Central European Female Clothing Ensemble from the Burial Mound of the Skorobir Necropolis

One of the indicators of high social status of women in ancient societies is the funerary costume, whose main element is the headgear. In our previous work, we drew attention to several female burials in the first half of the 6th century BC, which featured funerary headdresses adorned with gold plaques of several types. All of them come from the territory of forest-steppe Scythia. During recent excavations at one of the largest necropoleis of the Bilsk hillfort, a burial mound of the last quarter of the 6th century BC yielded another grave of a member of the local elite, whose funerary headdress was decorated with gold plaques. Among the objects placed in the grave was a unique set of Central European leather items (a belt and a cap), which, although not belonging to the funerary costume proper, were nevertheless used in the funerary rite. Being found among sacred objects, the belt and the cap may be attributed to female ceremonial dress, emphasizing the special position of the deceased woman in society. The state of preservation of these items makes it possible to reconstruct their shape; trace a number of features of cut and manufacturing technique, as well as the design of a previously unknown type of Central European headdress of the Hallstatt period; propose their reconstruction; discuss the probable place of manufacture of these unique artifacts and the mechanism by which they reached the barrow necropolis of forest-steppe Scythia; and extend the chronological framework of the period of burials of elite women in this region.