Bridle Plaques with Zoomorphic and Anthropomorphic Images of the Nomads of the Southern Urals in the Scythian Time

The article is devoted to characterizing bridle plaques with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images, which were used by the nomads of the Southern Urals in the 6th – 4th centuries BC. The paper presents a summary of these horse ammunition items, which includes about 80 finds. The author proposes a typology of these subjects. Types of bridle plaques are distinguished by a combination of features that characterize the plot, composition and style of images. The items are represented by various types of plaques in the form of predatory and hoofed animals, birds, several species of animals or their parts, fish, and a rider on a horse. All the plaques are divided into four chronological groups in accordance with currently accepted dates of the monuments, where they were found: the late 6th – the early 5th century BC, the late 6th – the 5th century BC, the late 5th – the 4th century BC, the late 6th – the 4th century BC. Thus, nomads used plaques with zoomorphic images throughout the period under consideration. The distribution of types of plaques with zoomorphic images on chronological groups demonstrates both continuity in the nomads’ culture development throughout the 6th – 4th centuries BC and cultural transformations that occurred during this period. The transformations are reflected in changing nomenclature in the category of horse ammunition, style of zoomorphic images (including due to the appearance of plaques indicating links with the Don region, the North Caucasus, and the North Pontic region), and emergence of a tradition to use plaques with anthropomorphic images.