Images of horses, chariots and horsemen on the transcaucasian bronze belts of the end II - beginning I thousand years BC. sources and interpretation

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Images of horses, chariots and horsemen on the transcaucasian bronze belts of the end II - beginning I thousand years BC. sources and interpretation.

S.B. Burkov

ИЗОБРАЖЕНИЯ ЛОШАДЕЙ, КОЛЕСНИЦ И ВСАДНИКОВ НА БРОНЗОВЫХ ЗАКАВКАЗСКИХ ПОЯСАХ КОНЦА II - НАЧАЛА I ТЫС. ДО Н.Э. ИСТОЧНИКИ И ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ.

Аннотация: В статье анализируются источники и исследовательские усилия по изучению бронзовых орнаментированных поясов, найденных на Южном Кавказе, применительно к изображениям лошадей, колесниц и всадников. Исследуются вопросы возникновения и развития данной изобразительно традиции, датировки поясов, анализируются художественные приемы и формы гравированных рисунков, предметы вооружения. Предлагается авторская трактовка ряда персонажей, основанная на анализе материалов погребальных комплексов, а также поясов, найденных случайно. Особое внимание уделяется находкам из Тлийского могильника. На основании анализа материалов - предлагается авторская интерпретация источников и критически оцениваются выводы других исследователей. Результаты работы оформлены рядом наблюдений, обобщений и выводов.

Ключевые слова: бронзовые пояса, всадники, лошади, колесницы, датировка, сбруя.

S.B. Burkov, Russia

Annotation: The article analyzes the sources and the research efforts made to study the bronze ornamented belts found in the South Caucasus, in relation to the images of horses, chariots and the horsemen. The article studies appearing and development of this fine tradition, dating of the belts; it analyzes artistic methods and forms of the engraved drawings, the weapons. The author's interpretation of a number of characters is offered, based on the analysis of materials of the funeral complexes, and also the belts found incidentally. Special attention is paid to the findings from the Tli burial ground. Based on the analysis of the materials the author's interpretation of the sources is provided, and conclusions of other researchers are critically evaluated. Results of the work are illustrated by a number of observations, generalizations and conclusions.

Keywords: bronze belts, horsemen, horses, chariots, dating, harness.

Problem statement

bronze belt historiographic transcaucasia

Images of horses is one of the favorite patterns for the bronze belts of the late II - early I Millennium BC, known from various regions. They are an important source for the research. Our goal is to select the one that can be used to describe the use of horses for chariot harnessing and horsemen of that period. Previously, this topic has not become a subject of a targeted integrated study. It is based on the research efforts of such scientists as J.A. Khalilov, G. P. Kesa- manli, S. A. Esayan, A. O. Mnatsakanyan, D. Dzhafa- rova, B. V. Tekhov, M. N. Pogrebova, D. S. Raevskii, V. B. Kovalevskaya, G. N. Volnaya, M. Castellucia. For this purpose, we will refer to their publications, which contain the information of our interest; and on the basis of its analysis we will draw the logical conclusions and generalizations.

The main purpose of this article is:

- to establish the core range of available sources to study the mentioned topic,

- to determine the historiographic value of the most important scientific works devoted to the presentation of bronze engraved belts produced in Transcaucasia,

- to identify the possibilities of this source to characterize formation of the military troops and their weapons, attributed to the final stage of the late bronze age and the initial stage of the early iron age.

Presentation of the main materials

The important information s is contained in the article by J.A. Khalilov, published in 1962. Among other belts from the territory of Transcaucasia contained in his work, there are many figurines of horses with the horsemen or without them. In some cases, the horses are depicted with wings; in other cases heads of the animals bear engraved corneal objects in which you can recognize shape of the moon. He cannot agree with an opinion on the Urartian origin of bronze belts, because burials with bronze belts are dated not later than the end of II - beginning I millennium BC. The wide bronze belts came into use not later than the beginning of I millennium BC. They originate from the central Transcaucasia. [10,p. 103,PL.VI,1,p. 104,PL.VII,1,p. 106, tab.IX, 6, p. 107, table.X,1, pp. 96-97].

