Early slavonic female attire of the roman and early medieval periods (problems of sources analysis)

The article examines the current state of the study of jewellery and clothes accessories as an important source of information regarding the costumes of the Slavs during the early stages of their history. Two jewellery assemblages related with the Early Slavonic cultural milieu are discussed: the complex of artifacts from the range of East-European enamelled ornaments of the 2 nd-3 rd cc. AD, and the adornments from the Early Medieval hoards of the Dnieper region existed between the late 6 th - early 7 th c. and the first half of the 8 th c. AD. The enamelled ornaments are found on sites of the Zarubint-sy and Kiev cultures. They point to the probable involvement of the Proto-Slavic population in the general processes underway at the end of the Roman period in a considerable part of the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe. The second range of finds is considered as an indication of the existence in the middle reaches of the Dnieper of a poly-ethnic power structure or as a result of the activities of certain craft centres with common artistic and production traditions. Most of the analysed artefacts are stray finds or come from hoards, which complicates the interpretation of the objects. The question as to the possibility for using items from inhumation burials for reconstructions of Early Slavic female costume remains an open one, since such burial rite was not of Slavonic character. Prospects for further investigation of the costumes of the Dnieper valley population in the Roman and Early Medieval period require not only surveying of new findspots, but the use of new analytical methods, including those applied in natural and technical sciences, and also the comparison of the results obtained in the study of jewellery and other aspects of the Early Slavs' material culture.