The anthropomorphic stone stelae found in the Ukrainian steppe, with some finds extending the area to Moldavia, the northern Caucasus (Southern Federal District) and the area north of the Caspian Sea (western Kazakhstan), date from the Copper Age (ca. 4000 BC–2000 BC), through the Cimmerian period and Scythian and Sarmatian times to the early Slavs of the 1st millennium CE. They were first described by Erik Lasote, ambassador to emperor Rudolf, in 1594, who recorded

"seven beacons, images cut from stone, and they numbered more than twenty and were standing atop the kurgans or barrows".

Copper Age and Bronze Age

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The earliest of these stelae date to the 4th millennium BC, and are associated with the early Bronze Age Yamna and Kemi-Oba cultures (see Kurgan). They number in the hundreds, most of them very crude stone slabs with a simple schematic protruding head and a few features such as eyes or breasts carved into the stone. Some twenty specimens are more complex, featuring ornaments, weapons, human or animal figures etc.

Cimmerians

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The Cimmerians of the early 1st millennium BC left a small number (about ten are known) of distinctive stone stelae. Another four or five "deer stelae" dating to the same time are known from the northern Caucasus.

Scythians and Sarmatians

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From the 7th century BC, Scythian tribes began to dominate the Pontic steppe. They were in turn displaced by the Sarmatians from the 2nd century BC, except for in the Crimea, where they persisted for a few centuries longer. These peoples left carefully crafted stone stelae, with all features cut in deep relief.

Early Slavs

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Stelae of early Slavic deities are again more primitive. There are some thirty sites of the middle Dniestr region where such anthropomorphic idols were found. The most famous of these is the "Zbruch idol" (ca. 10th century), a post measuring about 3 meters, with four faces under a single pointed hat (c.f. Svetovid). Boris Rybakov argued for identification of the faces with the gods Perun, Makosh, Lado and Veles.

References

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• D. Ya Telegin, The Anthropomorphic Stelae of the Ukraine (1994).

European archaeology | Ukrainian culture | Megalithic monuments | Indo-European | Sculpture | Bronze Age | Prehistory