Abstract. The article is dedicated to the opening of the seals and silver tea set of Constantine Alan, the son of the exusiocrator of Alania. The findings enable to trace certain pages of Constantine's biography. In addition, they give reason to suggest that «Alan» was an ethnic self-determination. An indication to the power of the ruler over the whole of Alania points to the highly centralized supreme power in the state in the second half of the 11th century.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31368

Abstract. The article briefly analyses T. I. Guriev's contribution to the development of the problem of the Ossetian Nart epos origin. It is emphasized that, despite the debatable nature of certain provisions of the author’s conception about the influence of the Mongolian legends on the formation of the heroic epos, in particular, the origin of the term “Narts,” the scholar's researches had a positive effect on the development of Nartology. They deepened the knowledge on the genesis of the epos, its creators, time and conditions of the heroic tales emerging.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31369

Abstract. The article considers certain peculiarities of the burial rite in the archaeological sites of Adaidon necropolis that belongs to the Late Bronze Age of the Caucasus.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31370

Abstract. The article deals with the problem of the state tradition of the Abkhazian people, which begins from the I century A.D.. Written historical documents indicate that the Abkhazian Kingdom emerged long ago under the influence of the Roman Empire and with its direct participation. Attention is drawn to the early class state formations of the Abkhazian people, which appear in historical sources as Sanigia, Apsilia, Abasgia etc. Concrete facts of complicated and contradictory relations of the Abkhazian Kingdom with neighboring States and peoples are given, the causes and nature of vassal dependence on the Byzantine Empire are shown, difficult conditions for the survival of their own state formation in the conditions of long and acute struggle of various powerful States on the territory of modern Abkhazia.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31373

Abstract. The article proposes a description of the “people-family” concept as a tool of analyzing and explaining the main events and results of the recent history of South Ossetia.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31371

Abstract. The article considers the origins of the cult of the horse that emerged among the Indo-Aryans in ancient times. The horse in the everyday life of the Scythians and Ossetians, horse is a helper and a friend of the rider, winged horses and a horse-bird, horses-angels and demigods, magic horses and immortal ones, the sunny nature of the horse, names, the colour and symbolism of numbers – these and other issues of different aspect is considered in a comparative ethno-cultural perspective, allows to conclude: a) the domestication of the horse became a turning point in the history of world civilization, being crucial as well in the fate of Iranian-speaking tribes of the steppes of Eurasia; b) the high position which was held the cult of the horse among the Indo-European peoples, is brightly illustrated and analyzed in the article relics from the way of life and culture of the Ossetians inherited from their ethno-genetic predecessors.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31374

Abstract. We deal with the most relevant aesthetic-ideological and formal peculiarities of Kosta Khetagurov’s collection of poems ”Iron Fandyr” (“The Ossetian Lyre”), including its comparison with contemporaneous literary phenomenons. We provide original substantiation of the opinion, generally accepted by the majority of literary scholars, that “The Ossetian Lyre” marks the beginning of the Ossetian national literature.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31375

Abstract. Based on the extensive literary, literary-critical and historical material the issue of the authorship of the famous Georgian-language «Poem of Alguz» (in 1885 for the first time) considers, which has traditionally been attributed to the Ossetian educator Iuane Gabaraty-Yalguzidze (1775–1830). The general comparison of the «Poem about Alguz» and «The Knight in the Panther’s Skin» is carried out and the assumption is made that the both were issued from Soslan-David Tsarazon’s pen (?–1207).
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31376

Abstract. The issue of the etymology of the anthroponym Batraz (Batraz, Batyraz - a well-known character of the OssetianNartiada, equally popular among modern Ossetians) is considered in the extensive historical and linguistic material. Sharing the opinion of certain researchers who related the origin of the name Batraz with the lexeme “batyr”, the author, however, rejects the Turk-Mongol nature of either lexical item or the anthroponym. The following hypothesis is made that various forms of the word batyr come from the Old Iranian patar ‘defender’, ‘protector’, ‘watcher’, which might have been assimilated by the Altaic languages during the Scytho-Sarmatian times (I millennia BC – first centuries AD).
DOI 0.23671/VNC.2019.2.31377

Abstract. The article provides information inderlining the necessity of conducting seismological monitoring in North Ossetia, as one of the earthquake-prone regions of the Russian Federation. Describes the sources, creation, stages of development of the seismological service, participation of well-known scientists in the field of geophysical studies. A brief analysis of the technical and technological state of the seismological network is given, the importance and the need of further development of the NOB FRC GS RAS network within the Federal System of Seismological Observations.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31378

