Beads in female burials of the Tarasovo burial ground in Middle Kama region, I-V centuries

Abstract

The paper analyzes the placement of beads and marbles in female burials of the Tarasovo burial ground of the 1st – 5th centuries which is a unique monument of the Middle Kama region. The findings are divided into beads and marbles in accordance to the diameter of a product: beads mostly have diameter of 5 mm or less, whereas marbles have more than 5 mm in diameter. Beads and marbles are the most frequent findings in female burials. They were used in decorating headdresses (tapes, hats, and high headdresses) and belts to hang knives, hooks and other household subjects, carried as necklaces or as embroidery of pectorals and sleeves. Probably, they were used to decorate footwear as well. Local jewelers made wise use of imported beads and marbles for decoration of their own products, such as temple pendants and, rarely, hryvnias. Beads and marbles belong to categories of the most frequent findings as a part of a gift set (a set of jewelry laid in a grave as a gift to the dead). Sometimes necklaces or headdresses were a part of gift sets. Some of them preserved entirely, including their organic basis. All recorded ways of use of beads and marbles have the continuation in the Ural Finno-Ugric people’s traditions of decoration of a suit.