Analysis of the Motives and Symbols of the Khatun's Pendant from the Hermitage Museum's Golden Hun Treasure Collection

Abstract

As the famous historian Zeki Velidi Togan asserts, concrete materials are of great importance in history for their role in determining and endorsing written sources. These tangible materials are for the most part appear to be archeological artifacts or monumental buildings. Cognitive anthropology and cognitive psychology enables us to analyze the metaphysical background of these archeological artifacts through examination of motifs and symbols of the period along with the culture they belong to. In this article, as an example of "Gender Studies Archive", we will examine the pendant () (Hermitage State Museum inventory record: 1948/1), which is a part of Golden Hunnic Khatun's treasure coincidentally found in a necropolis in Verkhne-Yablchnoe near Verhne-Kurmoyars in Volgograd (Oblast) region in 1902. The analysis of the metaphysical background of the symbols on this treasure through cognitive anthropology and cognitive psychology and has brought about the such important results. One of them is this object proves that women were valued highly in the 5th- and 6th centuries by the Huns.