HORSE-HARNESSFROM THE NOMADIC BURIAL NEAR THE VILLAGE OF YASHKUL IN KALMYKIA AND THE EAST CELTIC HELMETS IN EASTERN EUROPE

The article is devoted to the analysis of the Sarmatian burial complex from Kalmykia which yielded a bridle set, including a silver breast plate made of secondary used overlay of the neck guard of the helmet of Novo Mesto type which can be dated no earlier than the second quarter of the 1stcentury BCE, possibly the middle or second half of the century. In this connection the elements of the bridle set are analyzed to establish the date of the burial, which seems to be in frames of the second half of the 1stcentury BCE — early 1stcentury CE. The results of Pb-Pb isotope analyses of samples of the neck guard and one of the phalerae allowto suggest that the metal of the objects originate either from the Western Rhodope Mountains or from the deposits of Baia Mare ore district. In the case of the phalera the origin of the metal can be identified more reliably as the deposit of Eastern Rhodope mountains. Further discussed are the finds of iron helmets of the Eastern Celtic type in ritual hoards in the Lower Don and Kuban regions and those of late variants of the Novo Mesto type, coming from a cremation burial ground near the village of Mutin on the right bank of the river Seim.