Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia @journal-aeae-en
Journal articles - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
All articles: 584
Human Remains from a Neolithic Burial at Krokhalevka-5 on the Upper Ob: Physical Type and Origin
Scientific article
We describe the skeletal remains of a male, aged 25–30, from the Neolithic burial 33 at Krokhalevka-5 in the Upper Ob basin, 21 km northwest of Novosibirsk, dating to the mid-5th millennium BC. Craniometric, dental metric, and nonmetric traits are analyzed. Cranial measurements are evaluated in the context of their variation in 58 individuals representing 11 local populations of the Paleolithic and Neolithic of Northern Eurasia. Data were processed using the principal component analysis in the STATISTICA 10 software. The first PC differentiates crania in terms of general size. The structure of loadings on PC2 indicates the presence of western and eastern trait combinations. The position of individuals on PC1 and PC2 reveals heterogeneity apparently caused by the conservatism of the underlying substratal populations. The Krokhalevka-5 individual is closest to those from Firsovo XI (Barnaul stretch of the Ob) and Zarechnoye-1 (Salair region). They are rather similar to the Volosovo individual from Sakhtysh-2A in Central Russia and a Kitoy individual from Fofanovo in the Trans-Baikal area. These findings point to a complex origin of the Upper Ob population on the basis of one of the evolutionarily conservative Mesolithic or Neolithic substratal components, possibly admixed with more consolidated eastern and western ones introduced by migration. Neolithic crania from Baraba contrast with those from the Upper Ob, suggesting that different substrates were involved in the population history of those regions.
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Hunting equipment of Russians living near Tara on the Irtysh in the 17th and 18th centuries
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This article describes Russian hunting tools unearthed from several sites near the town of Tara on the Irtysh: Ananyino I, Izyuk I, Tara, and Fort Bergamak. The functions of tools are assessed on the basis of archaeological parallels from the Baraba forest-steppe, ethnographic examples relating to the culture of the Irtysh natives, materials from Fort Albazin and Fort Sayansk, and much earlier burials dating to the Xianbei-Rouran time in the Altai Mountains. The variety of 17th–18th century hunting tools is best represented at Mangazeya, Fort Alazeya, and Fort Stadukhin. Apart from typological comparisons, technological analysis was carried out for several wooden and metal artifacts. Results are helpful for revealing continuities between the 17th–18th century Russian hunting tradition at Tara and that practiced in Old Rus and in the 15th–17th century Russian state, as well as for comparing it with the Siberian native traditions.
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Scientific article
This study focuses on the composition of the adhesives used to repair clay vessels, and on the technique of their preparation in the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic (late 4th to early 3rd millennia BC) sites of Far Northeast Europe (the Republic of Komi and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug). Remains of adhesives were detected on 70 of 171 repaired pots. To date, five samples of ceramics from dwellings of the Chuzhyael culture have been analyzed. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed no markers of coniferous trees or bitumen; but did reveal markers of birch, suggesting that fractures and cracks on broken pots were plastered with birch tar. The composition of organic compounds in samples indicates the use of two vessels in the technological process: in one of them, birch bark was subjected to pyrolysis, while the other was a receptacle for tar. This comparatively complex technology reveals one more specialization in the domestic manufacture of the taiga hunter-gatherers, including the use of special furnaces. Analytic procedures employed by us open up new prospects for the study of the material culture of Far Northeast Europe, extend our knowledge of domestic manufacture, and offer new material for AMS dating.
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Iem cave: a stratified Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene site in Northern Vietnam
Scientific article
This study presents the fi ndings of excavations at Ɖiem Cave, a Late Paleolithic site in Vietnam. Several lithological units and cultural layers are identifi ed. Archaeological materials, including stone and bone artifacts, are described in detail. Findings from the three lower layers include sumatraliths, axes, bone tools, and ornaments. All of these, as well as features of the funerary rite, are typical of the Hoabinhian period. Human bones in the earliest burial were found in anatomical order, whereas those in other burials were crushed and charred. The authors demonstrate that the three lower layers date to the Pleistocene and belong to the Hoabinhian stage, whereas the upper layer dates to the Holocene and belongs to the Đa Bút culture. Micromorphological and stratigraphic observations suggest that the sedimentation of two of the Hoabinhian layers occurred under a humid climate, whereas one Hoabinhian layer attests to a more arid environment. Judging by the absolute dates, the Hoabinhian period appeared in Northern Vietnam before 23 ka BP. During certain stages of the Pleistocene, human populations in the region were rather numerous.
