“PROTECTING THE MISTRESS”: A PLAQUE WITH ANTHROPOMORPHOUS REPRESENTATION FROM SHURYSHKARY, YAMAL-NENETS AUTONOMOUS DISTRICT

A cast bronze plaque from Shuryshkary, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, representing a human-like character, is described. It was the central element in a domestic religious complex. The plaque belongs to a little-known type of medieval status markers. Apart from the central anthropomorphous character, it shows two birds and solar and lunar signs. There are also later engravings, apparently made by the owners. The plaque is part of a series of 20 similar status-marking ornaments of the late 1st–early 2nd millennia AD. Four of these likewise depict anthropomorphic characters. Iconographically, the image on the Shusryshkar plaque resembles other medieval anthropomorphic and ornithomorphic representations from northwestern Siberia. Based on the series of parallels, the specimen dates to the 11th or 12th centuries and was apparently manufactured locally, since all the parallels stem from northwestern Siberia. Most such plaques were parts of hoards or medieval and modern sanctuaries of Ob Ugrians. The likely place of manufacture is the northeastern Urals or northwestern Ob basin. The scenes shown on the plaques shed new light on contacts between aboriginal northwestern Siberia and centers of medieval civilizations. 

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