Altars with Skulls at Tsaryna Stow at Bilske Settlement (to Ritual’s Sense)
Keywords:
altar, ashpits, human skulls, Bilske hill-fort, sacrifice, Agnicayana.
Abstract
The issue of ritual usage of human heads (skulls) in the altars discovered on the ashpits 1 and 3 at the Tsaryna stow at Great Bilske hill-fort is discussed in the paper. Five such objects were investigated. The most archaic altar is dated back to the 7th century BC (altar 1, ashpit 3) and the rest are dated by the 5th century BC (altar 2, ashpit 3; altar 3, ashpit 3; altar 2, ashpit 1; hole 6, ashpit 1). The essential difference between them lays in design features and placing of the skulls. In the archaic altar, two skulls were built into the basement of the structure which represented a clay cone. In later altars, which predominantly had a shape of a low hill constructed on subsoil, skulls were placed in the upper part of cultic objects. V.P. Belozor’s opinion that the archaic altar 1 could be a backbone object (a sanctuary?) at the ashpit 3 appears to be reasonable. This altar’s structure reminds the design of Agni altar in Agnicayana rite in which the head of a sacrificed person was placed in the structure’s basement. Proceeding from the fact that economic activity at this ashpit was closely connected with metallurgical production, the ritual itself, as well as in a case with the Indian equivalent, could be devoted to a cult of fire and have a similar semantic capacity.
References
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Chernenko Ye.V., Rolle R.A., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., Hertz W.Yu., Belozor V.P., Issledovaniia sovmestnoy Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii 2003 g. Kyiv: IA NASU, 2004.
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Edelman D.I. Sravnitelnaia grammatika vostochnoiranskikh yazykov: leksika. Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN, 2009.
Frye R.N. The Achaemenids and Zoroastrian Fire Altars. Izucheniie kulturnogo naslediia Vostoka. Kulturnyie traditsii i preiemstvennost v razvitii drevnikh kultur i tsivilizatsii. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii v Sankt-Peterburge (23-25 noiabria 1999g.). St-Peterburg, 1999, pp. 59-60.
Havrysh P.Ya. Plemena skifskoho chasu v lisostepu Dniprovskoho Livoberezhzhia (za materialamy Prypsillia). Poltava: Archeolohiia, 2000.
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Gutnov F.Kh. Iz religii skifov: Farn. Ritualnyie chashi. Antichnaia tsivilizatsiia i varvarskii mir. Materialy 6-go arkheologicheskogo seminara. Krasnodar, 1998, pp. 19-22.
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Knauer (Keziia) E.R. O «varvarskom» obychaie podveshyvaniia otrublennykh golov protivnika k sheie konia. E.A. Savostina (Ed.). Bosporskii relief so stsenoi srazheniia (Amazonomakhiia). Moskva; St-Peterburg: Letnii sad, 2001.
Kozak A.D. Nekotoryie rezultaty antropologicheskogo issledovaniia kostnykh ostankov iz raskopok sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii (1998-2000 gg.). In: Murzin V.Yu., Rolle R., Hertz W., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2000 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2001, pp. 55-71.
Kozak A.D. Predvaritelnyi antropologicheskii analiz pogrebenii, obnaruzhennykh v 2003 godu v urochishche Tsarina i v kurgane No 1 kurgannoi gruppy «Piatoie pole». In: Chernenko Ye.V., Rolle R.A., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., Hertz W.Yu., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2003 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2004а. pp. 67-80.
Kozak A.D. Chelovecheskiie zhertvoprinosheniia v zolnike ranneskifskogo vremeni Belskogo gorodishcha. Opus: Mezhdistsiplinarnyie issledovaniia v arkheologii, 2004b, no. 3. pp. 112-121.
Kozak O.D., Schultz M. Liudski zhertvoprynoshennia na zolnykakh Bilskoho horodyshcha. In: Ye.V. Chernenko (Ed.). Bilske horodyshche ta yoho okruha. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2006. pp. 77-100.
Kriukova V.Yu. Drevneishyi indoiranskii ritual i traditsionnaia kultura iranskikh narodov. In: S.V. Pakhomov (Ed.). Chetvertyie Torchinovskiie Chteniia: Filosofiia, religiia i kultura stran Vostoka. Materialy nauchnoi konferentsii, Sankt-Peterburg, 7-10 fevralia 2007 g. St-Peterburg: Izdatelstvo St-Peterburgskogo Universiteta, 2007. pp. 28-36.
