Hermitage, ground floor, rooms 11-33 also belongs to those organized in the Museum after 317. It contains an almost limitless assortment of objects illustrative of jlture and art relating to the period of the primitive communal system n the territory of the USSR, the collections being formed of archaeoloical finds gathered by several generations of Russian archaeologists.
The earliest exhibits representative of the Old Stone Age (room 1) are stone implements dating from 500000—300000 В. C, found i Armenia on the site of an ancient settlement Satani-Dar in 1947— 349. Artistic conceptions of the people living some 30000—40000 years jo are exemplified by sculptural representations of female figurines and irds, and a bone plaque with a mammoth engraved in outline.
The first steps made by the primitive man in the realm of Art can traced again in the section devoted to the Neolithic period; among the another worthiest here are designs made on stones : the 2nd millennium В. C. found on the bank of the Onega lake, and ilptural representations of animals, of which the most impressive is the ;ad of an elk carved in horn about the same date, found near Sverdlovsk.
Of great historic value is the complex of objects dating from the end the 3rd — beginning of the 2nd millennium В. C. excavated in the Maikop trial mound (North Caucasus). Stone and bronze implements were found ire side by side, which gave evidence to the fact that the burial belong- 1 to the transitional period from the Stone Age to the Age of Bronze, here as the presence of gold vessels and ornaments testified to the comencement of the process of differentiation of the primitive society om 14).
Bronze axes engraved with beasts and designs, and various ornaments Dm the Koban burials (1st millennium В. C.) can be regarded as the ost outstanding representatives of an extraordinary rich collection characterizing the culture of the Caucasian tribes in the Age of Bronze. Hermitage, room 14).
Gold comb crested with figures of Scythians engaged in battle.
Late 5th century В. C. Found in Solokha barrow in the Ukraine.
Of world renown is the Sсуthian collection of the Hermitage. Seven rooms. (Hermitage, 15 — 21) of the Department of Primitive Culture are devoted to various items of greatest historic and artistic value relating to the culture and art of the tribes, named Scythians, which dwelled in the steppes to the North of the Caucasian mountains and of the Black Sea in the 7th—3rd centuries В. C. Of exceptional interest are objects illustrative of the early phase of Scythian art, dating from the early 6th century В. C, which come from the excavations of the burial mounds in the Kuban district. . Hermitage, room 15. Some of them give evidence of the cultural ties — already at that early period —of the Scythians with the peoples of Oriental countries, the others — exhibit a specifically local style. To the latter group belong two gold shield ornaments shaped as a leaping stag and a panther. Both the figures are perfect examples of the so-called Scythian “animal style”, of which the typical feature is a conventionalized treatment of the animal figure combined with the exceptionally keen observation of nature.
Silver vase. 4th century В. C. Found in Chertomlyk barrow near Nicopol
The contents of the fabulously rich Scythian barrows in the Ukraine, known as Solokha and Chertomlyk, illustrate with great completeness different aspects of Scythian culture and art in the 5th and 4th centuries В. C, and give evidence of the close cultural ties between the Scythians and the Greeks in that period. It also presents a unique group of ornaments of exceedingly fine workmanship. A magnificent example of this type of work is a golden comb from the Solokha barrow, crested with figures of Scythians engaged in battle, perfectly modelled in the round. Special mention deserves also the famous silver vase, which comes from the Chertomlyk barrow, near Nicopol, adorned with a frieze depicting in high relief the capture and breaking in of the wild horses of the steppes. Hermitage, room 16).
Cut woollen rug. 5th – 4th centuries В. C. Found in the
1950s in the Pazyryk burial mound in the Altai. Detail.
The Department of Primitive Culture numbers among its gems a unique collection of objects from the Pazyryk burial mounds in the Altai mountains found in excavations carried out in the course of the last thirty years. The material from the Pazyryk barrow V opened in 1949 ( Hermitage, rooms 25, 26) proved to be of most outstanding scientific and artistic interest. The construction of the Altai burial mounds suggested the formation of eternal freezing inside the graves situated in the highland regions, which resulted in a very good state of preservation of objects dating from the 5th—4th centuries В. C. which otherwise would have not survived: wood, textiles, felt etc.
Such is the log-house which formed the funeral chamber; the log-coffin in which the mummyfied body of the chief of a tribe was found; the cut woollen rug, the earliest among those recorded nowadays; the large felt carpet, of some 26 square metres, representing seated goddesses and equestrians; t h e wooden chariot intended for funeral purposes, made without a single nail; horse masks, harness, saddle blankets, of which one was made of Chinese silk embroidered with chain-stich: the earliest example of such fabric known nowadays, etc. This Department posseses also cultural memorials of Siberian origin , of which the most remarkable are gold neck-rings, bracelets and buckles modelled in relief, dating from the 4th—2nd centuries В. C. They belong to the collection assembled by Peter I. These objects were found in the burial mounds of the steppes in the Altai region, between the rivers Ob and Irtysh. They are executed in Scytho-Siberian style and mostly coincide in date with the finds from the Pazyryk barrows as well as with those from the Scythian burial mounds in the Ukraine.