In the course of the preserve-and-rescue works of 1960-1963 in Chobanog - Lunun Yurdu area, a fragmented bronze belt with the image of 2 horses harnessed to a 2-wheeled cart was found in a stone box № 4. When published, the complex was dated to IX-VIII centuries BC. As an analogy, the author who had published this artefact, refers to a similar belt, found in the end of XIX century by J. Morgan in Akhtala burial of the late bronze age. A bronze belt with a 2-wheel chariot and armed soldiers found in the burial of the late II - early I millennium BC in the area of Stepanavan city [6, p. 225, Fig.4, pp. 226-227].

An article by S. A. Yesayan and A. O. Mnatsa- kanian [5,p. 277, Fig. 1,b, p. 279, p. 278, Fig.2,b, p. 280281] studied a number of bronze belts found in the territory of Armenia. A belt from Lchashen depicts a 2- wheel cart, yoked by 2 realistically pictured horse. A cart is driven by a warrior wearing a lion mask or a head of a lion. It is dated to IX-VIII centuries BC. The inner part of a from Stepanavan is decorated with a picture (according to the interpretation of the authors) of a battle between armies of 2 tribes. Two horsemen are depicted with spare horses. A military chariot is pulled by 3 horses and carries 2 warriors in the back. Based on the analysis of the given image, we may assume that when the burial contains two horses, we can conclude that in absence of the chariot accessories such a burial disposal can be interpreted as of a horseman. Furthermore, presence of three horses among the burial offerings, and together with the parts of a chariot, we may conclude that it contained a chariot.

Jafarova's article presents information on 5 belts from Azerbaijan. Two of them are of interest for our subject. A belt, found in the early 60-ies of XX century in a stone box in Hashbulak area depicts a chariot carrying a warrior with the bow and an arrow, a chariot is pulled by 2 horses. A belt from the Western Azerbaijan carries an engraved battle scene of 3 horsemen on horses with spears, they have pair horses, probably spare ones. A chariot is carrying 2 persons, 1 is holding a bow, a chariot is harnessed by 3 horses. The author believes the scientists who link appearing and spread of bronze belts with the residents of Urartu, because many belts were found in the tombs of XII-XI centuries BC [4, pp. 4 - 6].

The subjects related to the bronze belts were studied by B. V. Tekhov.

In 1964 he published an extensive article devoted to the bronze belts of the Central Caucasus. It mainly presented the findings from the Tli burial ground (belts from burials Nos. 40,74 and 76), as well as a number of similar findings from the burial grounds of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, and materials originating from the territory of Transcaucasia and stored in the state Hermitage Museum. We are interested, first and foremost, in the belts from a Tli burial ground. A belt from a burial № 40 represents 6 horsemen and 3 chariots, and also 6 horses without horsemen with decorations on the heads. They all have long tails. According to the description given by V. B. Tekhov, the horsemen wearing armors are sitting without stirrups, they are having helmets of Urartian type on their heads, but unlike the similar images of Erebuni (Arin-Berd) and Karmir-Blur, they are sitting in a more upright position, and they are not carrying round shields. According to his observations, the images of the horsemen can be found on the objects of Urartian and Assyrian cultures more often than other images. The author believes that a belt from burial № 74 carries images of a horse. In this work, a horseman on a belt from the burial № 76 is not called a Scythian, or a representative of the Iranian population; meanwhile there is a reference that a custom of hanging heads of the defeated on the horse bridles existed among Scythians. However, this is not completely correct, because Herodotus was talking about the scalps hung on the bridles of the horses, while the Scythians brought skulls to the king as proof of their courage. There is no information on the facts of hanging of skulls on the harness. [3, p. 202; 9, p. 49]. According to the author, a horseman is sitting on a low horse with a long and fluffy tail, and in his right hand he is holding a whip with 3 leather ropes ending in flat tips. Except the belt from the burial № 40, the rest ones are locally produced and dated to the end of II - early I millennium BC. [11,p. 270, Fig.5, p. 272, Fig.6-7, p. 274, Fig.7.3, p. 275, p. 276, p. 280, p. 284, Fig.At 8.1-5,p. 289, Fig.14, p. 292, Fig. 16.1,p. 294, p. 299].