Kriukova V.Yu. Zhertvoprinosheniie v traditsionnoi kulture iranoiazychnykh narodov Tsentralnoi Azii. In: R.R. Rakhimov (Ed.). Tsentralnaia Aziia: traditsiia v usloviiakh peremen. St-Peterburg: Nauka, 2007a, vol. 1, pp. 13-40.
Kriukova V.Yu. Zoroastrizm. St-Peterburg: Peterburgskoie Vostokovedeniie, 2005.
Makovskii M.M. Sravnitelnyi slovar mifologicheskoi simvoliki v indoevropeiskikh yazykakh. Obraz mira i miry obrazov. Moskva: Gumanitarnyi izdatelskii fond VLADOS, 1996.
Malamud Sh. Ispech mir: ritual i mysl v drevnei Indii (translated from French). Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN, 2005.
Mednikova M.B. Obrashcheniie s golovoi umershego: pogrebalnaia praktika drevnosti po dannym paleoantropologii. Kratkiie soobshcheniia Instituta arkheologii RAN. Moskva, 2010, vol. 24, pp. 98-105.
Meitarchiian M.B. O roli sobaki v Zoroastrizme. Drevnost: istoricheskoie znaniie i spetsifika istochnika. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi pamiati E.A. Grantovskogo i D.S. Raievskogo (12-14 dekabria 2011 g.). Moskva: IV RAN, 2011, vol. V, pp. 142-144.
Murzin V.Yu., Rolle R., Hertz W., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2000 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2001.
Murzin V.Yu., Rolle R., Hertz W., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2001 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2002.
Pokorny J. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern; München: Francke Verlag, 1959, Bd. III.
Raievskii D.S. Mir skifskoi kultury. Predisl. V.Ye. Petrukhin, M.N. Pogrebova. Moskva: Yazyki slavianskikh kultur, 2006.
Rusanova I.P. Istoki slavianskogo yazychestva. Kultovyie sooruzheniia Tsentralnoi i Vostochnoi Evropy v I tys. do n. e. - I tys. n. e. Moskva: Prut, 2002.
Rusiaieva A.S. Graffiti Olvii Pontiiskoi. Simferopol, 2010. (Materialy po arkheologii, istorii i etnografii Tavrii. Supplementum. Vol. 8).
Shaub I.Yu. K voprosu o kulte otrublennoi chelovecheskoi golovy u varvarov Severnogo Prichernomoria i Priazovia. Antichnaia tsivilizatsiia i varvarskii mir v Podonie-Priazovie (tezisy dokladov k seminaru). Novocherkassk, 1987, p. 16.
Shramko B.A. Belskoie gorodishche skifskoi epokhi (gorod Gelon). Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1987.
Skrzhinskaia M.V. Drevnegrecheskiie prazdniki v Ellade i Severnom Prichernomorie. Kyiv: II NANU, 2009.
Smirnov Yu.A. Labirint: Morfologiia prednamerennogo pogrebeniia. Issledovaniia, teksty, slovar. Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN, 1997.
Staal F. Agni. The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar. Berkley: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 1983, vol. I-II.
Staal F. The Meaninglessness of Ritual, Numen. Leiden, 1979, vol. XXVI, f. 1, pp. 2-22.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3269623
Vertiienko H.V. Do problemy morfolohii davnioiranskoho pokhovannia. Universytet. 2009, no. 3 (29), pp. 88-95.
Vertiienko H.V. Ka- mərəδa v mystetstvi ta rytuali skifiv? (Do semantyky obrazu holovy). Skhodoznavstvo. 2016, vol. 75-76 (in print).
Vinogradov Yu.A., Rusiaieva A.S. Graffiti iz sviatilishcha Apollona i kalendar Olvii. Issledovaniia po antichnoi arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomoria, Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1980, pp. 19-64.
Weber A. Über Menschenopfer bei den Indern der vedisches Zeit. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 1864, Bd. 18, pp. 262-287.
Bilozor V.P. Pro zhertovnyky z liudskymy cherepamy v uroch. Tsaryna na Bilskomu horodyshchi. Vid Kimmerii do Sarmatii. 60 rokiv Viddilu skifo-sarmatskoi arkheolohii IA NANU. Materialy mizhnarodnoi konferentsii. Kyiv, 2004, pp. 9-10.
Boyce M. Zoroastrians, their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979.
