Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia @journal-aeae-en
Journal articles - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
All articles: 584
Pit-grave (Yamnaya) and pit-grave-maikop burials at Levoyegorlyksky-3, Stavropol
Review article
Free
Scientific article
This study reconstructs biological affinities in a cranial sample from a collective burial on Cape Bratyev in Babushkin Bay. The burial, found in a rock niche on the Okhotsk Coast, was excavated by S.P. Efimov in 1976 and tentatively attributed to the Old Koryak culture. The sample consists of 13 adult skulls of differing preservation—five male, five female, and three undeterminable. Genome-wide analysis was carried out at the Center for Geogenetics of the University of Copenhagen. Paleogenetic data support the archaeological hypothesis attributing the burial to the Old Koryak culture. The results of the craniometric analysis suggest that the Old Koryak population was heterogeneous. Cranial data indicate population contacts between ancient Koryaks and the Epi-Jōmon people of Hokkaido. Also, they reveal common episodes in the population history of the group from Cape Bratyev and the Okhotsk culture people. Two of the three Okhotsk samples used for comparative analysis demonstrate very close affinities with individuals studied. According to the previous studies and our current analysis, the Okhotsk people resulted from the admixture of ancient groups related to Chukchi and Eskimo, on the one hand, and Tungus-Manchu groups, on the other. A significant difference between the Old Koryak population and that of Okhotsk culture is that the former includes a component related to Nivkhs.
Free
Scientific article
Porotic hyperostosis (PH) is the skeletal marker used in the estimation of physiological stress suffered in childhood. Despite a conventional hypothesis that mankind’s health conditions declined with the advent of agriculture, there are few reports comparing the PH seen on ancient crania of hunters-fishermen-gatherers and agrarian peoples. In this study, we examined the crania of 16th to 19th century Eurasian peoples: Siberian natives (hunters-fishermen-gatherers), Russian settlers, and Joseon Koreans (agriculturalists) to see whether PH could be observed to differ between populations with varying subsistence strategies. The prevalence of PH decreased in the order of Joseon people (18.9 %), Russian settlers (6.3 %), and Siberian natives (3.8 %). In brief, the hunters-fishermen-gatherers’ stress level was lower than agriculture-based Joseon people and Russian settlers. In addition, Joseon people might have been exposed to more serious stressful episodes than Russian settlers were. We assume that the former might have lived under much stressful conditions than the latter did, though both people depended on intense agriculture. As for sexual dimorphism of PH: in all groups, males were identified with more PH signs than females were. Our report successfully shows that the detailed pattern of stress markers might have been influenced by complex interactions between various factors that existed under different conditions in history.
Free
Possibilities of direct dating of rock art in the Khakass-Minusinsk basin
Scientific article
The study addresses modern methods of absolute dating of rock art. We review prospective approaches to dating petroglyphs under various conditions: AMS, OSL, uranium-thorium, and cosmogenic isotope. Not so much methods per se are discussed as principles of their application to certain reliably dated rock art sites of various periods in Europe, Asia, America, and Australia. Examples of satisfactory outcomes in international practice are cited alongside our assessment of prospects and limitations to be considered with regard to the method of dating the earliest petroglyphs and rock paintings in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. The review suggests that the basic conditions for the use of the uranium-thorium method are not met, the AMS method requires a preliminary analysis of the context, whereas OSL and cosmogenic isotope method are the most prospective.
Free
Scientific article
This article outlines the findings of a technological study of the Kulai ceramics from Barsov Gorodok III/6 near Barsova Gora, on the right bank of the Ob River, Tyumen Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. We describe the site, its stratigraphic sequence and planigraphy, and the layout of the dwellings. The analysis was performed using binocular microscopy of traces in fresh transverse and longitudinal fractures of potsherds. Results were compared with those relating to the experimental sample. The examination of 50 specimens revealed a conservative tradition typical of the potters’ substrate skills. Its characteristics included the use of homogeneous clay mined near reservoirs in one and the same area, and the technology was based on bottom-to-body or body-to-bottom coiling. The body was constructed by side coiling. Adaptive skills were variable. Four mixed recipes for clay paste are described, making up one-fifth of the total number of recipes: clay + broken stone + chamotte; clay + broken stone + liquid organics; clay + + chamotte + sand; clay + broken stone + sand; and two unmixed recipes: clay + broken stone; and clay + chamotte. The mechanical processing of surface is variable, being based on 16 techniques and their combinations. Techniques used at various stages of pottery manufacture are listed. Simple paste recipes indicate groups of potters representing various traditions. Mixed recipes attest to a blend of traditions. Those using them might have been monocultural or multicultural groups of potters using different techniques and skills.
