In 1909, near the village of Martynovka (Cherkasy region of Ukraine), peasants dug up a treasure consisting of hundreds of silver items. Today, most of the treasure is kept in the Museum of Historical Treasures of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Scientists confidently dated the find to the 6th-7th centuries AD. e., but as to which of the South Slavic tribes the treasure belonged to, opinions differed. According to V. V. Sedov, the treasure belonged to the ants.
Among the decorations of the Martynovsky hoard there were several figurines of people that occupy an exceptional place in the art of the ancient Slavs. In fact, these were the first metal images of people that were made by Slavic craftsmen, and were not brought from somewhere else. The primitiveness and sketchiness of the image is more than forgivable here. V. V. Sedov describes them as follows:
“Four figurines depict 'dancing' men. Each of them stands on their hips, as if preparing to squat, legs bent at the knees, hands at the elbows and resting on the knees. The heads of men are enlarged disproportionately with the rest of the body, geometric and framed by “golden hair”. There are engraved patterns on the chest that seem to convey embroidery."
This sketchiness made it possible to see in the figures everything one wanted, up to the "proto-Ukrainians in embroidered shirts, dancing the hopak." Lovers of the unknown also contributed to the confusion, claiming that these are images of … aliens in helmets. Yaroslav Sochka in the book "UFOs - the Ukrainian epic" (K., 2011) writes:
"Trinkets" are very similar to those same Japanese dogu figurines and sculptures of the African "great god of the Martians" from the Tassili highlands, so reminding us of space guests. One does not need to be particularly perceptive to notice the same “cosmic” attributes in the silver figurines from the Martynovsky hoard, namely: a tightly fitting vestment with lacing on the chest, a belt fastening the upper and lower parts of the suit. Finally, a semblance of a spacesuit on the head, connected to the suit through a collar.
Given that the dogu figurines and the Tassili drawing have long been explained without any aliens, the comparison can also be questioned. In addition, both hopak lovers and supporters of "paleocontacts" did not take into account one small detail: figures of people with holes (to nail them to a shield or saddle) in the treasure came complete with figures of strange animals in the proportion of "two animals for one person ".
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Judging by the location of the holes, the man was placed between the animals with their mouths facing him. V. Sedov considered them horses, but other experts proved that the animals are lions, depicted by a master who had never seen them with his own eyes. And he saw horses, and this affected creativity.
In recent years, figures of the "Martynov type" have been found almost all over southern Europe, and in many cases the lions there were more recognizable, and the figure of the little man not only put his hands on his hips, but also raised them up, as if calling someone or by praying.
Archaeologist OA Shcheglova took the last step, proving that the man and lions from the Martynov treasure are nothing more than a borrowing of the Christian story about Daniel, thrown into the lion's den: surrounded by fantastic horse-lions ", were familiar with the European tradition of depicting the plot" Daniel with the lions "and borrowed the images and shapes of their products from the decorative and applied art of the Byzantine periphery, which sometimes penetrated the territory of Eastern Europe."
One of the first reconstructions of the relative position of the figures
The patterns on the man's chest indicate a shirt with an insert, typical of Byzantium, and a wide head is not only stylization, but also an attempt to convey a halo in Daniel (Shcheglova O. A. The mystery of "dancing men" and "traces of unseen animals." zoomorphic images in early Slavic metal plastic // Slavic-Russian jewelry business and its origins. SPb, 2010, pp. 146-174).
The composition of the Martynovsky hoard proves that this is exactly the case. It contained not only local products, but also objects brought from Byzantium - a spoon for the Eucharist and silver bowls with the brands of Byzantine masters. Sedov in his book “Slavs.
Historical and archaeological research”(M., 2002) wrote that the belt sets from the hoard - buckles, onlays and other accessories - were not specific to the ants, but were widespread, which manifested the general Eurasian fashion. A. K. Ambroz associated the appearance of such belt sets with the semi-barbarian environment of the Byzantine cities and fortresses of the Lower Danube region, from where they quickly and widely spread over large areas of Eurasia. The "dancing men" also made the same journey.