Chernenko Ye.V., Rolle R.A., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., Hertz W.Yu., Belozor V.P., Issledovaniia sovmestnoy Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii 2003 g. Kyiv: IA NASU, 2004.
Dmitriiev S.V. Tema otrublennoi golovy i politicheskaia kultura narodov Tsentralnoi Azii (obshcheaziatskiy kontekst). Stratum: Struktury i katastrofy. Sbornik simvolicheskoi indoievropeiskoi istorii. St-Petersburg, 1997, pp. 212-219.
Edelman D.I. Sravnitelnaia grammatika vostochnoiranskikh yazykov: leksika. Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN, 2009.
Frye R.N. The Achaemenids and Zoroastrian Fire Altars. Izucheniie kulturnogo naslediia Vostoka. Kulturnyie traditsii i preiemstvennost v razvitii drevnikh kultur i tsivilizatsii. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii v Sankt-Peterburge (23-25 noiabria 1999g.). St-Peterburg, 1999, pp. 59-60.
Havrysh P.Ya. Plemena skifskoho chasu v lisostepu Dniprovskoho Livoberezhzhia (za materialamy Prypsillia). Poltava: Archeolohiia, 2000.
Gaydukevich V.F. Ilurat. Itogi arkheologicheskikh issledovanii 1948-1953 gg. Meterialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR. Moskva, 1958, iss. 85, pp. 9-148.
Grantovskii E.A. O nekotorykh materialakh po obshchestvennomu stroiu skifov. «Rodstvenniki» i «druzia». B.A. Litvinskii (Ed.). Kavkaz i Sredniaia Aziia v drevnosti i srednevekovie (istoriia i kultura). Moskva: Nauka, 1981, pp. 59-79.
Grechko D. O beskurgannykh pogrebeniiakh aborigennogo naseleniia Vostochnoevropeiskoi lesostepi skifskogo vremeni. Revista Arheologică, serie nouă. 2014, vol. X, no. 1-2, pp. 79-101.
Grechko D.S. Ob odnom iz sposobov pogrebeniia u zemledeltsev vostochnoevropeiskoi Lesostepi skifskogo vremeni. Vestnik Ostrogozhskogo istoriko-khudozhestvennogo muzeia im. I.N. Kramskogo. Voronezh, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 118-124.
Gutnov F.Kh. Iz religii skifov: Farn. Ritualnyie chashi. Antichnaia tsivilizatsiia i varvarskii mir. Materialy 6-go arkheologicheskogo seminara. Krasnodar, 1998, pp. 19-22.
Heesterman J.C. The Case of the Severed Head. J.C. Heesterman. The Inner Conflict of Tradition. Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985, pp. 45-58.
Klein L.S. Anatomiia «Iliady». St-Peterburg: Izdatelstvo St-Peterburgskogo Universiteta, 1998.
Knauer (Keziia) E.R. O «varvarskom» obychaie podveshyvaniia otrublennykh golov protivnika k sheie konia. E.A. Savostina (Ed.). Bosporskii relief so stsenoi srazheniia (Amazonomakhiia). Moskva; St-Peterburg: Letnii sad, 2001.
Kozak A.D. Nekotoryie rezultaty antropologicheskogo issledovaniia kostnykh ostankov iz raskopok sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii (1998-2000 gg.). In: Murzin V.Yu., Rolle R., Hertz W., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2000 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2001, pp. 55-71.
Kozak A.D. Predvaritelnyi antropologicheskii analiz pogrebenii, obnaruzhennykh v 2003 godu v urochishche Tsarina i v kurgane No 1 kurgannoi gruppy «Piatoie pole». In: Chernenko Ye.V., Rolle R.A., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., Hertz W.Yu., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2003 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2004а. pp. 67-80.
Kozak A.D. Chelovecheskiie zhertvoprinosheniia v zolnike ranneskifskogo vremeni Belskogo gorodishcha. Opus: Mezhdistsiplinarnyie issledovaniia v arkheologii, 2004b, no. 3. pp. 112-121.
Kozak O.D., Schultz M. Liudski zhertvoprynoshennia na zolnykakh Bilskoho horodyshcha. In: Ye.V. Chernenko (Ed.). Bilske horodyshche ta yoho okruha. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2006. pp. 77-100.
