The nakosnik

The nakosnik is a part of a women’s headdress, decoration for a braid. It was a required element of the headdress of all age groups women  or of marriageable age girls and young women. Most often it had the form of a braid (several low beads, clips, as a rule, with noisy suspensions at the ends) or a strip of fabric or a cover hiding the braid, with sewn beads, plaques, coins).

The tradition has existed since the 2nd millennium BC (Sintashta, Andronovo, Srubnaya cultures). Rarely, women with various decorations were buried in large central graves. Among these decorationsare luxurious leather-based nakosniks. Such nakosniki, consisting of bronze linings, piercings, leaf-shaped pendants, were found in the burial grounds of Northern and Central Kazakhstan. These headdresses, similar to the Sintashta women’s jewelry, symbolized the status of a girl who had reached the marriageable age or the status of a girl-bride in the rites of the transition of the life cycle.