Abstract. The Ore and Petrographic Museum (OPM) of the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry (IGEM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is the only academic museum in Russia possessing a taxonomic collection of all types of igneous rocks. The collections of OPM IGEM RAS are closely related with principal subjects developing at IGEM RAS.
The history of the collections of OPM IGEM RAS and the Mineralogical museum (named after A.E. Fersman) of the Russian Academy of Sciences probably comes from 1719, with Christoph Gottwald's collection, which was exhibited in Kikin Hall in St. Petersburg that had been purchased for Kunstkamera and supplemented with samples of rocks, ores and minerals from Russian deposits.
In the 1830’s on the basis of Kunstkamera collections were established the following seven autonomous academic musems: the Ethnographical, Anatomical, Asian, Egyptian, Zoological, Botanical and Mineralogical museums.
In 1898, the Mineralogical Museum was renamed into the Geological Museum. On March 1, 1903, the Geological Museum was named after Peter the Great. In 1908, academician V.I. Vernadsky began creating the "Taxonomic Petrographic Collection of the Geological Museum named after Peter the Great of the Imperial Academy of Sciences", which is currently the main collection of the modern Ore and Petrographic Museum of IGEM RAS.
In 1925, the Geological and Mineralogical Museum named after Peter the Great was divided into two museums: the Geological Museum named after Peter the Great of the USSR Academy of Sciences (headed by academician F.Yu. Levinson-Lessing) and the Mineralogical Museum named after Peter the Great of the USSR Academy of Sciences (headed by academician A.E. Fersman).
In 1937, in connection with the relocation the Academy of USSR from St. Petersburg to Moscow the Institute of Geological Sciences, USSR Academy of Sciences was established and set in modern-day IGEM RAS building.
In November 1955, the Institute of Geological Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was divided into IGEM, USSR Academy of Sciences, and the Geological Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences.
All collections and archival documents of the Geological Museum named after Peter the Great which being a part of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences relocated to IGEM RAS and composed its scientific basis.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31379

Abstract. The data obtained by the quantitative XRF method on geochemical pecullarities in burial industrial wastes (have been analyzed 71 samples, collected from core of three wells, drilled on the whole thickness of tailing pond - 10 m, 22 m and 31.5 m a regular increasing from the east to the west with a specification of base erosion of Chanikom river valley are published in the article, for the first time.
Based on geochemical data obtained the certain relationship in character of oxides and base metal distribution in vertical section and in distribution on the lateral of its value of average contents in the core of well are exposed.
The tailing pond of the Fiagdon concentrating factory (FCF) is located in the floodplain of the Hanikom-don river (the right tributary of the Fiagdon river, in 2.5 km to the north from the Verkhnyi Fiagdon village). The area of the tailing pond is about 56 000 sq. m. According to the FCF data about 2.4 million tons of industrial wastes were buried in the tailing pond with contents (in mass%): Pb - 0.19 - reserves - 4560 tons; Zn - 0.36 - reserves - 8400 tons; Cu - 0.12 - reserves - 2880 tons; Fe - 6.8 - reserves - 163200 tons; Mn - 0,14 - reserves - 3,360 tons; Ag - 4.0 ppm - reserves - 9.6 tons.
Relationships in the distribution of the content of macro- and microelements in vertical sections on the entire thickness of the tailings in different parts of it from the east to the west (800 m in the lateral) consist in the fact that:
- at the eastern part of tailing pond (well №2), as a whole, an increase in the content MnO, Fe2O3com., Scom., Zn, Pb and, as a whole, an decrease in the content of As down along the vertical section, but content of Ba is practicable constant, exclude of big positive peak at the depth of 2-3m are occurs:
- at the central part of tailing pond (well №1), as a whole, an increase in the content S, Cu, Zn, Ba, As and decrease in the content of MnO, but distribution of Fe2O3 and Pb content is extremely irregular are occurs;
- at the western part of tailing pond (well №3) an increase in the content Cu, Zn, Ba, As, practicable constant content of MnO and irregular character of distribution of Fe2O3, S, Pb
Based on the calculated average values of the contents of a number of elements in the core of wells the following lateral variations in their distribution from east to west were revealed for the first time:
- gradual decrease in content (oxides and S in mas.% and base metal in ppm, here and furthermore) for: Fe2O3 (8.7-7.9-6.2), Cu (388-336.2-313), Pb (3045-2701-2382); - gradual increase in content for: S (2,2-2.6-3.0), As (904-1066-1372);
- gradual increase in content in the central part and its decrease in the western part for: MnO (0.19-0.25-0.16), Zn (1944-2051-1997); - gradual decrease in content in the center of the storage and an increase on its western part for: Ba (9659-579-4149);
Due to the fact that our new data [after Gurbanov et al., 2019] obtained exceed the average levels of content used by the Fiagdon GOK for calculating the metal reserves stored in the tailing pond, their conditional reserves should change as follows: Pb content was 0.19% became 0,2709 reserves were 4560 tons became - 6501.6 tons; Zn - the content was 0.36% became 0,1997 the reserves were 8400 tons. and became - 4659.7 tons; Cu - the content was 0.12% became 0,03457 the reserves were 2880 tons became 829.7 tons; Fe- the content was 6.8 % became 8.62 the reserves were 163200 tons. became 206880 tons,; Mn - the content was 0.14% became 0,201 the reserves were 3360 tons became - 4824 tons.
After receiving the results of the investigation of all don’t yet analazed samples (24 samples from the surface layer [0.3-0.5 m] of the tailing pond), the some metals reserves may still increase, which will make the development of a method for the complete utilization of waste, with the preliminary extraction of economically valuable and environmentally hazardous elements, a more attractive measure from an economic point of view.
DOI 10.23671/VNC.2019.2.31380