Free
Scientific article
This article presents the findings of a multidisciplinary analysis of pottery belonging to the Novosibirsk variant of the Kulaika culture. Technological (traceological), petrographic, X-ray phase, and thermal analyses were carried out, providing a basis for an objective reconstruction of the pottery technology. Raw material used at two sites, Kamenny Mys and Dubrovinsky Borok-3, originated from a single region, but from different mines. Three types of clay were used at the former site, and two at the latter, evidencing several groups of potters using various types of clay. Correlation between the types of clay and composition of the paste supports this idea. The clays used at Kamenny Mys are quite different from those used at Dubrovinsky Borok-3 in terms of mineral composition, as shown by petrographic and X-ray phase analyses. According to the thermo-gravimetric analysis, the samples fall into groups differing in the quality of firing. Certain vessels were subjected to more intense firing than others.
Free
Prevalence of caries among Siberian Tatars of the Omsk region in the 17th to early 20th centuries
Review article
Free
Scientific article
We outline the result of collaboration by a team of more than sixty researchers from 22 Russian and 13 foreign institutions under the project implemented by the Research and Educational Center for Altaic and Turkic Studies “Greater Altai” in 2022–2023. Six archaeological and four ethnographic expeditions were carried out in the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. Findings concern the origin of the Turkic ethno-cultural complex and its spread across Central Asia. Archaeological surveys revealed new sites, many of which were excavated, and some were included in the museum projects. Extensive photographic and volumetric documentation was conducted. In the course of ethnographic expeditions, Turkic epic texts were collected, many elements of traditional culture were revealed, showing parallels between Altaic and Kyrgyzian traditions. Also ethnographic parallels were documented between Slavic and Turkic cultures of the Greater Altai. These were used to elaborate the concept of Slavo-Turkic unity, which has both theoretical and practical implications.
Free
Review article
Free
Prospection studies of Bohai graves near Kraskinskoye fortified settlement, Primorsky krai
Article
Free
Qurta Rock Art: Cultural Exchange in the Mediterranean
Scientific article
The discovery in the early 2000s of animal rock engravings near the village of Qurta in the Nile Valley (Upper Egypt) remains little discussed. This article focuses on the numerous stylistic links between these engravings and European Pleistocene figurations. These analogies allow us to date Qurta approximately to the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (between the end of Gravettian-Solutrean art and the beginning of Magdalenian art). This estimate is confirmed by OSL-dating obtained from a buried engraved panel from Qurta. The hypothesis as to European origin of the images is also reinforced by the presence of schematic female engravings identical to those scattered throughout Eurasia. The possibility of Mediterranean cultural exchange is considered. Several communication routes were possible. Taking into account the published documentation, we infer that the engravings at Qurta are less isolated than they appear and that rock engravings located on the Cyrenaican coast and in the Sinai could be the result of repeated contacts (including migrations) of people inhabiting the two shores of the Mediterranean.
Free
Scientific article
Results of radiocarbon dating of items from mound No. 51 of Ust-Tartasskiye Kurgany burial ground are presented. This is a key site of the Sargat culture in Baraba. Characteristics of samples and pretreatment procedure are provided. Twenty-four radiocarbon dates were generated. Radiocarbon ages correlate with biological ages of the deceased persons. Bayesian KDE chronology modeling suggests a short-term intense use of the site for burying those who died between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. Based on MCMC-modeling, a conclusion is reached about two periods in the use of the space allotted for graves between 200–40 BC. Burials of the “first period” (~25 %) could have been repeatedly made before 150 BC. Most burials (~75 %) were likely arranged between 150–120 BC. The last burial in the mound (no earlier than 110 BC) is No. 13. Minor differences in 15N isotope apparently evidence various diets of males and females at the second period.
