Unusual bronze figure pendant from Eastern and Western Siberia (iron age): to problem of interpretation the ornament, the using and the dating

Purpose: The great transcontinental migrations took place in the Eurasian steppe zone since 2 nd half of 1 st millennium BC till the end of 1st millennium AD. These processes were reflected in the material culture of the people who lived in the forest and forest-steppe zones. The mainstreams for penetration of the southern steppe innovations were the valleys of big rivers in Siberia - the Ob, the Yenissei and the Angara. Equally with it there was the latitudinal direction of the cultural interaction between taiga people of the Ob-Yenissei River basin, this interaction was carried out through the main tributaries of the large rivers (including Angara River). The degree of transformation of acquired images, items and technologies was significant. One indication of this process is a type of the bronze foundry figure pendants which were found in the Ob River valley, in Aidashinskaya Cave and in the archaeological sites on the Angara River. Results: The article presents new finds of bronze foundry figure pendants from Ust-Zelinda II site (the Middle Angara River basin), there are also published new pictures of analogical items from Aidashinskaya Cave (Kansk-Achinsk forest-steppe). These objects are kept in custody of the Museum of History and Culture of the Siberian and Far East People, which is belong to Institute of Archaeological and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk city). The pendants were observed with binocular and digital camera in order to find the traces which characterize the features of production and using. There were done morphological and ornamental analyses. The bronze pendants consist of two main parts: a) the figure part with spiral ornaments and b) the «strip» with image in the form of three schematic miniatures on the front side and with fasten elements on the reverse side. Items of varying degrees of closeness were found in Siberian materials of the Early Iron Age (Pazyryk Culture, Altai Mountains) and the Middle Age (Verkhneeobskaya Culture, Ob River basin). Additionally, in the article was presented brief information about 12 similar items that included following blocks: circumstances of the finds; persons who collected or excavated those pendants; places of publication; reconstructible metric parameters. Conclusion: Basing on the results of morphological-decoration, binocular and analogical analyzes we offer to interpret this items as hinged pendants which were positioned with their fasten elements up and figure part down. As the prototype for those items we propose to consider the South Siberian plaques of Scythian period, which were decorated with the stylized image of a griffin. The general morphology and composition of the bronze figure pendant were adopted by people from forest-steppe and forest zone of Yenisei and Ob River valley and Angara River basin. At that, the versions of using and perception of main figure and ornamental images (bird’s heads and anthropomorphic mask) could be considerably changed. Currently, we cannot offer precise cultural and chronological attribution for the bronze pendants. It would be possible to do in further research of technology features and discovery of new informative archaeological sources. The period of the analyzed items is previously defined as the 2nd half of 1st millennium BC - end 1st millennium AD, and the origin of the pendants is considered connected with people of the Siberian steppe zone.