The research of the complex of finds of the Slavic period in the form of a cluster of 76 alchiks, made as a ritual sacrifice, at the base of the rampart of the Vorgol city. The main task of the study is to clarify the functional purpose of these items. Traces of wear and tear and external factors were studied. Data on ornamentation and the location and nature of drilled holes were systematized. Morphometric evaluation of astragali was carried out, with the determination of species, possible breed, sex and age of the animals.
The authors believe that the clay zoomorphic plastic figurines from the Early Iron Age settlements of the forest zone (the areas of the Yukhnovskaya, Milogradskaya, Verkhneokskaya and Dyakovskaya cultures) are not votive elements of agrarian cults but children's toys. These toys as well as miniature vessels, ceramic models of things, clay loaves could be made by children themselves while learning the process of ceramic production. The use of images of wild animals especially predators and toads in agrarian rituals is doubtful. The dominance of horse images in the Milograd-Yukhnovo area seems to be an Indo-European trait associated with mythology and not with farming. In the area of the Dyakovskaya culture with developed horse breeding, attributed to the Finno-Ugric antiquities, there are clay figurines of animals except horses. Profane toys can carry sacred images since myth and fairy tale are closely connected with each other and a toy for a child has many faces and can situationally play the role of a mythical character, a fairy-tale hero, a usual domestic animal. Some figurines become votive objects at the final stage of existence. Toys were sacrificed during initiation into adulthood as in ancient Greece and Rome. Fragments of figurines in ashtrays formed during the annual ritual and sanitary burning of winter straw bedding from houses and stables are often taken as sacrifices. Household garbage trapped in a "cleansing" bonfire is not a meaningful sacrifice.
