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PLATE COMMENTARIES
A1: Alan armoured cavalryman, 5th century
Depicted fighting Huns in the ruins of a Roman town in Crimea, this horseman’s lack of archery equipment shows that he still operates in a style rooted in Iranian cavalry traditions. His ‘splinted’ or lamellar helmet, laced together with rawhide thongs, is of a form which could be found across much of Asia, as far as China and perhaps India, but which was also brought to Europe during the ‘great migrations’ of the early medieval period. He wears a long mail hauberk over a linen tunic, woollen trousers (note broken-line pattern down front), and leather ankle-boots; he has no shield, which was an encumbrance rather than a defence when wielding a heavy spear with both hands. Hidden on his left side is a long, straight sword with a ‘bracket’ slide on its scabbard; silvered bronze fitments would be feasible, perhaps with semi-precious stones on the sword guard. His large Persian horse has a long combed mane, forelock and tail; the harness has silvered bronze ornaments, but the leather-covered wooden saddle lacks stirrups.
A2: Eastern Hun armoured cavalryman, 4th–5th centuries
There were clearly variations between the equipment of elite warriors in different parts of the vast but ephemeral Hun Empire; this warrior represents what is known about the eastern regions. He has a helmet of many directly riveted iron segments, and a small mail hauberk worn beneath a limited form of rawhide lamellar cuirass. He wears silk-covered horseman’s leggings suspended at the front from a belt under his hauberk and tunic, rather than large riding boots. His weapons, apart from a fighting knife hung horizontally in front of his right hip, all hang at his left side. His single-edged sword is a straight ‘palash’ type rather than a curved sabre; his emptied quiver would carry arrows with their flights uppermost, and his bow-case is for an unstrung weapon. He still lacks stirrups, and his saddle, though containing wooden formers, is not yet of the fully wood-framed type. His Turko-Mongol pony has the mane clipped in three tufts, but a long knotted tail.
A3: Western Hun horse archer, 5th century
This dismounted rider from a more western region has a ‘ridge’ helmet which may be of late Roman origin, though now highly decorated with gilt bands in what Romans would have considered a barbarian manner; it also has a mail aventail. His heavy fleece-lined coat hides a mail hauberk, and he wears soft leather leggings with integral feet. Obscured here is a straight, double-edged sword at his left side; its scabbard might have a slide carved from jade and originally from Central Asia. His simple quiver still carries the arrows flights uppermost and thus unprotected, though his bow-case accommodates the weapon when strung.
B1: Khazar warrior, 7th century
The degree of metallurgical and technological sophistication achieved by the still largely nomadic Khazars in the 7th century might suggest some (perhaps considerable) influence from south or east of the steppes. However, in the Byzantine, Iranian, early Islamic or even Chinese empires there is still little archaeological evidence for such features as plate shoulder defences (pauldrons), greaves with applied ‘splints’, or ‘loose-riveted’ lamellar armour◦– but all these features are shown here. Khazar wealth is suggested by the gilded front plate of his directly riveted segmented helmet. His full panoply consists of a single-edged straight sword with a curved hilt, in a brass-fitted scabbard with ‘D’-shaped projections for suspension; a spear with a two-tailed pennon; a leather-covered wooden shield with an iron boss; a composite bow carried unstrung in a brightly painted case; plus (obscured here) a quiver to carry arrows points uppermost, and a large fighting knife or khanjar perhaps made en suite with the sword. This impressive level of equipment would also become typical of some neighbouring cultures, not least the Islamic Caliphate. His horse is protected by full lamellar armour including a chamfron, and a red-dyed horsetail tassel hangs below the bridle. The saddle is of the fully wood-framed type long known among many Inner Asian nomads and the Chinese, and the harness now includes iron stirrups.
B2: Sabirian armoured cavalryman, 6th–7th centuries
This Sabir (Savir) tribal warrior illustrates the sophistication achieved by the Khazars’ immediate predecessors north of the Caucasus. His helmet consists of four large segments riveted to vertical framing and joined beneath a crowning dome; like B1’s, it has ‘eyebrows’ with a nasal bar and an attached ringmail aventail, while lacking a brow-band. His substantial cuirass and upper arm defences are of iron lamellae laced with rawhide thongs, leaving only his forearms and his lower legs in soft leather boots unprotected. His archery equipment is of a form seen across most of the Eurasian steppes, while his single-edged sword is still straight. The apparent tassels hanging from his horse’s crupper strap may be the hair of defeated and captured foes, while just visible hanging from the breast strap is one of a pair of bright bronze discs with simple images of human faces, which may recall earlier head-hunting practices.
B3: Western steppes nobleman, 7th century
Just visible in the background is a rider in everyday dress, from one of a number of ‘relic populations’ left in what is now Ukraine and some neighbouring areas after the great migrations of the 4th–5th centuries. Perhaps Slavic or Germanic, his general appearance and clothing look European rather than from a nomadic steppe culture, but his sword, archery equipment and horse harness show strong Iranian influence.
