“The Caucasus, despite the numerous finds of antiquities made there, is still far from being studied, and we can confidently say that it prepares many surprises for the future, since what has been found there already amazes with scientific interest and unexpected phenomena,” he wrote in 1910 V. A. Gorodtsov [1. P.252]. This assessment of the venerable archaeologist retains its significance in our time. Including in relation to the monuments of ancient writing. Suffice it to recall a sandstone tile found in 1960 in the Maikop region with a mysterious inscription, which was interpreted by G. F. Turchaninov as a monument to the Colchian - ancient Abkhaz writing of the 13th - 12th centuries. BC. on the basis of pseudo-hieroglyphic biblical writing "somewhat of a peculiar form" [2, SP, Table V, 1].
This publication aims to introduce into scientific circulation one more mysterious inscription from the territory of the North Caucasus. Unfortunately, there is more unclear here than clear, but postponing the proposed information seems inappropriate.
In December 1992, in a house located at the corner of Mayakovsky and Chernoglaz Streets in the city of Vladikavkaz, the basement was cleaned of garbage. This two-story brick house, most likely erected at the end of the 19th century, is known in Vladikavkaz as “Bulgakov's house”: the outstanding Russian writer MABulgakov lived here in 1920-1921. In the garbage thrown out of the basement, a fragment of a clay disk was found, covered on one side with incomprehensible signs. The unknown discoverer brought the item to the North Ossetian Republican Museum of Local History, where it fell into the hands of the archaeologist E. S. Cherdzhiev, who handed over the Ossetian Institute of Humanitarian and Social Research. Information about the circumstances of the discovery was at the same time kindly communicated by E. S. Cherdzhiev. After visual examination, the disc described was returned to E. S. Cherdzhiev and is kept with him.
The Vladikavkaz disc is made of pure light brown clay, with a board imprint on the reverse side. The disc-shaped shape of the object is evidenced by the preserved rounded edge, which makes it possible to reconstruct the diameter of the disc - 10 cm. The thickness in the center is 1.1 cm, along the edges the disc becomes thinner to 0.5 cm, the chips are covered with a patina of light color and give the impression of the ancients. The size of the preserved fragment from the edge to the center is 5 cm, along the edge - 5.2 cm (Fig. 1.7).
On the front side, before firing, three concentric circles were drawn on the raw clay, dividing the surface of the disc into four circular fields. The width of the field along the edge of the object is 1.3 cm, the second behind it is 1.0 cm, and the third is 1.2 cm. The width of the fourth field is not established due to damage. The fields are divided by short vertical lines into sectors, inside which are placed signs, carved in raw clay, numbering from three to five. It can be assumed that the signs are hieroglyphic symbols, and individual words or phrases are enclosed in the sectors. There is little doubt that we are dealing with writing.
At the first glance at our fragment, it became clear that the closest analogy to it can be seen in the well-known clay Phaistos disc from the island of Crete. The Phaistos disc was also concentrically cut into four fields, divided by vertical lines into sectors filled with hieroglyphic signs [3, Photo 64.2]. The disc from Festus was found in 1908 by Arthur Evans during the excavations of the palace, along with vessels from the Middle Minoan III period and a square tablet with an inscription in Linear A, dating from the 17th century. BC. According to J. Pendlebury's description, the disc from Festus has a diameter of 16 cm, the inscription runs spirally from edge to center, each sign is imprinted with a stamp, the inscription is read, apparently, from right to left [3, p. 191]. Thus, the Phaistos disc differs from the described fragment in a significantly larger diameter and in thatthat the signs on the disc from Festus are written in letter matrices. In addition, the Phaistos disc has an inscription on both sides, while the disc from Vladikavkaz is covered with signs on one side.
The Vladikavkaz fragment of a clay disc, similar to the famous disc from Festa, is so unexpected and striking that the question of its authenticity immediately arose - its local origin is excluded. Isn't the Vladikavkaz find a fake, for example, of the 19th century? This issue is fundamentally important and must be considered. Although it is difficult to admit such a level of knowledge of the Cretan-Mycenaean writing by falsifiers of antiquities. Nevertheless, there is room for doubt.
Unable to carry out laboratory analyzes of the wreck, which would be important to confirm the authenticity of the find, I turned to Greek scientists for advice. With the kind assistance of the anthropologist prof. Arisa Pulyanosa, a specialist in Cretan-Mycenaean writing, Efi Poliyanaki, was familiarized with the find from Vladikavkaz by photography and description. She performed the first publication and interpretation of the subject, which allows me to present this amazing find to Russian science. What are the conclusions of E. Poliyanaki?
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The similarity with the Phaistos disc is beyond doubt. E. Poliyanaki compares it with a fragment from Vladikavkaz and comes to the conclusion that both inscriptions use the same graphic system, but if the inscription from Festus is "typographic" (meaning the use of matrices), then the inscription from Vladikavkaz is handwritten. As a result, on our wreck, the repeating signs are written somewhat differently. The find from Vladikavkaz “represents not only common symbols with a similar disc from Festus, but it has different hieroglyphs, which gives us the opportunity to supplement the already known 44 symbols of this hieroglyphic system”[4, p. 300]. The 44 syllable symbols used on the Phaistos disc make up about half of the 80 - 90 symbols of this writing system. A group of identical characters on discs from Fest and Vladikavkaz testifies that both texts are written in the same language. [4, P.300] As for the origin of the inscription from Vladikavkaz, if it does not relate directly to Crete, then “undoubtedly belongs to the Aegean basin” [4, P.301]. The inscription from Vladikavkaz cannot be dated, according to the researcher, later than the 17th century. BC, as well as a disk from Festus, and a bronze ax from Alcolahori [4, p.301].
It is known that the inscription on the Phaistos disc, despite more than 90 years from the date of its discovery, has not yet been deciphered at a sufficiently reliable level. Moreover, obviously, it remains inaccessible for the inscription from Vladikavkaz. It is no coincidence that E. Poliyanaki does not even try to decipher our inscription. Let's leave this problem for future researchers, as well as the final confirmation of the authenticity of the wreck from Vladikavkaz. How could this item (if it is genuine) get into the basement of one of the city houses?
If the fragment found in Vladikavkaz comes from the territory of the North Caucasus or the Northern Black Sea region (which we do not know), it can serve as a real evidence of direct links between the circumpontic world and its northern - northeastern part with the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. But no less (if not more) probable is another explanation for the falling of a fragment of a clay disc into the basement of a residential building in Vladikavkaz: a local collector or antiquarian could have lived in this house, and the object itself came to him in a difficult indirect way. Subsequently, the disk fragment, as an incomprehensible and unnecessary thing, could be thrown into the trash in the basement, where it found a second life in 1992. Unfortunately, we failed to check this version.
So, the North Caucasus has presented science with another mysterious surprise. The random nature of the find described above and the questions and ambiguities surrounding it, however, do not deprive her of a certain interest. Hopefully, a fragment of a disk with a Cretan-Mycenaean hieroglyphic inscription from Vladikavkaz will attract the attention of specialists and will be carefully studied.
V. A. Kuznetsov