«Андроновский» головной убор с накосным украшением: реконструкция, символика и происхождение
«Andronovo» headgear with braid decoration (nakosnik): reconstruction, symbolism and origin

Summary/Abstract: The female costume of the Andronovo culture of the 2nd millennium BC is represented by finds of jewelry sets and fragments of textiles and leather. There are known about 30 investigated burials with remains of women’s headgears originated from the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes. A headgear is the main element of the Andronovo culture costume, which designated the head’s top as a place of concentration of vital energy. It indicated the age and social status of the buried woman. The headdress had a ritual significance and participated in the rites of transition (child’s birth, wedding, and funeral). According to the archaeological data of the steppe Bronze Age cultures, an early version of braid’s decoration appeared in the Abashevo culture. The Abashevo culture of the Volga-Ural region influenced to the development of the Sintashta culture. The artisans of the Sintashta culture transformed the nakosnik (braid decoration). An analogy of the nakosnik is noted in the clay figurine of “Kličevački Idol” (4th-3rd mil. BC) from the Serbian Danube region. A hanging jewelry set is depicted on the backside. There are images of decorative ornaments on the back of clay female figurines of the Bronze Age culture Dubovac - Zuto Brdo - Gârla Mare. They resemble jewelry similar to Andronovo culture braid’s decoration. It is possible that the female nakosnik appeared independently of each other in the cultures of Carpathian-Balkans and Ural-Kazakhstan steppes at the beginning of the 2nd mil. BC. The headgear with nakosnik is an element of the collective memory of the nonwritten period of history.

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