An Unusual Bronze Figurine from the Samartai Museum, Yakutia: The “Thing-in-Itself” and Semantic Content

An Unusual Bronze Figurine from the Samartai Museum, Yakutia: The “Thing-in-Itself” and Semantic Content Full article

Journal

Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia
ISSN: 1531-832X , E-ISSN: 1563-0110

Output data

Year: 2025, Volume: 53, Number: 2, Pages: 45-53 Pages count : 9 DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.045-053

Tags

Samartai Museum, cast ritual items, winged bear, bird with mask on the chest, Western Siberian animal style, shamans

Authors

Bravina R.I. ¹ , Dyakonov V.M. ²

Affiliations

1	Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
2	Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences

This article presents a rare bronze idol—a winged bear with an anthropomorphic mask and a bear head on the chest. The artifact was found in the Khangalas Ulus (district) of Yakutia and is kept in the Samartai Museum in the village of Kerdem. The search for parallels led to a wide range of Early Iron Age and medieval cultures of the Western Urals and Western Siberia. Similar composite images are common among cast ritual items relating to the Pechora, Perm, and Western Siberian animal styles. Chemical analysis showed that the sculpture was made of tin bronze with the addition of iron. This bronze idol could have been brought to Yakutia by tradesmen or Cossacks. While being quite unusual for Yakutia, it could have been used to represent a patron spirit or aid in shamanic or domestic rituals, being consonant with Yakut religious, specifi cally totemic beliefs, as evidenced by numerous ethnographic sources.

Bravina R.I. , Dyakonov V.M.
An Unusual Bronze Figurine from the Samartai Museum, Yakutia: The “Thing-in-Itself” and Semantic Content
Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia. 2025. V.53. N2. P.45-53. DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.045-053 Scopus OpenAlex

Submitted:	May 2, 2024
Accepted:	Aug 26, 2024

Scopus:	2-s2.0-105012118350
OpenAlex:	W4412094502

Пока нет цитирований