The article analyzes the metal linings of Afanasiev wooden vessels, which are an attribute of prestigious Eneolithic utensils. Metal overlays decorated with punch patterns probably symbolize the feminine principle on ritual vessels. The wide distribution of such products from the lower Katun (Gorny Altai) to the middle Yenisei (Khakassia) allows us to consider them as one of the signs of the proximity of Afanasyev complexes in these two regions of the Sayano-Altai. In addition, wooden vessels with metal linings decorated with punch ornaments may well be an attribute of women's burials of the Afanasyev culture, indicating the high social status of the buried.

Keywords: Sayano-Altai, Afanasyev culture, metal lining of wooden vessels, prestigious utensils, Early Bronze Age.

Metal plates from the Sayano-Altai Afanasiev burials have long been interpreted as details of wooden dishes. In Southern Siberia, these objects are found from the lower Katun (Borodovsky, 2006) to the Middle Yenisei (Vadetskaya, 1986, p. 19, Tables 2-7; Gryaznov, 1999, p. 49, Fig. 6 - 8, 20, 21, 25; Polyakov, 2010, p. 154, fig. 9]. Most copper plates are oval in shape and have several holes around the edge for mounting. Products from the middle Yenisei (Itkol II) are equipped with copper studs fixed in these holes. The outer surface of some linings is decorated with a multi-row punch pattern (Fig. 1,1). The edge of the metal plate is bent on one side, which corresponds to the lining of the mouth of a spherical dish or bowl. 1, 2) may have been located on the bottom of the vessel (Polyakov, 2010, pp. 154-155). 1, 3) from the Afanasiev burial site on the Middle Katun River in the Barantal tract (Borodovsky, 2006, p.90) had smooth edges, which is also typical for metal parts superimposed on the mouth or walls of similar wooden vessels (bowls).

Similar details of the design of wooden utensils are well known among materials of the early and advanced Bronze Age in Ukraine [Craft..., 1994, p. 145, 146, Fig. 43]. In log burials of the Dnieper region, the presence of wooden dishes with metal shackles was repeatedly recorded (Otroshchenko, 1984). The shape of these overlays differs somewhat from similar objects of the Afanasiev culture (Figure 2.1), but some of them have punch ornamentation.

According to A.V. Polyakov, a significant amount of fairly valuable copper used for lining wooden vessels of the Afanasyev period of the Sayano-Altai region hardly allows us to consider them as parts made only for the purpose of repair, especially since metal brackets were also known for the early Bronze Age, which were used exclusively for repairing wooden vessels [Craft..., 1994, p. 146, fig. 43,3]. Therefore, metal overlays are obviously a sign of the prestige of the product [Polyakov,

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Fig. 1. Metal linings of Afanasiev wooden vessels from grave 1 of mound 24 of the Itkol II burial ground on the Middle Yenisei (1, 2) [Polyakov, 2010, p. 152, fig. 7, 7; p. 154, Fig. 9,1] and burials in the Barantal tract on the middle Katun River (3).

Fig. 2. A wooden vessel with a metal plate decorated with a punch ornament from the log cabin culture (Podniprovye, Ukraine) [Craft..., 1994, p. 146, fig. 43, 8] (7) and a gold product from Aladja-Hyuk (Asia Minor).

2010, p. 155]. An argument in favor of this assumption is the presence of a punch decoration on some of them. Wide distribution of such products from the lower Kaguni (Gorny Altai) As far as the Middle Yenisei (Khakassia) is concerned, they can be considered as a common element of the Afanasyev culture (Stepanova, 2010, p.180) in these two regions of the Sayano-Altai, although previously such artifacts were interpreted exclusively as a feature of Afanasyev burials on the Middle Yenisei (Ibid., p. 182).

It should be emphasized that the territory of Gorny Altai is characterized by a deep continuity of the tradition of making wooden vessels with overlays made of copper and bronze. A fragment of such a vessel was found in an ancient Turkic fence of the Kudyrgin type of the Early Middle Ages (VI-VII centuries AD) in the Ak-Kooby tract (Kubarev, 2011, pp. 231, 232, Fig. 13). Wooden bowls with metal overlays are also found in ethnographic materials of the Altai Mountains up to the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century.

Among the Scythian antiquities of the Northern Black Sea region of the Early Iron Age, there are also quite a lot of overlays on wooden vessels decorated with punch ornaments [Ilinskaya and Terenozhkin, 1983, p. 115,130]. These analogs of metal linings of Eneolithic vessels of Southern Siberia may seem too remote only at first glance. For a number of containers made of organic materials (wood, horn, leather, birch bark) of the Scythian period, there are prototypes in collections from Bronze Age monuments in the south of Western Siberia. As an example, we can cite flat horn dishes of the early Iron Age, found from the North Caucasus [Petrenko and Maslov, 1999, p. 258, fig. 2; p. 259, fig. 3] and the Southern Urals [Smirnov, 1964, p. 64, Fig. 1, o; 1981, p. 78, Fig. 6, 3] to the Ob-Irtysh interfluve [Polos'mak, 1987, p. 70, 7] and the Upper Ob River [Mogilnikov, 1997, p. 94, fig. 63, 7]. However, one of the earliest such dishes, made from a shovel of elk horns, was found in the andronoid burial complex of the advanced Bronze Age Tartas-1 in the Barabinsk forest-steppe [Molodin et al., 2007, p. 330, fig. 1, b; p. 333]. The natural arrangement of the horn processes on this object is almost completely preserved, which distinguishes it from similar products of the Early Iron Age (Novotroitskoe-1, Markovo-1). The Tartas-1 horn dish is the oldest product of this type, predating the items of Scythian (New Testament II) and Sarmatian (Mosque-Say) times.

