Dendrochronology of burial grounds of the Tashtyk culture in the Khakass-Minusinsk depression: towards formulation of the problem

This article presents dendrochronological analysis of wood from the sites of the Tashtyk culture in the Khakass-Minusinsk Depression. This dating method ensures objectivity and reliability of chronological constructions. The study used 180 samples of wood, which represented nine sites, including 26 soil graves and six crypts. Geographically, these burial grounds are located in the western part of the Depression along the left bank ofthe Krasnoyarsk Reservoir. Chronologically, they were dated to the period from the 1st to 7th centuries AD. Wood in burial structures is represented by two coniferous species: Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), which were used for walls and roofs oflogworks. In most cases, wood manifested varying degrees of decay, which created some difficulties in cross-dating ofthe samples. Research objectives included elaboration of relative ("floating”) tree-ring chronologies based on the wood from selected burial grounds and comparison of tree-ring chronologies from different burial grounds for testing the possibility of developing the dendroscale for the entire Tashtyk culture. For reaching these objectives, evidence from two burial grounds - Oglakhty and Tesinsky Zaliv-3 - was selected. For the first site, generalized tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies were elaborated for larch (OgL, 228 years long) and pine (OgP, 178 years long). It was also possible to cross-date them. Based on the wood from Tesinsky Zaliv-3, a generalized TRW chronology for larch (TZL, 95 years long) was compiled and was successfully cross-dated with the Oglakhty TRW chronology. The results of the study have shown that burials in Tesinsky Zaliv-3 were made approximately in the same period as the explored Oglakhty graves. The dates obtained are relative and their transformation into absolute dates is possible after radiocarbon dating of wood samples using the "wiggle-matching” technique.