His work of 1977 brings data across multiple bronze belts found in the Tli boneyard. Among them, there is belt from burial № 76 on which, according to the author, horses were represented; though in one case he doubts if it had been exactly a horse represented. Only on the belt from the burial № 224, they are perfectly recognized: 21 figures have long and fluffy tails. According to him, their silhouettes are similar to the images on the bronze hatchets of the so-called "koban" type, as well as figures of 2 horses on the plug of a from Dzomag village. This monography gives the date of the Tli belts of XII-X centuries BC [12,p. 131, Fig.99,12, p. 133, Fig.100,8, p. 135, Fig.101,2,p. 172].

In 2001, B. V. Tekhov published a monography about bronze belts from the Tli burial ground. Eleven of them were in detail described there: from burials №№ 40-b, 74,76,161,168,215-b,224,350,363,419 and 425. Six of them are linked to our subject: from the burials №№ 76,224,350,425 of the Tli burial ground, and 2 belts from Transcaucasia: from Astkhiblur burial ground, from Akhtala, and a fragment of a belt of Armenia.

He divided all the engraved belts into 5 groups, but the principles of classification are not indicated. According to the descriptions, in one case, it can be considered as the basis of the nature of surface treatment, in the other case - it is linked to the features of the images, which in some way repeats the principle of typology, proposed in the monography M.N. Pogrebova and D. S. Raevsky. However, they developed a scheme, which was based on the principle of an image and highlighted the relevant series, types and groups. At B. V. Tekhov's studies this approach is not observed. So, in group IV there are presented belts from burials № 310 and 400, while the latter is named as the only in regard to decoration, and therefore it remains unclear why it was still placed in the same group with a belt from the burial № 310, which is decorated differently. The group V contains a single belt from the burial № 385 for the same reason of the uniqueness of design: "it stands out among other engraved belts", but again criteria for its selection are not clearly defined. Chapter II is a summary table of the bronze belts from the tombs of the Tli burial ground.

The section "types of ornament" contains 10 items, and pictures of horses are referred to type 13, but their silhouettes are not marked for any of the belts. Images of chariots and horsemen are not represented at all; of the images with multiple details, only household and hunting scenes are presented, while the text repeatedly described the religious-magical practices. The table has no indication of the date for the burials with the bronze belts. The General dating of the engraved belts of the Caucasus in this work is determined by B.V. Tekhov in one case as VIII-VII centuries BC, in the other case as VIII-VI centuries BC. Meanwhile, they are indications of dating of Chabaroglu and Pasanaurski treasures in the framework of the XI-VII centuries BC, the burial No. 74 of the Terlski burial field is dated by IX-VIII centuries BC, the burial # 3 of Mashavera burial field is date by the end of II-beginning I thousand BC, He is not arguing these dates, neither the principles of dating the bronze engraved belts, suggested by M. N. Pogrebova and D. S. Raevsky. He dates the belt from the burial No. 74 by VIII-VII centuries BC, the belt from the burial # 76 - by the second half of the VIII, or more precisely - VII century BC. Regarding the dating of this complex by B. V. Tekhov, one can see quite a controversial approach. So, he believes, that the entire complex from burial No. 76 can hardly be attributed to the time of the late seventh century BC, or rather to the middle of VII century BC, because in the middle of VII century BC the Tli complexes mostly contain iron objects, while there is not a single object in it. The bronze axe cannot be used to dating, because this form has been existing since IX to the end of VI century BC, At the same time, they recognized that the bronze fibulas found in the burial are reprehensive of the early types. In particular, since VIII century BC, the arches of fibulas become diamond-shaped in cross-section, they are massive, decorated with embedded arc-shaped lines across the surface and the fir-tree ornament between them, which corresponds to the samples from burial № 76. But the important thing is that the complex contains the terracotta beads covered with gold stamped foil, which was typical only for the complexes of the late II - early I millennium BC. They are met also in He admits that according to the manner of production and the images the belt from the burial № 350 is similar to the belt from the burial № 76 . At the same time, he believes that the latter refers to the early Scythian period, when the Scythians occupied the vast areas of the Caucasus and Central Asia. However, the earliest burials of the North Caucasus date back to the time not earlier than the second half of the VII century BC, when the burial ground in Tli was found to vastly contain iron objects, as he had noticed. There is a n iron dagger in the burial complex № 419; and in connection with this the date of burial can be attributed to a later period. In his description of a manner of sitting of a horseman depicted on a bronze belt from the burial № 76, B. V. Tekhov refers to the work of V. B. Kovalevskaya, noting that the bent legs are an indicator of an ancient horseman pose, which is fixed for the IX century BC.

