A. E. Puzdrovsky, A. A. Trufanov. 2016
The settlement and the adjacent necropolis of Ust’-Al’ma are key sites for the study of the Late Scythian culture of the Crimea. By the 1st century AD, the burials of the local Barbarian elite were accomplished with sets of Roman imports and other precious items. Especially ostentatious funerary offerings are documented in the cemeteries of the population near harbors, where the trade was focused both in western (Mediterranean), and far eastern (Caucasus, Central Asia, China) directions. One of these harbors was Ust’-Al’ma settlement.
The most remarkable burial goods of Ust’-Al’ma necropolis became a core of the exhibition “The Crimea. A Golden Island in the Black Sea” held in Bonn (Germany) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) in 2013 and 2014.
https://culture.voicecrimea.com.ua/en/crimea-golden-island-in-the-black-sea-chronicle-of-the-struggle-for-the-scythian-gold-of-ukraine/
A. E. Puzdrovsky, A. A. Trufanov. 2010
A Bronze Matrix with Image of Zeus from South-West Crimea.
“In 2009, a bronze matrix with image of Zeus [Roman Jupiter] siting on a throne was found in the 1st-2nd century burial on the Ust-Alma necropolis (South-West Crimea) in the catacomb no. 986. The burial was robbed in antiquity. The matrix was intended for production of votive plates. Analogous matrices were well-known in Chersonesos, Thrace and Moesia (2nd—3rd century). Such finds are usually associated with Roman soldiers. The matrix could have been brought to Crimea by Sarmatian tribes who participated in Roman-Dacian wars.
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Dimensions: height – 5.5 cm,
width – 4.2 cm, thickness – 0.4 cm
1 – catacomb 974, burials 4 and 7; 2 – catacomb 974, burial 12;
3–5 – catacomb 977, burial 3; 6 – catacomb 977, burial 1;
7, 8 – catacomb 983; 9, 10 – catacomb 986;
11, 12 – grave 992; 13 – grave 995, burial 1;
14–16 – grave 992, burial 2
(1–3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 15 – bronze, 2 – iron, 4 – glass, 7, 8 – gold; 11, 12, 14 – silver, 16 – bronze, lead). [Puzdrovskiy, Trufanov, 2016]
1, 2 – matrix from a tomb 986 of Ust-Alma;
3 – matrix from Turovaya beam;
4 – matrix from the south of Thrace;
5 — a set of silver votive plates from the hoard in Weissenburg (Germany), 3rd century [Puzdrovskiy, Trufanov, 2010]
Bronze matrix depicting Dionysus (Bacchus) from Chersonesos Taurica [из Туровой балки близ Херсонеса; A. E. Puzdrovsky, A. A. Trufanov], Crimea is dated to the 2nd-3rd century.
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This find is a small bronze plate depicting a standing Dionysus, made in low relief. With his left hand, the deity leans on the thyrsus, and in his right hand he holds an inverted kantharos, to which the panther, a frequent companion of Dionysus, reaches. The deity stands in an aedicule, a small temple, the pediment of which is decorated with a six-pointed star, an openwork acroterium, and antefixes. The space between the figure of the god and the architectural frame is filled with the image of a vine with bunches. Attention is drawn to the careful study of details – the folds of the chiton and shoes.
- A. Puzdrovsky, A. Trufanov. 2010; A Bronze Matrix with Image of Zeus from South-West Crimea.
- M. Treister, Bronze Matrices from George Ortiz Collection
- A. Puzdrovskiy, A. Trufanov, 2016 FIELD STUDIES OF THE UST’-AL’MA NECROPOLIS IN 2008—2014. Edited by V. Mordvintseva https://www.academia.edu/resource/work/34095967
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309124439_PUNCHES_MOULDS_AND_MATRIXES_FROM_NORTH-EASTERN_BULGARIA_AN_ARCHEOMETALLURGICAL_STUDY
https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/thracian-knight-wearing-a-cap-short-chiton-tunic-and-news-photo/143052735
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274335098_Sinope_as_a_Trading_and_Cultural_Agent_in_Thrace_during_the_Classical_and_Early_Hellenistic_Periods
https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/bronze-matrix-for-foil-embossing-from-garcinovo-turgovishte-region-bulgaria-thracian-civilization-6th-5th-century-bc/DAE-88002324
https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/rectangular-plate-depicting-a-knight-with-a-rhyton-in-his-hand-bronze-from-abritus-bulgaria-thracian-civilization-2nd-3rd-century/DAE-89010653
A Bronze Matrix in the Walters Art Gallery, Ellen Reeder Williams, The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery
Vol. 42/43 (1984/1985), pp. 24-31 [ https://ur.art1lib.org/book/47749100/fb1fba] https://www.jstor.org/stable/20169007
https://books.google.pl/books?id=EoVSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PR28&lpg=PR28&dq=Bronze+matrix+the+Walters&source=bl&ots=ndwK1xZygw&sig=ACfU3U3hIxOokJZASW6tYinqpeZCOwCmNw&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik4LqrqYD5AhWEi8MKHV13Dg4Q6AF6BAgkEAI#v=onepage&q=Bronze%20matrix%20the%20Walters&f=false