Pavel Popov

Preliminary research of the hand-made pottery from Samosdelka identifi ed several groups of decorations which can be interpreted as stylized images of animals. The largest group comprises stylized images of rams and ram’s horns. Analogies can be found in the ornamentation from sites in the Syr-Darya basin, Semirechye, Afrighid Khorezm, and Kerder. This type of décor found its way to Eastern Europe due to the migrations of the Alanic tribes. The tradition continued to evolve in the pottery of medieval Alanic and Bulgaria tribes. In later times, similar traditions were brought by the migrating Oghuz-Pecheneg tribes. The second representative group of decorative elements comprises images of roosters. The handles in the shape of a rooster’s head have analogies in the pottery of Bulgaria Volga. However, Samosdelka fortifi ed settlement yielded not only wheel-made, but also hand-made items. Hence it is possible to assume that at Samosdelka they had appeared earlier than on the mid-Volga.