Veronika V. Murasheva^1,*, Olga V. Orfinskaya^2,**, Anastasia Yu. Loboda^3,***

¹The State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia
² Centre for Egyptian Studies RAS, Moscow, Russia
³ National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow, Russia
*E-mail: vmurasheva@mail.ru
**E-mail: orfio@yandex.ru
***E-mail: lobodaau@mail.ru

Keywords: Rus’ state formation period, paganism, ethnocultural relations, costume history.

The mound of Chernaya Mogila (Chernigov, excavations of D.Ya. Samokvasov in 1872–1873) is the largest (nearly 10 m high) and best-known barrow of the Rus’ late paganism. Among its rich grave goods, an anthropomorphic figurine, the “idol”, is of particular interest. Its uniqueness is due to the extreme rarity of anthropomorphic images belonging to the period of the Rus’ state formation (the late 9th – the early 11th century). Initially, the figurine was covered with such a thick layer of oxides that its features were hardly distinguishable. The first attempt at restoration (1982) revealed some details allowing T.A. Pushkina to attribute it as a product of a Scandinavian craftsman and interpret it as an image of the god Thor. During the new stage of restoration (2010), the original surface of the object was completely cleaned and previously concealed details were uncovered, which made it necessary to resume studying this object of miniature sculpture. The analysis of the details suggests a synthesis of northern and “Oriental” features in the appearance of the “idol” and makes it possible to assume that the figurine was created in the territory of Eastern Europe.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630004119-9