ON THE INTERPRETATION OF ONE TYPE OF HELMET FOUND ON THE TERRTORY OF THE PERMIAN URALS

Abstract

In 1890, near the entrance to the Velsinskaya cave, located in the Cherdynsky district of the Perm province, during the construction of an iron smelter, ancient iron objects were found: a helmet, a sword, and fragments of chain mail. Nowadays, with the development of metal mining, another similar helmet was discovered on the Kama river within the Perm region. This article provides an interpretation of these two early medieval helmets found at different times on the territory of the Permian Urals. The article analyzes analogies to these helmets found on the territory of Georgia (the Byzantine fortress of Peter), in Tatarstan (Turaevsky burial ground), in the Samara region and Tomsk region (near the village of Staritsa, Parabel district). Almost all of these helmets were found outside the context of archaeological sites, which makes Dating them very diffi cult. The analysis of helmet locations has shown that the most likely date of existence of this type of helmet is the V-VI centuries. The ways of penetration into the territory of the Permian Urals are considered. Helmets could get to this territory both as a result of military and political processes, and as an integral part of the" long-distance import " that could go from Byzantium or Sasanian Persia through the Black sea and the Volga further to Kama and Vishera on the territory of the Permian Urals.