The endpiece in the form of a wild boar head dating to the roman period from the "Golden cemetery": historical context and scientific research

This paper is the first to publish and study in detail a unique find of the Sarmatian period, namely a terminal cast in the form of a wild boar head. It was retrieved from kurgan 15 at the Tiflisskaya Cossack village, Kuban region («Golden Cemetery», excavations by N. I. Veselovsky in 1902) and is now kept in the State Historical Museum in Moscow (Figs. 1; 2). It discusses the issues of cultural and historical attribution and origin of the item. This terminal is considered to be a Roman battle standard; however, the comparison of this artifact with many known images and finds (first of all, banners in the form of a dragon head) has shown that this terminal differs morphologically and technologically from Roman banners. The exception is the find from Eislingen, which is very close to the «Golden Cemetery» terminal in terms of its appearance and, possibly, its functionality (Fig. 3). Ancient authors and modern scholars link appearance of standards that take the form of a dragon head to the Sarmatians-Alans. The technological and XRF-analyses have shown that the discussed item was cast of tinlead bronze using lostwax casting (Table 1). The socket of the terminal was filled with the wood of European hackberry (Celtis australis Linn.) that grows mostly in the Mediterranean, and this tree can be 1000 years old (Fig. 4). A sample of the wood was dated employing the radiocarbon method; the results are not consistent with the archaeological dating. The inconsistency may be explained both by the sample contamination and by an «old tree» effect. Right now it is not possible to determine with accuracy whether this terminal was an element of a Roman battle standard or not; however, the link of this item with the Mediterranean is clear.