Abstract: This article discusses the studies of Soviet and Russian archaeologists on the issue of stirrups’ origin and the process of their diffusion to the West, and also introduces some discoveries of early iron stirrups from the territory of Siberia and Volga region. Soviet and Russian scholars mostly focus on such questions as time and place of stirrups’ invention and identification of their creators, as well as the issue of early stirrups’ spread to the West. Typological and technological issues are of secondary importance. Researchers have not come to an agreement on the problem of the existence of stirrups’ prefigurations (including toe loops, stirrups made of organic materials, single stirrups, etc.). As for the question of double sided stirrups’ origin, most of the scholars agree that they were invented by Xianbei people in the northeastern part of nowadays China not later than in the beginning of the 4th century AD, and then rapidly spread to Korean Peninsula and Japan, while the process of the stirrups’ spread to the West is still unclear. Siberian materials are very im- portant for the research of stirrups’ spreading to the West (especially, for the reconstruction of its north-western route). The shape and ornament of the earliest Siberian stirrups to a certain extent imitated the design of early Chinese and Korean stirrups, which were made of wood with the metal coating. Probably, stirrups were brought to Southern Siberia by Ashina Clan in the later half of 5th century or in the first half of 6th century AD, rapidly spread over neighbouring regions and were adopted by local inhabitants.

Cite: Кудинова М.А.
欧亚草原早期马镫研究——基于俄文研究成果与早期马镫传播资料概述
金大考古 (The Archaeological Journal of Kanazawa University). 2025. №85. С.40-53. DOI: 10.24517/0002002954

Translated: Кудинова М.А.
ユーラシア草原の初期鐙研究:ロシア語執筆された研究成果と初期鐙伝播資料に基づく概述
金大考古 (The Archaeological Journal of Kanazawa University). 2025. №85. С.54-68.

Dates:

Published print:	Apr 30, 2025
Published online:	Jun 30, 2025

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