Two Late-Roman-Period Figurines from the Sub-Mountainous Crimea (The Archaeological and Mineralogical Research)

This paper presents the results of research conducted on two anthropomorphic chalk figurines. These artefacts were unearthed from the burials dating back to the Late Roman Period and were unearthed at the cemeteries of Neizats and Opushki. Analogous figurines of white rocks occasionally occurred in Sarmatian burials, predominantly among females and children. Mineralogical and micropaleontological tests of both figurines were undertaken to determine potential sources of raw materials. It has been discovered that the idol from the cemetery of Opushki is made of the Kuma Formation carbonates of Middle Eocene; the coccolithophorid limestones of the lower part of the Kuma Formation of Kazan-Tash Mountain are the most probable location where the raw material was taken. As for the figurine from the cemetery of Neizats, the age of its carbonate rock is estimated as Middle Turonian; the nearest outcrops of these rocks are well known in the valleys of the Bodrak and Biyuk-Karasu rivers. The results obtained by the research uncover that the communities that created the cemeteries of Neizats and Opushki possibly led a mobile life, moving along closed routes, leading them several tens of kilometres away from the places where their tribespersons were buried

Carbonate · Carbonate rock · Outcrop · Period (music · White (mutation