The Item of the East European Champlevé Enamel Tradition from the Tarasovo Cemetery on the Middle Kama

The Tarasovo cemetery is the largest necropolis in Russia dating to the transition from the Early Iron Age to the early Middle Ages. A total of 1880 fully published graves have been investigated (Goldina, 2003; 2004). The interpretation of the materials obtained is still at its initial stage. The attribution of some finds have been changed, and the finds have been placed within a completely different context (see: Krasnoperov, 2015). A long bead from Tarasovo, grave 132 (Fig. 1: 1), was one of the finds that differ from objects characteristic of the Mazunino culture. Its attribution became possible after publication of the items from the Krasnogorsk, Bryansk/Usukh hoards where such long beads are parts of whips, i.e. items of military paraphernalia made in the East European champleve enamel tradition (Fig. 2). The horizon of the champleve enamels is broadly dated to the second half of the 2nd - 4th/5th centuries (Oblomskiy, Terpilovsky, 2007). Assemblages with details of whips date to the second development stage which is around the second half of the 3rd century (Oblomskiy, 2018b). The long bead from grave 132 at Tarasovo appears to have been reused. The assemblage shows a combination of purely local (features of the funerary rite, belt sets, shoe parts) and nonlocal (crystal beads, a fibula) elements, which are Sarmatian based on most analogies. Presently, the grave cannot be dated more precisely than the second - third quarters of the 3rd century. The spread of items made in the enamel tradition far to the east has an explanation (Akhmedov, 2018a); however, it requires to be further and more thoroughly explored.