New Tamga Signs and Elements of Sarmatian Armament and Equipment From Olbia

The series of new tamga signs from the latest excavations in Olbia, among which there are unique signs for the Sarmatian nomadic world are published in the paper. The tamgas are deposited on limestone which was found at a new site T-4 placed on the Terraced city of Olbia. Some signs have analogies on the marble lion from Olbia, in Scythian Neapolis, on the «plate-encyclopedia» from Panticapaeum, and on the territory of Asian Sarmatia. The period of existence of these tamgas in Olbia can be attributed to the second half of the 1st — the 2nd centuries AD. This was the time of close military-political relations between Olbia and the Sarmatians. During this period, the Sarmatian kings Farzoios and Inismeos minted in Olbia gold and silver coins with their generic tamga-sign, and the Olbian ambassadors met the Sarmatian kings in the city. In the upper layers of the site T-4 there were also found the elements of Sarmatian weapons and equipment such as the iron arrowhead, bone arrowheads, and iron quiver hooks, which are unique for the region. Bone arrowheads and quiver hooks have analogies in the Sarmatian burials of the Volga region and could be associated with the appearance of Sarmatian nomads in the Northern Pontic region which can be associated with the appearance of Sarmatian nomads in the Northern Black Sea region, who came in the middle — third quarter of the 1st century AD from the Volga-Don steppes. Objects with tamga signs in Olbia are usually accompanied by iron and bone arrowheads, bow detailes, elements of horse bridle, buckles etc. All of this, in general, is the evidences of the direct Sarmatian presence in the city in the Roman period

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