THE BRONZE SHIELD FROM THE BURIAL OF A MEDIEVAL ARCHER IN THE KUZNETSK DESPRESSION
A number of works written by leading Siberian weapons experts are devoted to the classification of this piece of personal armour. Issues of weapons development played a significant role in the lives of the medieval people in the South of Western Siberia. One of the most frequently encountered categories of inventory in the burials of nomads includes ranged weapons: parts of bows, arrows, quivers. Yu.S. Khudyakova [1980, p. 118] and VV. Gorbunova [2006, p. 35-62]. However, bow sets are not limited to bows, arrows and quivers. There are also other parts of archery equipment known from the nomadic antiquities of the Volga region, such as archers’ rings and pavises [Rudenko, 2005, p. 27-35], items that have never been found in the South of Western Siberia until recently. During his exploration of burial ground 3 from mound 3 of Konevo, A.M. Ilyushin [2012, p. 37] found a bronze plate, which he believed belonged to plate armour. However, further study of the objects found in burial ground 3 of mound 3 of Konevo, raised doubts whether this attribution of the excavated bronze plate is justified. Acquaintance with the materials of burial 3 of mound 3 of the Konevo burial ground, raised doubts about such an attribution of the revealed bronze plate. Keywords: medieval nomads, archeology, bow, arrows, protective shield, pavise, gastagna, archer, Kuznetsk Depression