An early medieval mirror with an “inscription” from the Blizhnie Elbany complex (forest-steppe Altai)

Purpose. Important evidence of external contacts of the Altai population in the early Middle Ages is the “imported” items found during excavations of archaeological sites. Most of these products show a different kind of relationship with China. Much more fragmentary is the material evidence of contacts of nomads in other directions. Therefore, it is quite clear that any new information in this regard requires separate consideration and detailed interpretation. This article presents the characteristics of a little-known metal mirror from the collection of the Biysk Museum of Local Lore after V. V. Bianki. Results. The study of the museum documentation made it possible to establish that the mirror was discovered as a result of excavations or collections carried out by M. D. Kopytov in 1924 near the Ust-Bolshaya Rechka village (Blizniye Elbany complex) in the Forest-Steppe Altai. According to the available data, this find, as well as a number of other items, may come from a destroyed burial. The key characteristic of the mirror ornamentation is small circular circles with a dot in the center. The range of analogies to the subject under consideration, which is not characteristic of the material culture of the Altai population, indicates its “western” or Central Asian origin. A kind of “inscription” applied to an object over a circular ornament, probably, is an imitation of an Arabic benevolent inscription. Conclusion. Analysis of the mirror, as well as other objects, presumably originating from the destroyed burial, allows attributing this object to the Srostki archaeological culture and dating within the framework of the end of the 1 st - the beginning of the 2 nd millennium AD with a possible narrowing of the designated chronology by the boundaries of the 10th century AD. A set of items (mirror, two-piece fastener, button, beads, etc.) demonstrates a female burial, built for a representative of the elite of the early medieval society of the Forest-Steppe Altai.