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Scientific article
This paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of lithics from layer 3 of Okladnikov Cave and their relevance to the Sibiryachikha industries of the Altai Mountains. Attribute analysis has shown that the industry of layer 3 demonstrates technological and typological similarities with the Sibiryachikha industries. These include radial flaking with an offset technological axis, a predominance of convergent side-scrapers, and a series of planoconvex bifacial tools. Functionally, the site was a camp where horse and rhinoceros carcasses were butchered and consumed. The analysis of flaking sequence integrity revealed similarity between Okladnikov layer 3 and Chagyrskaya industries in terms of primary and bifacial reduction. The initial stages of core decortication were carried out outside the cave, at the rock outcrops. Subsequent stages of core utilization and all stages of bifacial flaking were carried out in situ. The main difference between Okladnikov layer 3 and Chagyrskaya layer 6c/2 industries concerns only the stage of manufacturing and modifying stone tools. At Okladnikov Cave, these processes were much more intense than at Chagyrskaya, which may indicate transportation of numerous tools and blanks made of high-quality raw material from more distant sources.
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Insight into ceramic technologies at the Maikop site of Ust-Dzheguta, Karachay-Cherkessia
Review article
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Review article
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Irrigation systems of the Altai: results and prospects of archaeological studies
Scientific article
We present the fi ndings of studies concerning the irrigation systems of the Altai and outline the directions of their further exploration. Irrigation canals, widely distributed in alpine valleys and intermontane depressions, are streams of the drift type. Most are found in central Altai and in the Chulyshman River valley of eastern Altai. Complex irrigation systems were recorded in the Bilgebash and Sarduma river mouths in the Chuya valley, in the Chulcha River mouth in the Chulyshman valley, and in Tötö, the Kurai basin. Pilot excavations of the main canals showed that wooden troughs had been placed on their bottoms. Radiocarbon analysis of wood from those troughs (Cheba and Oroktoi) suggests that they date to the Late Middle Ages, and a soil sample from the bottom of the canal of the Tenga irrigation system indicates early medieval age. In the 1800s and early 1900s, canals were used by the natives mainly for watering small plots of barley, but also of wheat and rye. Agriculture has been practiced in the Altai at least since the Early Iron Age, having fl ourished, apparently, during the Early Middle Ages. The fi rst irrigation systems must have appeared together with the fi rst farmers; however, taking into account the prolonged use and modifi cations of the main canals, assessing the time of their initial construction is diffi cult.
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Ivan Savenkov’s Finds from Neolithic Burials on the Bazaikha River and the Age of Siberian Rock Art
Scientific article
This study examines objects of portable art such as realistic three-dimensional figurines of elks and an anthropomorphic figurine, carved from elk antler, which were found by Ivan Savenkov in 1885 during his excavations of burial VI at Bazaikha, near Krasnoyarsk, in the mouth of the eponymous river. This burial, like others at the same site, yielded also stone and bone artifacts of Neolithic appearance. This unusual sample is one of the main arguments favoring the Neolithic age of numerous examples of Siberian rock art (elks and other animals rendered in the so-called Angara style). The Neolithic attribution of figurines and stylistically similar petroglyphs is problematic largely because the Bazaikha sample has not yet been analyzed by modern methods or even documented or fully published. Here, an overview of the sample, based on available archival and literary records, is given, and the possibility of comparing figurines and petroglyphs is discussed with reference to the «Angara style». I propose to select from the heterogeneous array of representations those actually showing stylistic parallels with the Bazaikha figurines. Two avenues of further research are mentioned: a focus on the Bazaikha sample (archival studies, 3D documentation, cataloging, radiocarbon dating, etc.), and a revision of the notion of «Angara style» in rock art based on modern views and facts.
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Ivory Bead Ornaments from the Sungir Paleolithic Site
Scientific article
This article presents the results of a study of composite ornaments made of ivory beads from burials of a man and two adolescents, discovered by O.N. Bader at Sungir, a site dating to the Final Early Upper Paleolithic (30–26 ka BP). The burials are excessively rich in such ornaments, which were made by stringing many beads on a sinew or thread made of organic material. Strings of beads preserved in burials and retaining the order of constituent elements were used as a source for identifying typologically meaningful forms of beads. Owing to the alternation of elements of various shapes or similar in form but made from different blanks, a specific rhythmic structure was generated. The composition of strings suggests that eight types of ivory bead were employed. Two main techniques of stringing were used: by isolating the central group of beads, and by arranging them in the order of size gradually decreasing from one end to the other. The search for cultural parallels has revealed that the principle of combining different types of beads to create strings was similar to that used at contemporaneous sites in southern Germany dating to the Final Aurignacian.
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Jade artifacts from Bronze Age cemeteries in the Cis-Olkhon area, the western coast of lake Baikal
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