Skita Artifacts of the Carpathian Basin: dissemination, inclusion and dialogue between Hungarian and American scholars

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A century ago, two Iron Age stag plaques discovered at Tápiószentmárton (1923) and Zöldhalompuszta (1927) in Hungary sparked significant academic interest, particularly among European researchers of Scythian culture. Published in French and German —the lingua franca languages of continental studies -- the finds were added to a growing domain of nomadic steppe culture. In subsequent decades, the field expanded exponentially, with archeological data accruing from across the Eurasian steppes in Northwest China, Southern Siberia, Crimea and the watershed of continental rivers draining into the Black Sea. This paper explores the vicissitudes of academic interest in the Carpathian material during the Axis / Allied conflict of WW II, and subsequent Russo/US Cold War. We track the early iconographic analysis by American John F. Haskins (1961); ethnographic work of Helmut Nickel, curator of Arms and Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art (1973-74); larger contextualization of the Hungarian stags by British scholar William Watson (1971) and Hungarian scholars Kemencei Tibor and Fodor István (2009), made available to Americans in English translations. Currently, a new approach is applied by Americans Rubinson, Linduff (2022, 2024) as they develop a social and economic model involving the 'soft' data of organic textiles and embellished leather preserved in the frozen burials of the horse breeding culture of Iron Age Pazyryk, Altai, Southern Siberia. Given the rich tradition of 'puszta' folk art in embroidered textiles, felt and szűcs [furrier] work, Hungary is well positioned to contribute with comparative anthropological studies.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Art Historian Mrea Csorba, Ph.D, received all three of her academic degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She retired from active academic teaching for Pitt and Duquesne University in 2022. She continues to offer classes and lectures at educational and art institutes, now in Sacramento, California. Her BA degree focused on the Western Cannon; her MA thesis (1987) investigated horse-reliant cultures of Scythian steppe culture. For her PhD. (1997) she expanded research of pastoral groups in Northern China. This research was published in the British prehistory journal ANTIQUITY (70, 1996, 564—587). Her continuing research may be viewed at http://edtech.msl.duq.edu/Mediasite/Play/2ea00c36fc2b4050ba46072efc0b80111d