This article is the publication of a suspended moveable weight for fast scales wrought in the shape of the bust of a Roman emperor which was found within the sanctuary of Eklizi-Burun. The cult place dates from between the Early Roman to the Late Medieval Period. The item is of good quality and well preserved. The depiction of the emperor has a combination of features which permit identification with Tiberius Claudius Nero (AD 14-37). It is an example of the Chiaramonti type distributed in the last decade of Tiberius’ rule and also reproduced after the Emperor’s death. After bringing together the available information about the artefact (date, attitudes to ‘Roman Imperial’ material culture, nature of the find’s context), the authors conclude that the fast scales, of which the weight under discussion formed a part, reached Southern Taurica during the Roman-Bosporan War (AD 45-49). The scales were probably captured by Taurians/Scytho-Taurians from Roman soldiers and then offered to the sanctuary. It is possible that they had been on one of the ships transporting Romans (soldiers of Gaius Julius Aquila stationed in the Bythinia-and-Pontus Province?) in AD 49 along the sea coast, sailing westwards from the Bosporan kingdom. These ships were cast on to the ‘Taurian beach’ by a storm and plundered by the native population (Tac. Ann. XII. 17). One of the possible locations of that event could be Plaka Cape (ancient Lampas), which is situated 17.5 kilometres directly south of the Eklizi-Burun sanctuary.
Metal jewellery used as votive offerings is discovered at the “barbarian” mountain sanctuary of Eklizi-Burun (the Crimea) and dating from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. Most of these items were probably part of female costume known from funerary contexts in the Central Crimea, which differ both regarding their location (in the Crimean Foothills and on the South-Coast), as well as the specific features of the burial rite (“cremation” vs. “inhumation”). A small part of the jewellery is characteristic only for the cemeteries in the South-Coast area containing burials with remains of cremation.An analysis of the cultural environment, in which the jewellery items deposited in the Eklizi-Burun sanctuary of the Roman period were produced and used, suggests that its worshippers came from communities living on the southern macro-slope of the main ridge of the Crimean Mountains and practised cremation of the dead. Apparently, these people appeared in the Graeco-Roman narrative tradition and local epigraphic documents of the Roman period as “Tauri”, “Scythian-Tauri”, and “Tauro-Scythians” inhabiting “Taurica”. They are presumed to have appeared in the Crimean Mountains in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC (migrating from areas with archaeological cultures influenced by the La Tène culture?) and to have maintained their cultural identity until the beginning of the 5th century AD.
Metal jewellery objects discovered at the barbarian mountain sanctuary of Eklizi-burun (Crimea) are dated from the 1 st to the 3 rd centuries aD. Most of these items belong to the female costume known from barbarian funerary contexts of Central Crimea, which differ by their localization, as well as by the peculiarities of the burial rites. an analysis of the cultural niches in which the jewellery items from Eklizi-burun were produced and used suggests that its adherents belonged to the societies inhabiting the Southern macro-slope of the Main ridge of the Crimean mountains and practiced a cremation of the dead. apparently, these people got in the greco-Roman narrative tradition and local epigraphic documents of Roman times the names of "Tauri", "Scythian-Tauri", "Tauro-Scythians" (?). Presumably, they appeared in the Mountain Crimea in the 2 nd or 1 st centuries bC (migrating from the areas of La Tène-like archaeological cultures?) and maintained their cultural identity until the early 5 th century aD.
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