The article describes forehead pieces used to protect the front part of a horse’s head during battle. Two types of forehead piece are distinguished: (1) pieces with a round convex upper part decorated with concentric circles and a trapezoidal elongated lower part with concave lateral sides; (2) pieces with symmetrical fan-like ends and concave lateral sides. New archaeological material makes it possible to date the use of such head pieces within the range of the second half of the 4th and the early 3rd centuries BC. A description of an assemblage of artifacts from the burial mound at Plastunovskaya is published here for the fi rst time. The assemblage is relevant both to the dating of forehead pieces and in establishing when votive hoards (also known as “strange assemblages”) appeared of which the Plastunovskaya hoard is the earliest. The custom apparently emerged among the Siracae of the Kuban and later, following the Sarmatian raids, spread across the northwestern Pontic area.
