Among the numerous toiletry items of Tagar culture, round flat mirrors are widely known. All of them are made of bronze and have a round shape of three types: with a loop on the back, with a handle in the form of a button on four legs, and with a side loop-shaped handle. The most common are mirrors with a loop on the back: they were used throughout the entire Tagar era.

Mirrors in Tagar culture were not solely a part of women’s possessions: they were found in both female and male burials equally. The mirrors were placed on the chest, abdomen, and less frequently near the hand or shoulder, but in such cases usually alongside another item, most often a knife. The placement of the bronze round plaques suggests they were worn on the chest, on a belt cord. This is evidenced by the numerous found remains of straps in the loops’ holes.

The consistent use of round plaques over several centuries indicates that they were essential items. Smooth mirrors are also widely known to have been in use in other cultures of the Scythian-Siberian world: among the Scythians, Sarmatians, and inhabitants of the Altai Mountains. The earliest mirrors are known from the materials of Mediterranean civilizations: the Egyptians, Etruscans, and Greeks. Everywhere, the mirror was used not only for personal grooming but also as a ritual object: in temples — to make the room brighter, above the bed — to ward off evil spirits. Among some ancient peoples, the mirror was likely associated with the deity of the sun and light.

The first mirrors appeared in Ancient Egypt and bore little resemblance to those we have today. They were made of black marble and later bronze. In Ancient Greece, mirrors were also made of bronze, but they probably appeared no earlier than the 5th century BCE.

The modern history of mirrors dates back to 1240, when Europe learned to blow glass vessels. The invention of the true glass mirror should be attributed to 1279, when the Italian Franciscan monk John Peckham described a method for coating glass with a thin layer of tin.