B. V. Tekhov considered that this belt could get to Tli from another region. A local master, who made it, was well acquainted of the graphic art of Western Asia and Ancient Persia; in its tiny details the belt differs from the koban and Tli graphics. Meanwhile he also wrote that it was a belt from Western Asia . As for the belt from the burial № 40/b, it is Urartian one, it images three galloping horsemen, repeated three times, they depict the armor and helmets of Urartian type. This burial also contains iron dagger and an iron knife. Images of various cultural character are presented at the belt from burial № 215 / b. So, the nature of the figure of griffins is similar to the Assyrian tradition, the horsemen are wearing the Urartian helmets, and compared to the actual Tli belts the horsemen are shown seated without the stirrups and in a more erect pose, they are holding daggers and darts. Iron objects are also found in the burial. However, the belt is admitted as Urartian. In the burial complex № 245, where there is another belt, an iron dagger was also found. The griffons look like Assyrian. It shows and 2 horsemen, the tails of the horses are long, they sit without stirrups, they are wearing Urartian helmets, the warriors are wearing wide belts. According to B. V. Tekhov, the above-described belt is made by local masters, due to a number of details they are different from the Urartu samples. They are dated to VII century BC. He believed that the horseman, imaged in the form of heavily stylized figures and depicted on the belt from the burial № 76 , is the oldest image of a Scythian; or even or more it represents a pre- Scythian, Iranian population. A horseman (in the form of a strongly stylized figure) sits on a low horse. His legs are bent in knees and depicted in one plane. The horses engraved on a belt from burial № 224 (21 images) are very similar to the horse figures on some bronze axes. The nature of horses images with long tails found at the belt from the burial No. 363 is similar to 3 figures from Mtskheta belt from the burial complex No. 168 [13, s 13,17,33-34,46-47,51,54-55,79,82,86,87,89,91-3,95,100101,107,111,118,127,136,151,155,157-159,177-178, p. 229,tab.31, p. 246, table.43, p. 249, table.49,2, p. 250, table.49,2-a, p. 251, table.49 - b, p. 258, table.56,7- 10, p. 259, table.57, p. 260, table.58, p. 261, table.59, p. 262, table.60, p. 265, table.63, p. 267, table.65, p. 284, table.82, p. 267, table. 65, p. 285, table.83].

