Swords and Daggers Without a Metal Pommel from the Meotian Sites of the Right Bank of the Kuban

Abstract

The article is devoted to typology and chronology of swords and daggers without a metal pommel from the Maeotian cemeteries of the right bank of the Kuban. We took into account 57 pieces of this type of weapon from closed complexes. In this paper, we use the typological scheme of A.M. Khazanov, developed on the materials of the Sarmatian armament. The Maeotian swords and daggers of mentioned group are divided into three types: 1 – swords and daggers with a rain-guard; 2 – swords and daggers without a rain-guard, the blade and the hilt make an obtuse angle; 3 – swords and daggers without rain-guards, the blade and the hilt make a right angle. Metal tangs of hilts differ by shape and size; thus they are divided into two variants: “a” – rectangular or triangular; “b” – a long pin. The swords of the “a” variant had wooden overlays on the handles, sometimes fastened with rivets or winding, and the handles of the “b” variant swords were mounted on a tang. Chronological dating of the burials indicates that bladed weapon of this type appears among the Maeotians of the Kuban right bank in the beginning of the 1st cent. AD and remains there until the middle of the 3rd cent. AD. And the main time of its use is the 1–2 cent. A.D. Swords and daggers of all types from Maeotian assemblages have existed at the same time, just like ones from the Sarmatian burials of the Lower Volga region. But, unlike the Sarmatian sites with no predominance of any particular sword type, the Maeotians show clear advantage of type 2 blades.