草原地帯東部における帯飾板の様相

Abstract

It is well-known that examples of similar material culture, like the so-called “Scythian Triad, ”penetrated throughout the Eurasian Steppes in the 1st millennium B. C. Although some researchers once thought this similarity was the result of production by a single ethnic group, recent excavations in various areas have revealed that tumuli and other artifacts differ depending on their location, and this makes the assumption of a single group of people being responsible for these similarities in material culture untenable. The development of material culture on the steppes can only be understood today through a detailed study of mutual relations and influences among different areas. Adopting such a viewpoint, the author has focused on belt ornaments while studying mutual influences and intermigrations among areas in the eastern half of the Eurasian Steppes. This paper focuses on belt relief plaques, which are found in several locations in the eastern part of the region, and which have been recognized as prime objects for the study of interregional relations. Nevertheless, previous studies focused on relief plaques from the Great Wall Region and their diffusion to other areas, and few have taken a broader view and studied relief plaques from several different areas to compare regional variations and to analyze relief plaques from across the entire eastern half of the Eurasian Steppes. This paper thus collects relief plaques from such areas as Tuva, Mountainous Altai, Upper Obi, the Minusinsk Basin, and the Great Wall Region and compares them in light of three points : planar forms and decorations, material composition and production techniques, and method of assembly. The result indicates that every area differed from every other in all the points noted above. In addition, the fighting-animal motif, which shares a similar composition and was widely spread, showed direct influence between areas only in rare cases, and each area displayed its own unique quality. This indicates that when relief plaques were defused, each area did not simply accept another's influence but also maintained its own originality.