In 2006 B. V. T ekhov published a mo nography devoted to the archaeological sites of South Ossetia. The author again refers to the belts from the burials №№ 74, 76, 350 and 419, and he dated the first belt by VIII century BC. He noted that in the burials from the Tli burial ground, dated by VII-VI centuries BC, almost all the items except for jewelry, have been made out of iron. Analyzing the opinion of V. A. Ilyinskaya about her dating of burial № 76 no later than the middle of VII century BC, he considered it necessary to specifically note that in his opinion, the date is too understated, because at that time the Tli complexes contain mainly objects made of iron. At the same time, the archaeologist believed that absence of such objects in this burial should not be a decisive characteristic. He reproaches S. L. Dudarev, that the latter suggests to analyze all the objects that he had found in order to do proper dating, meanwhile he himself does this. B. V. Tekhov once again noted that fibulas from burial № 76 have early forms. The occurrence of terracotta beads in the gold foil in this work is somehow attributed to the end of the X century BC, although earlier he dated them by the end of II millennium BC, which corresponds at least to the beginning of X century BC [13, p. 51, p. 95]. There is no exact date of the burial complex № 76 in the work, although the author stated that the accumulation of new data forced him to reconsider his previous darting. Describing a horseman depicted at this belt, he does not call it "Scythian", but emphasizes that the person holds a bow of a " Scythian" type, and the "head of the enemy" hung to the bridle corresponds to the Scythian tradition. This gives him a reason to believe that Kobanski and Tli burial fields were left by the Iranian-speaking tribes genetically similar to the Scythians. At the same time, to build an analogy, he refers to the belt from the Astkhiblur burial ground, where the horsemen with the spears and shields, as well as in their spare horses, are also hanging similar items. However, this belt is dated to the end of II - the beginning of the I millennium BC [4, p. 6]. In addition to the fact that the characters depicted on the Astkhiblur belt, can not represent the "Scythians", it remains unclear how, using a similar parallel, burial № 76 is attributed to several centuries later? Additionally B. V. Tekhov specifically noted that according to a number of ornamentation it resembles a belt from the burial №№ 74 and 76 of Tli burial ground. The manner of execution of drawings of chariots and horses is considered one of them [14, p. 224,225,228,229 - 236,239 - 243, C. 282, Fig. 40, p. 294, Fig.53, p. 295].

The joint monography of M. N. Pogrebova and D. S. Raevsky published in 1997 is devoted to the Transcaucasian bronze belts with engraved images. Putting the main focus on the analysis of the principles of typology, the authors have paid much less attention to the subjects themselves, in particular - to the matters associated with horsemanship and horses. However, a number of observations made by them deserve attention. It is related to the belts of type-III, series III, group II, which bear images of horsemen. They are concentrated in the Central regions of Georgia. Similar belts were found in Tli burial field. The horses can be recognized on two belts from Tli of series II-24 and III-36. They have large and fluffy tails. On the remaining belts, the horse are hardly and very relatively determined, mainly due to the context (a horseman, a chariot), although they represent other animals. They have a narrow muzzle with a closed mouth. This is the same type, of deer and goats, with the highlighted marks of gender. One of the back legs has a clear vestigial finger, small and protruding ears (like all hornless creatures have on this belt), hooves on its back legs, the front ones are bearing the rounded extensions. A distinctive feature of this figure is the sharp ledge at the top of the legs, the tail is long and thick, the ornament makes an impression of a band around a tail. Such a creature, which can hardly be called a horse, is driven by a horseman. It is depicted on a belt from the burial № 76 of Tli field burial. Tekhov B. V. and G. N. Volnaya, on the contrary, believe that it depicts a horseman on a horse [2, p. 88, Fig.1.5, Fig.1,6 p. 89, Fig.2 - 3.4,6-8;12, p. 130]. The studies of V. B. Kovalevskaya define that the nature how a tail of a horse was depicted is a reliable chronological sign. She believes that in IX and until the beginning of the VIII century BC, the tail remains long, tied in the middle of its length, whereas at the turn of the VIII/VII C. BC the tail starts to be tied up [7,p. 77]. The tails of the horses from the relief of Ashurnasirpal Palace and the horses of the chariot of Tiglathpalasar III are shown entwined and braided along their entire length. The image can be dated by the first third of the IX -middle of the VIII century BC [1, p. 443,468]. On this basis we can assume that this figure on the belt from the burial № 76 combines some of the characteristics of horses, although it is not a horse by itself. According to the availability of armed horsemen, the horses can be identified on the belts of series of VI, belts of series VI - 54, 58, 66, 51, and also on one of the belts of series of I - 16. An image on the belt of series VI-58 resembles a horse. The horsemen, particularly the Tli belts, have both legs depicted on one side of a horse. Similar images are found exclusively on the belts of the VI series (№№ 50, 51, 54, 58, 66). The belts of series II, III, IV, VI bear images of an mounted archer. This pattern clearly prevails in the Northern area. Regarding an object which is depicted at a horseman from the belt from the burial № 76 in Tli, the authors noted that both existing interpretations: these are the heads of the defeated enemy (B. V. Tekhov) or these are troughs (S. A. Yesayan) do not seem to them sufficiently justified, and its attribution remains problematic. Such images, of course, gravitate to the belts of the IV series, presented in the northwestern Azerbaijan and northeastern Armenia. They believe that the images of bows on the Tli belts are clearly not the Scythian ones: those are bigger, not asymmetrical and more resemble large composite bows on the belts of series IV - 10,11,6. M. V. Gorelik drew attention to the similarity of the North Armenian and the Tli images of bows with the images on the golden bowl from Hasanlu, which suggests more southern than northern analogies for this type of Transcaucasian weapons. They assigned the belts from the tombs 74 b and 76 from Tli to series III and dated them to VIII-VII centuries BC. A wide engraved belt has been an indispensable attribute of noble Assyrian soldiers since the beginning of the IX century BC. Such belts had a military meaning. In Transcaucasia and the middle East, there are images of the belt on the nude figures found in shrines, including female figures, which is suggesting a ritual significance of this object. Now, they date back to IX-VII centuries BC, or the late ninth - first half of VI century BC, the main period of existence of the belts - VIII - the beginning of VI century BC, although the nature of some complexes does not allow to categorically exclude the end of the IX century BC, which was fixed on the use of steel tools, without which the engraving on the bronze would not have been possible [8, p. 6,7,9,14,15,3536,47,54,56,75,80,83,84,107].

