The Hermitage guide

The Bronze Age culture of the peoples inhabiting the steppes of the Ukraine and the valleys of the Volga and the Don is represented by remains of the Old Pit, Catacomb and Timber Grave cultures, although there is considerably less material than from the Tripolye culture. Of outstanding importance is the so-called “founder’s hoard” comprising pottery moulds and various instruments used in making axes, adzes, daggers, etc., discovered on a site in the Volgograd region.

The Caucasian section contains artefacts dating from the period of the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age, and derived mostly from the Northern Caucasus (objects of chronologically later origin forming part of the collection of the Oriental Department). Among the earliest are the finds from the Agubekovo and Dolinskoye settlements and from a burial in the vicinity of Nalchik. The most important, however, is the famous complex of finds from the Maikop Barrow, discovered in 1837. Here, concealed beneath a great mound of earth, a timber crypt disclosed three bodies, including one of a tribal chief. It was around his remains that the largest number of objects was found: two gold, fourteen silver and eight pottery vessels; pieces of a funerary canopy ornamented with numerous gold plaques depicting lions and bulls; multitudinous gold, silver and stone beads and other ornaments, as well as a set of copper and several stone implements, including flint arrowheads. Since these Maikop finds comprise one of the earliest funerary comlexes of the tribal nobility and illustrate the relations between the tribes of the Northern Caucasus and the civilizations of the Ancient Orient, they have long drawn the attention of scholars. The material from Meshoko, the only settlement of the Maikop culture practically fully explored, affords an insight into the mode of life of the local population.

The remains of the Koban and Colchian cultures testify to a high level of metallurgy and metal working in the Caucasus during the first millennium B.C. The Koban burial ground in the mountains of North Ossetia, where over six hundred burials of the twelfth to tenth centuries B.C. have been excavated, has yielded a large quantity of bronze articles, most of which are ornamented with geometric and plant designs as well as animal and, occasionally, human figures. This material includes weapons, horse trappings, belts, fibulae, bracelets, vessels, etc. Figurines of men and animals also occur among the finds.

The Department’s newest section, that of Central Asia, — its collections were formerly part of the Caucasian section — contains material from complexes of the ancient (fifth to third millennia B.C.) settlements in the south of Turkmenia, which belong with the Painted Pottery culture of the early farming populations, spread over the vast area from the Balkans all the way to China. Finds from Turkmenia include thin-walled pottery decorated with monochrome or polychrome ornamentations; tools; adornments; and clay statuettes of women and domestic animals. Particularly interesting are the finds from the barrows of the early (fifth and fourth centuries B.C.) nomads of the Pamirs, and the comprehensive collection of articles from the Ferghana settlements and cemeteries dating mainly from the early centuries of our era. Material relating to later periods is housed in the Oriental Department.

The museum boasts the most archaic specimens of Scythian culture and art. These are sixth-century B.C. finds, yielded by the Kostromskaya, Kelermes and Ulsky Barrows in the Kuban area and by the Litoi Barrow in the Dnieper valley.

Among the later rich burials of the Dnieper valley, the Solokha and Chertomlyk Barrows, discovered near Nikopol, are best known. Buried under a mound eighteen metres high at Solokha were a king, his armour-bearer, an attendant and a groom, and five horses. The grave goods found here give an idea of a king’s personal battle array: a sword in a scabbard, and a bronze helmet of Greek workmanship. The gold-plate covering of the scabbard and sword-hilt is adorned with animal figures, and the silver-gilt one of the gorytus (combined bow-case and quiver) is embossed with representations of warriors in battle and scenes of animal combat. An object that gained world-wide fame is a gold haircomb with a sculptured group of Scythian warriors engaged in battle. Justly prized for its exceptionally high artistic merits, the comb is also of great historic value, since it accurately depicts the men themselves, the clothes they wore and the weapons they fought with. Another find from the Solokha Barrow is a set of gold and silver utensils, including silver vessels of Greek workmanship, a wine bowl, and a ladle with a strainer.