Late Mediaeval Plate with Dragon Depiction from Excavations in 1936 at Starokyivska Mountain

Abstract

Today, a great part of documentation concerning the research of Starokyivska mountain and the surrounding areas in the first half of the 20th century are lost. This fact complicates the work with the findings which are not presented to the scientific circles. One of such findings is a casted bronze (?) plate of pentagonal shape with a relief depiction of a mythical creature, namely, a dragon. During the work with an item, it was ascertained that such type of findings belongs to the elements of design of decoration assemblage on leather bags-kalytas and was presented on them by pair wise depictions of dragons on the items of various size: appliqus, plates, cover plates of locks, etc. The ornamentation peculiarities of analogous products contain a certain heraldic implication related to the community of ancient Novgorod, which is ascertained by stylistically similar depictions on hanging lead stamps of the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries, and on products made of metal and bone. Regardless of final identification of the finding, and coming from the geography of such items’ spread, we can see that Novgorod was economically active at the known trade routes in Eastern Europe until the second half of the 16th century.