In 2017 M. Castelluccia published a monographic study devoted to bronze belts from Transcaucasia. This work is notable for the large information base collected from various sources. It has a section dedicated to horses and horsemen. Due to the fact that many images of horses are highly stylized, she found it possible to use a simple way to identify them on the basis of how the horses are equipped for riding on. Based on this feature, she has identified several groups of similar images. It is noted that at the belts of North-Central Armenia the horses have a graceful body with a fairly long neck, two long ear tops, curved in the direction towards each other, one eye is in profile, and a long face which is noticeable mouth, sometimes open. The legs are short, and in all cases its knees and hooves are clearly determined. The horse's body is completely covered with dense series of oblique lines and a number of drawings. Near the neck there is a vertical strip covered with a series of circles. This pattern can be repeated throughout the body. It is possible that the band around the neck depicts a clamp. The images of several horses from Samtavro region are more stylized. The figures are shown less accurately, the tendency to lengthen some parts of a body, especially a neck is noticeable. Image of a mane is remarkable. Horses depicted on belts from Tli are of a different type. The author divides all the horsemen into several categories differentiated due to the pieces of weapons (spear or bow). The author has analyzed a series of bronze belts (Asche, Lori-Berd, Tli, Odzun, Samtavro, etc.). It is noted that in one case the engraving transfers to the real proportions of the subjects, in the other - is a highly stylized. Some horses are apparently, protected by the arms made of cloth, leather or metal. Some horsemen are shown with the spare horses. For a horseman at the belt from the burial № 76 from Tli burial, M. Castellucia notes many details, including eyes, hair, fingers, whip. From the horse's mouth a human head is hanging, possibly a horseman is holding it on a rope. The bow is called a massive double-curved bow. Interesting observations made with respect to the horsed archers. In her opinion, the appearance of the horsed archers may be associated with the expansion of nomadic peoples from the Eurasian steppes to the middle East. According to her, the zone of origin of these belts is limited to the northeastern part of Armenia and the Samtavro zone in Central Georgia. In addition, usually an image of a horsed archer appears only on the belts where hunting scenes can be unmistakably defined. Basically archers are shown immediately after an arrow is launched. An exception is the belt from Tli burial ground. The author considers a series of vertically arranged lines above their heads to be a hairstyle or a helmet decorated with feathers. In many cases, the shooter has a spare horse. It is likely that hunting lasted long time, if there was a need to change horses. The author notes that appearance of the horsed archers in the Middle East is a subject of discussion. According to a number of images (neo-Assyrian relief from the Northwest Palace of Nimrud Ashurnasirpal II (885-859 BC), the printing of the burial of Tepe Sialk (850-800. BC), the earliest images of the horsed archers in the Middle East should be dated to the time from the third quarter of the IX BC to the VIII century BC.

