The Hermitage guide

The same section contains articles from the excavated settlements of the wooded steppe tribes whose economy was based on farming and stock-breeding and who were the bearers of a culture known by the name of Cherniakhovo, a village in the Kiev region where the first find was made. Material yielded by the Lepesovka site in the Khmelnitsky region is considered to be of particular interest. The settlement had been destroyed by fire and many articles had been damaged, but they still permit a fairly complete reconstruction of the inhabitants’ way of life. Locally made weavers’ and blacksmiths’ tools, pottery and ornaments were found here together with imported utensils.

During the fourth century both the Sarmatian and Cherniakhovo cultures fell under the attacks of the Huns at the start of the Migrations Period. The specific features of contemporary (fourth and fifth century) culture can best be seen in the collections of Bosporan antiquities obtained mostly from burials excavated in Gospitalnaya (Hospital) Street in the town of Kerch. Members of the nobility were buried in family tombs and common people in ordinary graves. Finds include a gold wreath, a gold torque with terminals in the shape of dragons, richly ornamented weapons and horse-gear. Characteristic of the jewellers’ work from this period were a predilection for rich colours and a general tendency to achieve strong decorative effects. This gave rise to a lavish use of semiprecious stones, and such techniques as filigree work and grain decoration; sometimes cloisons were soldered onto the surface and filled in with almandine and red glass. These techniques were also employed in ornamenting weapons and horses’ harness. The manufacture of such articles was apparently centred on the Bosporus, although they were also widely spread all over the steppeland area, the Northern Caucasus, the Urals, the Kama valley, and southeastern Europe.

An important part of the section comprises objects from the early Middle Ages (sixth and seventh centuries). Among the many hoards belonging to that period the most noteworthy is the Pereshchepina Treasure, accidentally found in 1912 by some shepherd-boys near the village of Malaya Pereshchepina in the Poltava area. This rich find of artefacts of various provenance has been for years the object of intensive study. Together with artefacts of local origin, it includes a set of church plate and coins of Byzantium, and vessels from Iran and Central Asia. The earliest piece is a dish with a picture of the Persian king Shapur II (A.D. 310—363), while the latest is a Byzantine coin minted prior to A.D. 668.

While considering the sixth and seventh centuries, we should mention a set of finds from the fortress of Eski-Kermen and the cemetery at Suuk-Su in the Crimea. By the end of the sixth century the Crimea had become a part of the Khazar Khanate whose culture is reflected in the collections of finds yielded by excavations in the fortified town of Sarkel on the Don, and a large variety of household articles, artefacts and craftsman’s tools, weapons and ornaments from settlements and cemeteries of the Saltovo-Mayatsky culture, so called from the names of the Saltovo burial ground and the hill-fort of Mayatsky in the Kharkov and Voronezh regions, respectively.

The culture and way of life of such nomad peoples as the Pechenegs, Torki and Polovtsy during the period between the ninth and thirteenth centuries may best be judged by the rich collection of goods discovered in the numerous barrows of the South Russian steppes. Outstanding among these goods are sets of weapons including single-edged swords, spears, fragments of bows and quivers with arrows, and sometimes accompanied by protective armour — leather helmets with a framework of iron, iron face guards and mail shirts. The physical features and outward appearance of the Polovtsy can most readily be learned from the so-called stone babas, monuments to members of the tribal nobility, which reproduce with great exactitude the details and ornaments of their ceremonial costumes.

Among the various sections of the Department the one devoted to Siberia is perhaps the biggest, with Siberian exhibits taking up almost a third of the display. These exhibits have been brought from the Minusa Basin and other areas of the Enisey valley, from West Siberia, Lake Baikal, the Altaian barrows, and some from Kazakhstan. Archaeologically, they cover the period from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages.