THE WEAPONRY FROM THE SARMATIAN PERIOD IN THE CRIMEA AND ALFOLD

Continuing the series of articles aimed at the making of comparative analysis of the material culture of the populations of the Crimea and Alfold, the authors have addressed the weaponry. The similarity of weapons uncovered in the Crimea and Alfold appears in the same type of swords discovered in both countries (with ring pommels, with no pommel, and with cuts at the beginning of the blade). In Alfold, there are parallels to almost all of the few spear-tips discovered in the Crimean graves. In the Carpathian basin, spears were used as grave goods much more often than in the Crimea, and their tips were much more varied. In the Crimea in the Middle Sarmatian period, they put into graves large sets of arrows, though in the Late Sarmatian period only isolated pieces. In the Carpathian basin, arrows appeared in graves in a very few cases only. In both regions, among the weapons there were specific knives, but the morphology of the Crimean and Alfoldian specimens differ. The residents of Alfold used shields with bosses much wider than the population of the Crimean sub-mountainous area. Pieces of weaponry of the same type do not allow the conclusions of separate contacts between the populations of both countries. These artefacts belong to common Sarmatian types; they could be delivered from eastern European steppes both to the Crimea and Alfold, or locally made according to the samples taken from the steppe.