Ornamented Cruciform Plaques as Elements of the Scythian Warrior’s Military Equipment

The paper suggests a hypothesis that explains the function of bronze plates with zoomorphic ornament on the Scythian warrior’s military equipment. It is based of available interpretations and physical reconstruction of the elements of warriors’ equipment and their experimental testing. The paper also reviews cases when cruciform plates and some types of arrowheads and Greek ceramic vessels co-occur in funerary assemblages as well as their chronology and highlights an essential difference between suspension by means of cruciform plates and other methods used to suspend gorytos and quivers of the Scythian period.