 |
|
About the Project
|
|
|
The study and publication of the finds from Chingul Kurgan is a collaborative effort
of specialists in archaeology, history, and the history of art. The original
excavation, conducted in 1981 near the village of Zamozhne in the Zaporizhska oblast
of southern Ukraine, uncovered the grave of a nomadic khan, the leader of the Turkic
steppe people known in Slavic sources as the Polovtsy, as Qipchaks in Islamic sources,
and as Cumans in Greek and Latin texts. This people dominated the steppe zone of
western Eurasia from the end of the eleventh century until the Mongol invasion of the
1230’s. The Polovtsian khan’s burial was inserted into a kurgan, or burial mound, of
the late Bronze Age, which was reused and enlarged for the purpose. The body of the
khan, along with his arms, armor, and other grave goods, was placed in a large wooden
sarcophagus in the heart of the mound. Along with the body itself, the kurgan
contained the remains of five horses, four of which wore elaborately decorated saddles
and bridles, and ten sheep sacrificed as part of the burial rites.
|
|
Supported by a Collaborative Research Grant from the Getty Foundation, our research
is geared towards understanding how this impressive array of works of art arrived in
the possession of a steppe nomad and how they might have been used and interpreted as
expressions of power of a leader on the borders between the Mediterranean and
Eurasian worlds. At the most basic level we hope that our publication will establish
the provenance of the objects and the routes by which they arrived in the Pontic steppe.
By means of our research, we can demonstrate through a concrete scenario the relations
of gift-giving, cultural appropriation, and hybridity that have recently emerged as
leading theoretical categories within art history. Within a historical context,
the find also presents a highly focused glimpse of the intersection of Mediterranean
World, Central Europe, Rus’, and Asia prior to their transformation by the invading
Mongols.
|
|
|
While a number of Qipchak burials have been excavated, none so far discovered has
contained anything like the richness and breadth of the finds from the Chingul Kurgan.
The khan was buried wearing silk garments elaborately decorated with gold embroidery,
pearls, and silver-gilt appliqués, and at least two other changes of clothes were
placed with him in the grave. His suit of arms was similarly luxurious, bearing
applied silver-gilt plaques and woven silk trimmings. Among the objects that
accompanied him in death were two silver-gilt cups, one with enameled decoration of
Byzantine type, the other an exceptionally large covered cup with an internal, cast
figure of a rampant lioness. Ceramic vessels of Byzantine and Syrian types complete
the ensemble. The objects cluster around a date in the late twelfth or early
thirteenth century, but their geographic span is remarkable: products of Islamic
Syria, Byzantine Asia Minor, Kievan Rus’, and Romanesque western Germany are all
represented in the ensemble.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|