Gold-Plated Earrings and Personal Items from a Medieval Burial on the Idzhim River (Western Sayan, Usinsk Basin)

Purpose. The results of the analysis of personal inventory from a medieval burial of a woman and a newborn child in mound 4 of the Sayany-Pogranichnoye-4 burial ground accompanied by a horse skin are introduced into scientific circulation. Results. The burial ground is located at the source of the Idzhim River flowing in the Usinskaya Basin, which was captured by the Yenisei Kyrgyz as a result of the war of 820–840. Bronze gilded earrings with a long pendant have close analogies from the set of jewelry from elite female burials with one or two horses from the territory of the Altai Mountains and Mongolia. A fragment of a mirror cast from copper with a high tin content has preserved part of the ornament known as “grape”. “Grape” mirrors were popular with the Tang aristocrats in the 7 th –8 th centuries. To date, 63 copies of similar mirrors have been discovered in different parts of the steppe belt under random circumstances. Only 7 items were found in rich female burials, and all of them were made of an alloy with a high tin content. According to radiocarbon data, the burial is dated to the second half of the 9 th – early 13 th centuries (862–1224). Comparative typological analysis allows us to attribute the earrings and a fragment of the mirror to the 8 th –10 th centuries.Items of riding horse equipment, information about which is not included in this publication, also date back to this period. Conclusion. In ancient Turkic times, a combination of gold or gilded earrings, a Chinese “grape” mirror, a spindle whorl and a knife constituted a typical burial set of a noble woman among the peoples of Southern Siberia and Mongolia.