Гермовидные средневековые изваяния Среднего Подонцовья: вопросы интерпретации и хронологии

In: Stratum plus: archeologija i kulʹturnaja antropologija = Stratum plus : archaeology and cultural anthropology, Issue 5, p. 233-244

Abstract

The paper considers a group of medieval statues with traces of processing along
the entire length, but without hands and feet, which makes them similar to ancient
herma. Hairstyles, headdresses and pectoral decorations depicted on them are similar to
the costume details depicted on full-figure statues that are associated with the Cumans.
At the same time, some elements of the costume cannot be understood without knowing how
these elements were depicted on full-figure statues. Medieval sculptures played an
important role in the funerary and post-burial rites of the nomads, and thought to be
"substitutes" of the deceased. Probably, during the rituals, the clothes of the deceased
were put on hermetic statues, and the sleeves replaced the missing image of the hands.
Unusual is the absence or a schematic representation of the vessel on the herma-shaped
sculptures, since the vessel is interpreted as the "receptacle of the soul" of the
deceased ancestor. Apparently, this is due to changes in the religious worldview of the
nomads as a result of socio-political upheavals in society. All of this points to the
late dating of the herma-shaped sculptures. They probably appeared in the second half of
the 13th century along with the influx of a new population and continued to exist until
the beginning of the 14th century, when Islam replaced pagan rites among the nomads of
the Eastern European steppes.