Tagar bits from count zichi collection (hungary)

Abstract

The Tagar culture of the Minusinsk basin has long been considered the most well-studied in Siberia. A large number of bronze products were discovered during excavations and collections in the XVIII-XIX centuries, some of which entered the collections of domestic and foreign collectors. They are identified to date both in Russia and abroad. One of them is the collection of Count Zichy from the Ferenc Hopp Museum (Hungary), which houses a significant number of bronze products, including ten bronze bits acquired in the Minusinsk basin. Analysis of these bits shows that they reflect the specifics of the Minusinsk basin and the evolution of bits throughout the (IX) VIII-VI centuries BC. It is obvious that this is not an accidental acquisition, but a conscious selection of different types of bits.

It is interesting that unlike other products, horse equipment is practically not found in Tagar burials. According to reports, most bits and cheekpieces were found by peasants on arable land, but it is not quite clear how they ended up in plowed areas outside the mounds. The existing assumptions about the initial placement of assembly parts in butts and commemorators separate from mounds have not yet been confirmed. One way or another, the well-known and newly identified details of horse equipment in the Minusinsk basin indicate the existence of one of the early centers of horse development there, which in the second half of the VII — first half of the VI centuries BC had an indirect influence on horse equipment of the cultures of Northern China.