The 10th century bridle set from Shekshovoin Suzdal Opolye

The paper examines bronze parts of a bridle set from a male cremation gravemade in the last quarter of the 10th century in Shekshovo (Suzdal Opolye). The set includedfour strap-dividers: two leaf-shaped plaques used as jingle bells; a pear-shaped jingle bellwith an aperture in the form of a cross; at least eight identical strap-ends; at least 23 (24?)mounts of three types; and a small iron buckle. The composition of the set and some ofits components have analogies found among artifacts of nomadic graves from the LowerVolga region. The Shekshovo find emphasizes once more a syncretic nature of cultureof the Medieval Russia military elite of that time, which combined elements of differentorigins and styles ranging from Scandinavian to nomadic.