The Kernosivsky idol from Kernosivka in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in the southeastern part of the Ukraine is a most intriguing Kurgan stele, dating back to approximately 2500 BCE and is currently located in the Dmytro Yavornytsky National Historical Museum of Dnipro. The stele was discovered in 1973 after the digging of a trench for a silo, and fortunately it was rescued from destruction by schoolchildren, who unlike the workers who found it, had the good sense to inform the relevant authorities or it would have been lost to history.
Made from sandstone it stands at 3.9ft in height, 14 inches in width and 9.4 inches in depth. It is anthropomorphic in design, featuring the naked body of a man (apart from his belt and shoes), the face having a moustache and deep-set eyes. The man's genitals are exposed and prominent. The bottom part of the stele narrows where it was inserted into the ground.
The stele is covered with numerous symbols: cosmological, martial and agrarian in nature, such as a postulated tree of life on the back, circles and squares above the ribs, seemingly representing the sun and moon, a crucible, hoe, two axes, a bow and arrow, a mace, two horses, turtles and a bull. On one side of the stele is a depiction of a man and woman in congress.
This stele like all similar ones were mounted on top of, inside or around Kurgan burial mounds, serving as a funerary marker. This fact raises the obvious question, who does the stele represent? Is it a depiction of an Indo-European deity as some suggest or a heroic representation of the deceased? Indeed, there are three possibilities:
A memorial to the deceased
This would appear to be the obvious and the most straight forward interpretation. The stele glorifies the elite occupant of the tumulus. After all, to be buried in a mound was an indicator of elite status amongst the early Indo-Europeans. This does not discount the possibility that depiction of the deceased on the stele is of course and idealised one!
A deity or mythic hero
There are unquestionably mythical and sacred elements on the stele, id est the sun and moon symbols and the tree of life. The museum description states that the symbols: 'testify to the ritual, sacred purpose of the stele.' The museum makes the very bold assertion that the stele is an idol and is 'a personification of one of the supreme deities of the Aryan pantheon, possibly a Brahman-priest.'
A deified ancestor
This interpretation takes a more sensible and sober middle ground and it is the one which I am more inclined to accept. Despite the cosmological symbolism depicted on the stele it is in my opinion a very bold statement to assert that it represents a 'supreme deity' on such scant evidence but nevertheless that is the scholarly consensus!
Scholars attribute the stele to the late Yamnaya Culture, a late Copper Age and early Bronze Age culture which dates to approximately 3300 BCE to 2600 BCE and located in the area between the Dniester, Southern Bug and Ural rivers, a culture associated with Kurgan burials (tumuli). According to Indo-European scholar Carlos Quiles (A Game of Clans, 2019, following the published work of Harrison and Heyd, 2007), the Yamnaya package consisted of the following elements:
. Round barrows.
. Single burials in a supine position with flexed legs, often covered with ochre.
. Social status and gender is indicated by the nature of any grave goods.
. The special status of craftsmen.
. Hoards of metal objects.
. The reintroduction of gold and silver metallurgy.
. The new designs of weapons made of copper.
. The domestication of the horse.
. The placing of wooden wagons in graves as markers of social status.
. The use of hair rings made of gold, silver or electrum, decorated bone discs and toggles.
. Cord decoration on pottery.
Such stelae are common across Russia, the Ukraine, Prussia, southern Siberia and further east in Mongolia among the Turkic peoples. They are not unique to the Yamnaya culture but that culture is responsible for the earliest examples. In addition to the wide geographic spread of stelae they were also produced over a long period of time, stretching from the Copper Age to the Middle Ages. Since the onset of the war between Russia and the Ukraine several stelae have sadly been destroyed. Human beings can be replaced but not such important antiquities!
There are also rare examples of stelae found in western Europe, one such notable and early example is that of 'La Dame de Saint-Sernin' in southern France, dated to 3100-2900 BCE, constructed of Permian sandstone and measuring 3.7ft in height, 1.83ft in width and 7 inches in depth. Stylistically it is similar to the Kernosivsky idol but lacking in cosmological symbolism. What I find particularly remarkable is the lack of general literature available on the subject of anthropological stelae, which have the capacity to reveal far more to us about our prehistoric past than simple menhirs, of which there are an abundance of studies available for general readership. I hope to discuss this subject again in future essays.
Kernosivsky Idol, Wikipedia. Owner of the work: Narada Lefv.
No comments:
Post a Comment