BRONZE ARTICLES BELONGING TO THE GROUP OF CHAMPLEVE ENAMELS FROM SITES IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF WESTERN EUROPE

Abstract

One of the most striking elements of Roman period cultures in the the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eastern Europe are bronze items with champlevé enamels. They got their name by a specific geometric ornamentation, in which enamels of different colors were widely used. The set is very stable and in-cludes: jewelry (bracelets, various pendants, chest chains), clothing parts (brooches, buckles and other belt parts) as well as spurs. Some finds of «barbaric enamels» circle are known far from the main area of their distribution – in the south of Eastern Europe in late Scythian, Sarmatian and antiquity cultures burial grounds. Moreover, if the vast majority of forest-steppe enamels are found outside the complexes or in the cultural layer, almost all southern finds come from well-dated burials. The article deals with the issues of chronology and ethnocultural attribution of bronze items belonging to the group of champlevé enamels from sites in the southern part of Eastern Europe. These articles were characteristic of the traditional cos-tume of «northern barbarians» who moved to the southern part of Eastern Europe and Crimea together with the late Sarmatians in late 2nd – middle 3rd centuries A. D.