Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
on the Gaymanova mogila bowl ominously holds a
whip in his right hand (Gallery, no. 3).
Protecting the Body
With so many lethal weapons to hand, protecting
the body with shields and body armour was an
imperative.
The essential characteristic of a shield used in
horseback fighting is that it must be light and easily
manoeuvrable but tough enough to prevent, or at
least in inhibit, penetration. The most effective way to
meet both requirements is with wood and leather. A
thin wooden board faced with robust leather is ideal,
the leather providing a resilient surface dulling the
slash of the sword. Shields of this kind were widespread.
The warrior buried at Kul’-Oba in the fourth
century was provided with just such a shield, thought
to have been emblazoned with a great gold stag 0.3
m in length. Similar emblematic gold animals are
known from sixth-century graves at Kelermes and
Kostromskaya and are found as far west as the Great
Hungarian Plain at Zoldhalomputza and Tápiószentmárton,
though it has recently been argued that they
may have been embellishments for gorytoi. The subrectangular
shield carried by one of the seated warriors
shown on the Kul’-Oba vessel also appears to be of
leather stitched to an outer wooden frame, strengthened
with a bar across the centre (Gallery, no. 1).
9.20 (Top) Small shield from kurgan 1 at Pazyryk, made from
rounded sticks of wood threaded through slits in a sheet of leather
to hold them in place in a way that formed a pattern. Shields were
usually attached to the right side of the saddle.
9.21 (Bottom) Small shield from kurgan 3 at Pazyryk made of
rounded sticks attached to a leather base. Transverse sticks were
added to give rigidity.
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