color photograph from the article; the bottom one is based on the line drawing from the same. It shows more detail but is perhaps not quite as true to the shape of the bowl. Donskaya Arkheologia Donskaya Arkheologia An axe decorated with gold inlay lay at the feet of the buried man. The axehead is 14.2 cm long, and the blade of the axe is 9.5 cm wide. The back of the axe features a geometrical pattern of triangles on the two flat areas, and running animals on two other panels. Both flats of the blades depict a stylized elk with two thin gold lines around it. The top and bottom of the axehead also have thin gold lines which run corresponding to the shape of the axe. The hole for the axe handle is round, 2.6 cm in diameter. A 6.5 cm-long section of the wooden handle survived. Its top edge is cut at an angle that matches the angle of the blade. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Photograph by Alexander Lemeshko There is a nail hammered into the top of the handle. The nail has a round, semispherical head 2.5 cm long and .7 cm tall, covered in silk brocade. Drawing by Dmitriy V. Ryaboy A very rich belt was also placed in the grave. The fittings found include a silver buckle, a belt tip, 3 large belt plaques, two of which had loops on one side, and 9 smaller plates that were found separateley, in the northern section of the grave. A small length of the belt also survived. View Belt Detail Photographs All courtesy of Donskaya Arkheologia Other items found in the grave (some of which are described in detail by Efimov) include an arrowhead, an earring, an amulet made of green glass, a 13 cm-long file in a wooden carrying case, a 23 cm-long spearhead, a knife, a quiver, various elements of a horse harness. Most of these items speak to the extreme wealth of the buried man. Copyright Permission Notice: Dmitriy V. Ryaboy hereby gives express permission for reproduction of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that the article is unaltered and includes the author attribution. The Red Kaganate requests that a hyperlink be provided to this web site - http://www.oocities.org/kaganate. This permission does not extend to photographs provided by Donskaya Arkheologia - http://www.da.aaanet.ru.