Okorokov K.S. Belt Buckles and Plates in the Burial Complexes of Central Asia in the 2nd Century BC and the 1st – Beginning of the 2nd Century AD
Konstantin S. Okorokov, Junior Researcher, Institute of Archaeology Russian Academy of Sciences, Dm. Ulyanova St, 19, 117292 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Abstract. This paper deals with belt sets made of various materials, decorated with inlays and/or engraved images of animals, originating from the territory of Central Asia. The vast majority of such sets were found in burials of the 2nd century BC and 1st – beginning of the 2nd century AD, which have signs of the Early Sarmatian funeral rite. These include the shape of the grave pits, the stable orientation of the buried to the southern sector, the placement of the foreleg and shoulder blades of small cattle in the burial chamber as funerary food, as well as a specific set of equipment, which shows the Eastern “innovations” characteristic of the final stage of the Early Sarmatian culture. Among such innovations are belt sets, both of Central Asian origin and made among the nomads of Asian Sarmatia under the undoubted influence of Central Asian examples. It is noteworthy that similar belt buckles and plates in Xiongnu complexes often are part of the decoration of women’s costumes, but in the territory where early Sarmatian monuments are found, they occur in high-status military burials. The analysis of archaeological complexes with belt sets allows us to divide them into two chronological groups: the 2nd –1st centuries BC and the 1st – beginning of the 2nd century AD. The early group (possibly extending into the 1st century AD) includes bronze openwork buckles with zoomorphic images and buckles and plates made of jet, as well as bone and iron buckles in the form of a rectangle or an elongated trapezoid. In the burials of the first centuries AD, there are a few belt sets with lavishly decorated ellipso-square horn plaques, the design of which includes ornamental motifs from the previous period.
Key words: Central Asia, Sogd, Khorezm, belt set, zoomorphic and jet buckles, Early Sarmatian culture, Xiongnu, military burials.
Citation. Okorokov K.S., 2026. Poyasnye pryazhki i plastiny v pogrebal’nyh kompleksah Sredney Azii vo II v. do n.e. – I – nachale II v. n.e. [Belt Buckles and Plates in the Burial Complexes of Central Asia in the 2nd Century BC and the 1st – Beginning of the 2nd Century AD]. Nizhnevolzhskiy Arkheologicheskiy Vestnik [The Lower Volga Archaeological Bulletin], vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 88-114. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2026.2.4
Belt Buckles and Plates in the Burial Complexes of Central Asia in the 2nd Century BC and the 1st – Beginning of the 2nd Century AD by Okorokov K.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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