Kriukova V.Yu. Drevneishyi indoiranskii ritual i traditsionnaia kultura iranskikh narodov. In: S.V. Pakhomov (Ed.). Chetvertyie Torchinovskiie Chteniia: Filosofiia, religiia i kultura stran Vostoka. Materialy nauchnoi konferentsii, Sankt-Peterburg, 7-10 fevralia 2007 g. St-Peterburg: Izdatelstvo St-Peterburgskogo Universiteta, 2007. pp. 28-36.
Kriukova V.Yu. Zhertvoprinosheniie v traditsionnoi kulture iranoiazychnykh narodov Tsentralnoi Azii. In: R.R. Rakhimov (Ed.). Tsentralnaia Aziia: traditsiia v usloviiakh peremen. St-Peterburg: Nauka, 2007a, vol. 1, pp. 13-40.
Kriukova V.Yu. Zoroastrizm. St-Peterburg: Peterburgskoie Vostokovedeniie, 2005.
Makovskii M.M. Sravnitelnyi slovar mifologicheskoi simvoliki v indoevropeiskikh yazykakh. Obraz mira i miry obrazov. Moskva: Gumanitarnyi izdatelskii fond VLADOS, 1996.
Malamud Sh. Ispech mir: ritual i mysl v drevnei Indii (translated from French). Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN, 2005.
Mednikova M.B. Obrashcheniie s golovoi umershego: pogrebalnaia praktika drevnosti po dannym paleoantropologii. Kratkiie soobshcheniia Instituta arkheologii RAN. Moskva, 2010, vol. 24, pp. 98-105.
Meitarchiian M.B. O roli sobaki v Zoroastrizme. Drevnost: istoricheskoie znaniie i spetsifika istochnika. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi pamiati E.A. Grantovskogo i D.S. Raievskogo (12-14 dekabria 2011 g.). Moskva: IV RAN, 2011, vol. V, pp. 142-144.
Murzin V.Yu., Rolle R., Hertz W., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2000 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2001.
Murzin V.Yu., Rolle R., Hertz W., Skoryi S.A., Makhortykh S.V., and Belozor V.P. Issledovaniia sovmestnoi Ukrainsko-Nemetskoi arkheologicheskoi ekspeditsii v 2001 g. Kyiv: IA NANU, 2002.
Pokorny J. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern; München: Francke Verlag, 1959, Bd. III.
Raievskii D.S. Mir skifskoi kultury. Predisl. V.Ye. Petrukhin, M.N. Pogrebova. Moskva: Yazyki slavianskikh kultur, 2006.
Rusanova I.P. Istoki slavianskogo yazychestva. Kultovyie sooruzheniia Tsentralnoi i Vostochnoi Evropy v I tys. do n. e. - I tys. n. e. Moskva: Prut, 2002.
Rusiaieva A.S. Graffiti Olvii Pontiiskoi. Simferopol, 2010. (Materialy po arkheologii, istorii i etnografii Tavrii. Supplementum. Vol. 8).
Shaub I.Yu. K voprosu o kulte otrublennoi chelovecheskoi golovy u varvarov Severnogo Prichernomoria i Priazovia. Antichnaia tsivilizatsiia i varvarskii mir v Podonie-Priazovie (tezisy dokladov k seminaru). Novocherkassk, 1987, p. 16.
Shramko B.A. Belskoie gorodishche skifskoi epokhi (gorod Gelon). Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1987.
Skrzhinskaia M.V. Drevnegrecheskiie prazdniki v Ellade i Severnom Prichernomorie. Kyiv: II NANU, 2009.
Smirnov Yu.A. Labirint: Morfologiia prednamerennogo pogrebeniia. Issledovaniia, teksty, slovar. Moskva: Vostochnaia literatura RAN, 1997.
Staal F. Agni. The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar. Berkley: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 1983, vol. I-II.
Staal F. The Meaninglessness of Ritual, Numen. Leiden, 1979, vol. XXVI, f. 1, pp. 2-22.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3269623
Vertiienko H.V. Do problemy morfolohii davnioiranskoho pokhovannia. Universytet. 2009, no. 3 (29), pp. 88-95.
Vertiienko H.V. Ka- mərəδa v mystetstvi ta rytuali skifiv? (Do semantyky obrazu holovy). Skhodoznavstvo. 2016, vol. 75-76 (in print).
Vinogradov Yu.A., Rusiaieva A.S. Graffiti iz sviatilishcha Apollona i kalendar Olvii. Issledovaniia po antichnoi arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomoria, Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1980, pp. 19-64.
Weber A. Über Menschenopfer bei den Indern der vedisches Zeit. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 1864, Bd. 18, pp. 262-287.
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