A ceramic assemblage from the Sauar Koban settlement in the context of the Koban-Cholchian cultural and historical community

The paper analyzes a ceramic assemblage from Sauar (the Digori gorge in North Ossetia), a Koban settlement where excavations carried out by the North-Caucasian expedition of the State Historical Museum have been going on since 1988. The excavated section of the settlement is dated to the 5th-4th centuries BC. The analysis of the material highlights the fact that the ceramic shapes (with the exception of some tare vessels) follow the traditions of the Koban ceramic production of the ‘classical’ period. Meanwhile the ornamentation system reveals numerous innovations. All of them have parallels with ceramic assemblages of the Koban-Cholchian community from the preceding period and the period in question. The inference from this analysis is definite Cholchian influence on the system of ceramic ornaments at the Sauar settlement, probably, linked to the arrival of Cholchian potters to Digoria.