Spindle whorls in funeral complexes of Varni burial ground of the Polom archaeological culture
Tatiana M. Sabirova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher of Historical research department
Udmurt Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Izhevsk, Russia, lemelon@inbox.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6452-4864
Abstract
The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of spindle whorls from the burials of the Varni burial ground, which dates back to the end of the 5th — 10th centuries. The paper looks into the location of the burials, classifies the types of spindle whorls and gives a planigraphic analysis of the burials. The spindle whorls were found predominantly in rich female burials (24 cases out of almost 700 burials). Most often, the spindle whorls were placed as part of gift sets or hung on a belt. Based on the analysis of accompanying material, all the finds are dated from late Mydlanshai stage of the Polom archeological culture (the last quarter of the 8th — 9th centuries). It is noted that, the spindle whorls in the funeral rite did not identify the occupation of the owner, but had a cult purpose, marking the burials of women who were especially important for the community, which is also confirmed by the opulent richness of these burial complexes.
Keywords
Spindle whorl, funeral rite, Varni burial ground, Polom culture, basin of the Cheptsa River, Middle Ages.
For citation:
Sabirova T. M. Spindle whorls in funeral complexes of Varni burial ground of the Polom archaeological culture. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2023, no. 4 (48), pp. 182—191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2023.48.10.
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