Images of chariots and of the harnessed horses are not analyzed in this work, although they are present on some belts. The author believes that the earliest appearance of bronze engraved belts on the territory of Transcaucasia can be dated to XIII-XII centuries BC, the time of its greatest distribution is IX-VIII centuries BC. Starting with the VIII century BC, their use begins to decline, and by the VI century BC this tradition disappears [15, p. 56-58,68-70,390-391].

Using the bronze engraved belts originated from the territory of the South Caucasus, as well as observations about horses, horsemen and chariots depicted on them, made by other researchers, mentioned above, we can make the following conclusions.

In most cases, the figures of the horses are not shown realistically, the proportions of their bodies are distorted. The ancient engravers drew particular attention to such parts of the body as neck, trunk, tail. By the features of the image of the latter, some belts may be dated more accurately. In some cases, you can assume, the details of the protective ammunition in the form of blankets, saddles and stirrups were not depicted. The heads of some of them are wearing ornaments or elements of worship. A significant part of the figures, which we can assume as horses, can be recognized only through the drawings of harnessing, while the body parts of these animals cannot be recognized as belonging to the horse (head, ears, legs). It is likely that these are the mythological characters. Probable image of human heads attached, perhaps by the leather straps at the bottom of the harness of the horse, demonstrates a special relationship with them. This custom is not associated with the ceremonies of the Iranian-speaking nomads. The horsemen are shown armed with spears, bows and arrows, and swords in few cases; in some cases there is a protective weapon present, such as armors, round shields, helmets, belts. It is definitely reasonable to state that at the end of II - beginning of I millennium BC the chariots and troops of the horsed soldiers took part in the battles in Transcaucasia. Their appearance has been a product of the internal independent development of society and cannot be interpreted as the influence of the Northern nomads. Significant stylization of images often does not leave space to identify characteristic features of the pieces of offensive and defensive weapons. There are more detailed images of bows and arrows, among which the samples recorded through the archaeological excavations, bas-reliefs and written sources are sometimes recognized. Despite the fact that there are no images of the so-called "Scythian" bow among the bows, some of the drawings suggest that armed horsemen were present complicated onion of so-called "reflective type". In total, at least 3 different designs of bows, different in size, are shown on the engravings. Some of them were the armed and foot soldiers. In some cases, the horsemen had a spare horse. They were absent in those characters that can be interpreted as members of the religious-magical acts associated with the so-called "sacred hunt." The chariots were drawn by 1 to 4 horses, often their shapes are highly stylized, but the images can be traced to the method of harnessing and shape of the drawbar, which can help dating.

The occurrence of the earliest examples of bronze engraved belts, who were of a military-religious purpose, can be assigned to the last centuries of the II millennium BC.

Their most active application is related to the IX - VIII centuries BC. The belt from the burial № 74-b and 76 from Tli burial can be dated to the time not later than the end of IX - first half of VIII century BC.

Prospects for the topic further study

The above material is undoubtedly an important part of the future of a large comprehensive study of the problem of establishing and critical analysis of archaeological sources to study the more comprehensive problem of studying the role and importance of horses for military and religious and magical purposes according to the burial sites and written sources.

To this end, it is necessary to continue to develop a database to further take efforts to study the ritual place and role of the horse in the funeral ceremonies, military operations, including the territory of the North Caucasus.

References

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