Birch bark products of the Hunn-Sarmatian period in burial ground Dyalyan (Gorny Altai, Russia)

Purpose. In the Hunn-Sarmatian time the nomads of the Sayan-Altai used numerous birch bark products in their everyday life and funeral rites, but it is a rare find in archaeological objects. Such birch bark artifacts are precious materials for the analysis of the devices produced and the technology of their manufacturing, which is necessary for the reconstruction of the economic and everyday life and the study of interethnic ties of the ancient population in Altai. The article introduces birch bark products from the Dyalyan burial ground explored in the Shebalinsky district of Gorny Altai. The site dates 5-6 centuries AD. Results. Out of the 13 barrows of the Hunn-Sarmatian time excavated at the Dyalyan burial ground, only two included some birch bark products. In barrow № 7, a young man was buried in a stone box, accompanied with his horse. To the right of the deceased's head, a birch bark quiver was placed. It was found lying with its bottom wider part against the side of the box and the more narrow, upper part down. There were 4 arrowheads inside the quiver. The item discovered was a single-layer birch bark cone consisting of two parts of different design. The upper part was folded into a tube from one sheet of birch bark, and the lower part was made of two sheets of birch bark with the ends superimposed on each other. We found out that in order to assemble each of the items the masters used different tools. The sheets were sewn with a thick thread or a thin bundle of sarga. We suppose that the quiver's bottom was probably made of birch bark or wood and waspressed into the item, as the bottom does not contain holes for the needle. The size, simplicity of the construction of the quiver, one layer of birch bark on the item and the features of the funeral rite make us conclude that the quiver was made especially for the burial and the young man from barrow № 7 did not have a high social status and was buried according to a simplified rite. The birch bark quiver from the Dyalyan burial ground is the first quiver of the Hunn-Sarmatian period discovered on the territory of the Sayan-Altai and south of Western Siberia, which has been described in detail. Barrow № 8 contained a young woman buried in a stone box. Next to the right shoulder of the deceased, there was a birch bark box without a cover containing some beauty aid. The capsule was made of rectangular birch bark sheets with their corners bent and folded diagonally in triangles. The edges of the bottom sides were sewn with a seam wrap from a narrow sarga tape. Such simple birch bark containers were widespread in the Middle Ages and Modern times among different peoples of the south of Western Siberia, such as the Altaians, Khanty, Siberian Tatars. Conclusion. Our analysis of the devices found and the methods used for making birch bark artifacts of the Dyalyan burial ground shows that the forms and designs of the birch bark products, as well as the technological methods of processing birch bark used in the Middle Ages and ethnographic times in Gorny Altai, had been known in the Sayan-Altai and the south of Western Siberia as early as the Hunn-Sarmatian period.