Variants of using onlaid belt plaques of the Scythian period in Southern Siberia and Northern China

Distinctive onlaid belt plaques became common in the second half of the 6th-3rd centuries BC in Southern Siberia (from the Ob region to Transbaikal region) and Northern China. Unlike Early Scythian belt clips, these were non-functional items attached on the external side of waist belt. In burials of the Scythian-like cultures, onlaid plaques usually decorated belts, which is evidenced by their frequent occurrence in the waist area of the deceased and theirfinds on the surviving belts. There are good reasons to believe that in the taiga zone, onlaid plaques were mainly used during rituals at cultic complexes. It has been established that in Northern China, where the most representative and diverse belt sets originated, onlaid plaques (often up to 12-18 items) were attached to belts. Four locations of belts have been identified: in the "working” position from the top across the hips of the deceased, on the top longitudinally, and next to the deceased together with the attached dagger or knife. In burials from Southern Siberia, belt plaques are less common and their sets are much more modest (4-7 items). As a rule, they were placed into male graves. Several cases of plaques on waist belts, including belts in the "working ” position, and belts next to the deceased are known from Tuva. In the Staroaleisk culture (the Barnaul Ob Region), these plaques have also been found in female burials where they functioned as grave goods. Bronze items in female burials are the most heterogeneous, not related to belts, and more closely resemble the items from cultic sites in the taiga zone of the Angara region.