Free
Radiocarbon chronology of the Bronze Age Fedorovka culture (new data relevant to an earlier problem)
Scientific article
This article presents the results of excavations and dating of the Fedorovka culture cemetery of Zvyagino-1 in the Southern Trans-Urals. It consists of 12 small kurgans, each of which contains from one to three differently arranged graves with cremations. The funerary items include typical Fedorovka clay vessels. We estimated the age of bones of domestic animals found on the area under the kurgan or in graves. The new dates were compared with those generated previously. Statistical analysis has made it possible to assess the time range as being from the mid-18th to mid-15th centuries cal BC (medians of calibrated intervals). Dates of the Alakul-Fedorovka complexes fall in the same time range, illustrating the process of interaction between these two traditions. The results of modeling were compared with the dates of the Andronovo sites in Kazakhstan, the Baraba forest-steppe, and Southern Siberia. The dates were similar, barring those of the more ancient series from Kazakhstan. Dates for the Alakul sites in the Trans-Urals were earlier (19th to 16th centuries cal BC), documenting the long coexistence of the Alakul and Fedorovka traditions. In the Southern Trans-Urals, the former tradition appears to have declined earlier. The question as to whether the Fedorovka tradition survived until the Cordoned (Valikovaya) Ware cultures remains open due to the lack of dates for the Cherkaskul culture, which resembles Fedorovka, while being stratigraphically earlier than the Cordoned Ware cultures.
Free
Raman Spectroscopy Analysis of Pigments from the Boyary I Rock Art Site, Khakassia
Scientific article
This article describes previously unknown paintings at the Boyary I rock art site, Republic of Khakassia. They are especially important because they were situated in the part of the panel where a missing ledge could have been located. The petroglyphs could indicate the time of its disappearance. Based on stylistic features, it is possible that they date to the Karasuk period (late 2nd to early 1st millennium BC). The article presents the results of Raman spectroscopy analysis of pigments detected in the paintings. The method involved their context assessment with regard to the rock surface and the white paint of recent inscriptions, the composition of ancient pigments, and searching for organic binder residue. The study covered panel 7 and the adjacent panels 8 and 9. The results are based on 103 spectra of various compositions. All three surfaces mainly consist of sandstone, the predominant constituents being albite, quartzite, and anatase, with occasional natural ferruginization. Modern white paint of two types—chalk (panel 7) and styrene acrylic (panel 9)—were detected. The red pigment used for the paintings in the right part of panel 7 consists of hematite. Calcium oxalate (whewellite) was found only where residues of pigments were located, suggesting that it resulted from the decomposition of the organic binder of the ancient paint.
Free
Scientific article
This article presents the use of Raman spectroscopy to test the composition of paint detected in petroglyphs on old red sandstone in the Minusinsk Basin. Because this sandstone is saturated with iron compounds, it is extremely difficult to distinguish components of red paint based on mineral raw materials from those of the rock surface. We elaborated a two-stage technique. First, the composition of the rock surface was analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. Second, the concentration of substances on the surface was assessed using indexes of relative peak intensity in the spectra using statistical methods (Mann-Whitney U-test, principal component analysis). The procedure was tested at three rock art sites in the Minusinsk Basin. The examination of panel 15 at Tepsei I (Krasnoturansky District, Krasnoyarsk Territory) suggests that when the rock is heavily damaged by environmental processes such as ferruginization, oxalate accretions, oxidation and weathering products, the composition of the paint is indistinguishable from that of the substrate. At Oglakhty IV (Bogradsky District, Republic of Khakassia), analysis revealed that local mineral raw materials from metamorphosed sandstone subjected to heat treatment were used. On panels 7–9 in section 1A of Shalabolino (Kuraginsky District, Krasnoyarsk Territory), two paints were used. The lighter color was made of ocher, the outcrops of which in the form of metamorphosed sandstone were found within the boundaries of the site. The darker paint was made from apatite-magnetite ore. In both cases, the mineral raw materials were subjected to heating. This method will be used to study a larger sample of rock art paintings in the Minusinsk Basin.
Free
