SACRIFICIAL COMPLEXES OF UST-VAGILSKY HILL ON THE TAVDA RIVER (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF EXCAVATIONS IN 1970)

In: Vestnik Permskogo universiteta: Perm University herald. Serija Istorija = Series History, Heft 1 (60), S. 39-60

Abstract

Ust-Vagilsky Hill is an unusual cult site in the form of a hill with a diameter of about 50 m and a height of up to 6 m is located in the upper reaches of the Tavda river (Garinsky district of the Sverdlovsk region). All epochs from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages are represented on the hill. Each epoch is characterized by its own features. For the Mesolithic, this is a geometric microlith and an arrowhead on a narrow plate. Ceramic vessels with anthropomorphic images stuck on their corollas were widely used in the Neolithic era. The Neolithic is also characterized by large nucleus and tools on wide (1.5–2.5 cm) plates of light gray weakly siliceous rock. The Eneolithic is represented by ceramic vessels decorated with a variety of geometric patterns from the impressions of a comb stamp, as well as polished arrowheads typical of this era, pendants made of dark red pyrophyllite slate, and the pommel of a mace. The transition period from late Bronze to Early Iron is characterized by ceramics of the Vagil type and remnants of metallurgical production in the form of pieces of slag, baked and crusted clay, and fragments of ceramics. This complex includes ornamental fishing sinkers, individual stone products and a clay stamp, which gives prints of a single-row fine-toothed wave. Among them are arrowheads in the form of wide isosceles triangles and scrapers, from the back and from the abdomen treated with flat retouching. The epoch of the Middle Ages is represented by ceramics of the Zelenogorsk type, an iron knife and bone tools (a dagger, a spearhead, arrowheads and points). The sacrificial character of the complexes is emphasized by the presence of ochre and non-utilitarian products: the pommel of a mace, pendants made of pyrophyllite slate, and individual clay products.