Form of Afanasyev's metal podovalny overlays made of Barantal, Itkol II and applied

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the punch pattern on them allows us to make assumptions about their semantic purpose on a wooden vessel. In traditional culture, tanks are often associated with the feminine principle, being its central symbol, attribute and tool [Neumann, 2012, p.339,340]. Based on this, the shape of metal overlays on a wooden vessel and the decor on them may well symbolize the female womb (pubis). In the Middle East, similar images are known on female sculptures of the second millennium BC made of metal [Istoriya..., 1988, p. 43, fig. 10, b] and terracotta [Istoriya..., 1983, p. 403, fig. 107a; Neumann, 2012, p. 131, il. 11].

A pair of metal plates with a punch ornament on the Afanasiev wooden vessel made of Barantal (see Figure 1,3) as a symbol of the feminine principle can also be correlated with one of the images known in the Bronze Age. We are talking about paired female images of the Hittites (see Figures 2, 2), in which the bosoms are transferred and decorated in a similar manner. If this assumption is correct, then a wooden vessel with paired metal plates could well be associated with twin myths. For example, the Hittites have a story about placing twin brothers in a vessel and their subsequent incestuous marriage with their twin sisters. Among the Hittites, there was also a ritual of killing twins after birth, when they were placed in pots [Mifi..., 1991, p. 174, 175]. In the Eneolithic plastic art of the Middle East and Europe, paired female images are known, which are interpreted not only as characters of twin myths, but also as images of a mother and daughter [Palaguta, 2011, p.112]. It should be emphasized that in the traditional environment, a woman perceived herself as a subject and object of mysterious processes and as a vessel of transformation [Neumann, 2012, p. 328]. It is also very interesting that on the ceramic Afanasiev vessels of the Sayano-Altai region, a decorative element is common in the form of a triangle oriented with the top down and filled with relief impressions (Esin, 2010, pp. 57,58, Figs. 4, 6-9). It can also be associated with female symbols.

The very probable presence of signs of female images on wooden Afanasiev vessels with metal overlays decorated with punch ornaments allows us to consider them as one of the first images in the decor of such containers in the Bronze Age. In Scythian times, the overlays of wooden vessels with punch ornaments from the Northern Black Sea region and the Southern Urals show a greater variety of images. Among them, there are fish, griffins, and horses [Korolkova, 2006, p. 170, Tables 1, 9, 10; p. 186, Tables 17, 1-3; p. 190, Table. 21, 3, 14, 16]. Images of wild boars, deer, saiga antelopes, tigers, and horsemen are also presented as part of other techniques for decorating the lining of wooden vessels (carving, engraving) [Ibid., p. 172, Table 3, 8; p. 174, Table 5, 1-9, 12; p. 179, Table 10, 1; p. 182, Table 13, 10; p. 188, Table 19, 1; p. 203, Table 34, 6].

Prestigious wooden dishes with metal overlays can be considered as a specific ("rich") burial inventory, which is one of the signs of socially significant burials in the Eneolithic era [Eneolit..., 1982, p. 239]. It is important to note that metal plates with punch ornaments from wooden vessels come from women's burials of the Afanasyev culture both in the Gorny Altai (Baran-tal) and on the Middle Yenisei (Itkol II). Age of the mound buried in grave 1. 24 Itkol II is estimated at 40-50 years [Polyakov, 2010, p. 148]. This is quite consistent with a mature woman with a high social status, and it could be symbolized by a wooden vessel with metal overlays. This fact is extremely important, because previously men's burials in large Afanasyev mounds were considered socially significant, with stone rods in their accompanying inventory (Shulga, 1993, p. 88). The addition of female individuals to the top of the" social pyramid "of Afanasiev society with appropriate gender attributes raises the question of a certain" dualism " of the Sayano-Altai elite in the Early Bronze Age.

In general, for the early metal age of a number of regions of Eurasia (including the Sayano-Altai and the Black Sea Steppe zone), wooden vessels with metal linings are probably one of the universals reflecting innovative technological trends both in the emerging civilizational centers and on the primitive periphery. However, this feature is not widespread everywhere. For example, in the Eneolithic of Transcaucasia (Kuro-Arak culture), wooden vessels with metal linings are absent. Copper and bronze ware appeared in this region in the W-th millennium BC. However, in the northern foothill territories, as already noted, wooden vessels with metal overlays were common not only in the Bronze Age, but also in the early Iron Age.

Wooden utensils with metal overlays reflect a certain parity in the existence of prestigious tableware between civilizational centers and the primitive periphery in the early metal era. In this sense, the territory of Ancient China is significant, since metal appeared here relatively late, and bronze ritual vessels hardly have their wooden prototypes. Even at the level of imitations of other materials, no wooden containers were found in these products. At a later time

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time - in the early Iron age-among the ritual vessels of the cultures of the Scythian circle of Siberia, there are no imported metal ones from the territory of Ancient China. On this basis, the elite burial complexes of the Scythian period in Southern Siberia are fundamentally different from the Scythian ones in the Northern Black Sea region and the Sarmatian ones in the Southern Urals, which contain imported (Greek, Iranian, Roman) metal vessels. This emphasizes the archaic and traditional nature of containers made of organic materials with a metal finish. In the early Bronze Age in the Sayano-Altai territory, wooden vessels with metal linings decorated with punch ornaments, due to their prestige, could well be an attribute of women's burials, indicating the high social status of the buried.

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