Romashko O. Metal cauldrons of the Scythian culture (VII-III centuries BC).

The dissertation is an attempt to summarize the data on metal cauldrons as a separate category of the Scythian material culture and as the semantic phenomenon of the social, ideological and religious development of the Scythian society of the second half of the VII - the beginning of the III centuries BC. The main themes of the thesis are identified as a result of the historiographical analysis of the problem of the Scythian cauldrons in the context of the study of the Bronze-Early Iron Ages and medieval Eurasia. The source base of the work is the most complete compilation of data on the cauldrons of the Scythian culture that significantly determined the positive solution of the dissertation assignments. Methodology, techniques and methods used in the research process provided the consistent implementation of the research from the archaeological heuristics through hermeneutics of the specific material to its synthesis in the form of the historical reconstructions. Using the methods of mathematical statistics and combinatorics the formal typological scheme of the Scythian metal cauldrons on the qualitative (morphological) characteristics and typological scheme according to the capacity which is based on the quantitative characteristics were created. The technological features of production of metal cauldrons were determined, the possible centers in which they were cast, and the possible sources of raw materials were identified. In accordance with the division into periods of the Scythian antiquities existed in the early Iron Age archeology in Eastern Europe the space-time scheme of the spread of the various types of metal cauldrons in the local groups of the Scythian culture of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of the Northern Black Sea and adjacent areas has been determined. The main forms of the use of the metal cauldrons in domestic practice by the Scythian tribes have been identified. Historical and ethnographic parallels allowed us to establish close harmonious relationship between the utilitarian and cult uses of the cauldrons because the killing of animals, cooking of meat and its eating were considered by the ancient Iranian peoples as an act of sacrifice to the gods, for maintaining the space existence and it was always accompanied by corresponding ritual and ceremonial actions. Considerable attention is paid to the definition of the indicator values of the cauldrons in the social structure of the Scythian society and the establishment of in vivo status of the buried with them Scythians. The analysis of the burials of "the keepers of the cauldrons" allowed us to interpret them as the burials of the heads of the kin of different strata of the Scythian society - from the humble origin to the highest aristocratic and royal ones. Keywords: Early Iron Age, Scythian culture, metal cauldrons, chronology, social organization, "the keepers of the cauldrons".