Scythian «lock-shaped» pendants are peculiar decorations of Scythian period bridle. They were used in horse bridle joining various straps, and also serving for their fixing to a bit and psalia. They used to be the decoration at the same time. They are divided into several types according to their shape. Рendants in shape of «locks» were made of iron in the Early Scythian period and of bronze in the Middle Scythian period. Bucket-shaped pendants of the Middle Scythian period were also casted of bronze. Basket-shaped pendants are remarkable for their small number.

Uniquely preserved and decorated sword of the 10th century was found in the course of the Dnipro River near the Khortytsia Island (Zaporizhzhya) in 2001. This artefact is undoubtedly directly connected with the swords, similar in type and period to those discovered during the Dniproges Expedition in 1928. All the findings were located near the strategic Kichkas crossing described in detail by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century. The discovery of a large number of elite swords, in combination with other memorials of this period such as Voznesenovsk encampment fortifications, settlements, and cultic center at Khortytsia raises the issue of the value of this part of the route «from the Varangians to the Greeks» for the history of Rus. The combination of geographical, historical, and archаeological data highlights the issue of the death of prince Sviatoslav Igorovych in March 972 in «the rapids». A comparison of these data with evidence of Chronicles may help establishing the causes and course of the events of the last months of prince's life. The available data allow the authors to form the hypothesis about the existence of the strategic center on the territory between the Kichkas crossing and the Island of Khortytsia in the 10th century. Its recovery was one of the priorities for Prince Sviatoslav after the cessation of the war with Byzantium. It was necessary to ensure the secure trade and smooth functioning of the route «from the Varangians to the Greeks». Such version allows resolving the conflicting interpretation of Sviatoslav's «desperation» adopted by the historians in the 18th century yet, and also bringing us closer to understanding of possible economic causes of the campaign «to the rapids». The discoveries of swords and other artefacts allow the authors to speak about the circumstances and nature of the final battle of Prince's troops. The assemblage of ancient antiquities of the 10th century discovered near Kichkas and Khortytsia is directly related to the genesis of Ancient Rus state.

The article describes the assortment of products made of bone and horns found during the research at Donetsk hill-fort. A big number of bone and horn plates for archer’s equipment, as well as handles from knives and other tools were found here. Some handles were covered with elegant ornamentation, while mainly simple non-ornamented tools were used in everyday life. This fact evidences that these items were possibly produced for sale. Their production in industrial scale is also indicated by the remains of several bone-carving workshops which obviously were custom workshops, serving not only the hill-fort habitants. One of the workshops also specialized on bows production. A favourable location of Donetsk hill-fort on trading roots contributed to the development of its habitants’ relations with other regions. Donetsk craftsmen could perfectly supply the tribes of the Cumans roaming lower at the Donets River with their production. It is evidenced by the findings of similar items in the nomads’ burials in the basin of the Siverskyi Donets River middle flow. Bone ornamented plates for bows, quivers, and bow cases are typical for everyday life of not the habitants of Ancient Rus state, but of the nomadic population. Such trading relations between the habitants of Donetsk hill-fort and the Steppe allow considering from the new points of view the interrelations between the Cumans and Rus which are often presented in historiography as everlasting opposition and the struggle between the settled farmers and the nomads-cattle-breeders.

Abstract In the final chapter of this book we explore this issue and suggest care as a mode of getting on with things. Being a sensitive, responsive, and nondiscriminatory way of attending to things, care involves far-ranging consequences for how we conceive of Stonehenge, an exploded bunker, rusted barbed wire, or a Greek perfume jar in terms of heritage and meaning. Moreover, at excavation sites and in museums and laboratories all over the world, this mode has been essential to our disciplinary practices. It is more appropriate than ever to urge disciplinary confidence. Thus, what is needed today, we conclude, is an archaeology that looks back at its own past with wonderment, approaches it without embarrassment and contempt, seeks to revitalize its important legacy, and folds this into a future vision for the care of things.

Without the dominant character of the freestanding, autonomous human agent to hold the spotlight at the center stage of history, what then becomes its subject? In addressing this question, chapter eight provides an alternative to both the homo-faber myth (thought proceeds action) and to the hylomorphic model of creation (form imposed upon matter) by taking a close look at the making of Fussell’s Lodge, an earthen long barrow, and the design of an ancient Greek perfume jar. Two slogans capture much of our argument: “we have always been cyborgs” and “making can belong to the most humble of things.” Therefore, no entity has a monopoly upon design. The chapter culminates in a presentation of nine archaeological theses on design.

Abstract Chapter three revisits the history of archaeological engagements to tell a different story concerning the formation of archaeology as a recognizable ecology of practices, by which we are referring to archaeology as a specific community and a distinctive habitat. Here, as part of the diverse makeup of this habitat, the missing masses of showcases and diagrams, museum rooms and corridors, institutes and chairs, periodicals and diaries, theodolites and cameras, conference dinners and hotel bars are reintroduced to form a thicker account of how archaeology became visible and normalized as a distinct disciplinary practice.