Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia @journal-aeae-en
Статьи журнала - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
Все статьи: 553
A Study of Seima-Turbino Bronze Artifacts Discovered in China
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We describe Seima-Turbino artifacts from museum collections and sites in China—two spearheads from the Gansu Provincial Museum and two daggers from the Tianshui Museum. The composition of metal was analyzed. Spearheads are made of copper with minor additions, and daggers are made of bronze. The shape of the latter is identical to that of the specimens from Sopka-2/4B. Their type and technology suggests that they were not made by people of the Qijia culture, but were imported by the Seima-Turbino people. Typology and chronology of daggers and spearheads from China are examined. Parallels with those from Western Siberia are listed. We conclude that ties between the cultures of Qijia and Seima-Turbino date to 2200–2000 BC, and the origin of metallurgy in China was intrinsically linked to that phenomenon.
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A Tes Stage Mound-Vault at Skalnaya-5, Khakassia
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This article introduces the findings relating to the construction of a mound-vault Skalnaya-5 in Khakassia—the only virtually completely preserved Tes funerary structure. On the basis of these data and using the Blender 4 software, we carried out a visual reconstruction of the vault. This collective tomb was a cabin, whose walls were built of nine layers of logs and covered with a multi-layered timber ceiling. Functionally, such a construction ensured a maximal influx of air. The entrance, which had two steps at the inner end, was arranged as a special opening in the wall and was used for a considerable time. Inside the vault, there was a two-level construction with upper shelves made of three log-spacers opposite the entrance and the lower ones made of wide planks, placed along two walls. The bodies and/or their effigies with clay-plaster masks were laid on the shelves and on the log floor. The analysis revealed the secondary use of wooden details of dwellings or household buildings, which had been trimmed in situ before being joined. We were able to record construction techniques used during the Tes and earlier stages. These could be related to winter huts or utility buildings dug into the ground, or wooden structures strengthening the walls of mining shafts. The closest constructive parallels are found in the Pazyryk culture, possibly evidencing the conservatism of housebuilding in the Altai-Sayan highland during the Early Iron Age.
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A case of chronic maxillary sinusitis in a late Neanderthal population of the Altai mountains
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We describe a likely case of chronic maxillary sinusitis (CMS) in a Neanderthal skeletal sample from Chagyrskaya Cave, in the Altai Mountains. Signs of CMS were recorded in the Chagyrskaya 57 specimen, which is a fragment of a left maxilla. Alveoli of the upper fi rst molar are partially preserved, and so are the second and third upper molars, with adjacent parts of the walls, and the fl oor of the maxillary sinus. The fragment was found in layer 6b, dating to 53,100–51,100 BP. We analyze the factors that had caused the development of the disease, and assess its etiology. In the 3D-model, generated by computed microtomography, and in the original specimen, porotic changes were registered, situated at the fracture line of the alveoli of M1, lost post-mortem, and near the vestibular roots of both preserved molars. Also, there were isolated bone spicules, 1.0–2.6 mm in size. These signs indicate incipient CMS, evidently caused by chronic periodontal disease combined with a deep alveolar recess of the maxillary sinus. As the periodontal gap expanded, several small nutrient foramina, piercing the bottom of the sinus, merged. As a result, several oro-antral channels formed, whereupon the infection spread into the maxillary sinus. Since the deep alveolar recess is observed in the vast majority of Neanderthal crania with published images or reconstructed maxillary cavities, it can be assumed that Neanderthals were predisposed to odontogenic CMS.
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A case of systemic connective tissue disorder in a Pazyryk male from the Altai Mountains
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We present the results of an anthropological and paleopathological study of a male skeleton from a Pazyryk kurgan 1 burial 1 at Ak-Alakha-1, the Altai Mountains. The archaeological context testifi es to a rather high social status of this person. His appearance was modeled using a modern facial reconstruction method. The combination of craniometric and anthropometric traits indicates a brachycranic Caucasoid type, which predominated in the male population of the Volga-Ural region and Western Kazakhstan in 600–200 BC. The individual suffered from a systemic disorder of the connective tissue affecting virtually all parts of the skeleton. The case is unique, and the condition is diagnosed as DISH—diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, possibly caused by grave metabolic and endocrine disorders. Judging by his physical type, the male was not native to the Altai Mountains and belonged to a population that was not genetically adapted to that region. This may account for the severity of the rheumatoid disorder, which was aggravated by 4th degree osteoporosis of lumbar vertebrae and pelvic bones and by traumatic lesions of the shoulder girdle.
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A chalcolithic burial in the mountain-forest zone of the Trans-Urals
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We describe an unusual burial at a stratifi ed Chalcolithic site Shaitanskoye 4-6 on the coast of the eponymous lake in the Sverdlovsk Region. An individual, aged 18–35 was buried in an oval fl at-grave pit, 1.6 × 0.56 × 0.2 m in size. We give a detailed description of sixty funerary items, made of stone: three unusually large knives manufactured on thin chert plates (the nearest outcrops are found in Northern Kazakhstan and Southern Urals); a projectile head, 19 arrowheads, 18 fl int bladelets from a side-bladed tool, a polished axe-adze, a composite tool on a blade, two plates with use-wear traces, and 15 beads. Notably, some of the artifacts are made of “southern” rocks. The results of the isotope analysis indicate considerable mobility and close ties between populations of the forest and steppe Trans- Urals in the 4th and 3d millennia BC. The Chalcolithic site, which, apart from the burial, includes habitation deposits with numerous artifacts such as ceramics of various types, lithics including a large series of arrowheads and several fl int fi gurines, can be viewed as a complex archaeological object where, among other activities, rites were performed securing group consolidation.
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This article examines the key cultural trends and events in the evolution of the Upper Paleolithic in the foothills of the Northern Tien Shan (Zailisky Alatau, Kazakhstan). It outlines the history of Paleolithic studies in southeastern Kazakhstan. We describe the geographic characteristics of the region, the geomorphological positions of sites, and features of sedimentation that infl uenced the preservation of cultural remains in situ. Archaeological materials from key Upper Paleolithic sites are reviewed, including those from stratifi ed sites—Maibulak, Rakhat, and Uzynagash-1, -2. Lithic industries and absolute dates suggest that Maibulak was permanently inhabited during the Early, Middle, and probably Late Upper Paleolithic, materials from the early stages being the most expressive. Early Upper Paleolithic industries display Aurignacian-like characteristics and are paralleled by certain Western Eurasian industries of the same age. The multicomponent site of Rakhat was peopled during the end of the Early Upper Paleolithic, in the Middle Upper Paleolithic, and at the beginning of the Late Upper Paleolithic, documenting the evolution of Upper Paleolithic cultures during the ~30–23 cal ka BP interval. The industries of Rakhat include an Aurignacianlike one, a Middle Upper Paleolithic complex with micro-Gravette-like points, and one with geometric artifacts shaped as scalene triangles. For the fi rst time, results of excavations and prospects of future studies at the new sites Uzynagash-1 and -2, dating to the late Early Upper Paleolithic, are outlined. We conclude that Upper Paleolithic cultures (or industries) of the foothills of the Northern Tien Shan are original, while following a single vector with the Upper Paleolithic of Western Eurasia.
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A digital X-ray analysis of Middle Bronze Age skeletal samples from the Baraba forest-steppe
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We present the results of a comparative analysis of skeletal and dental pathologies in Middle Bronze Age individuals buried at Late Krotovo and Andronovo (Fedorovka) cemeteries in southwestern Siberia. This was the period when the Andronovo steppe tradition in Northern and Central Asia expanded in various directions, including the foreststeppe. Growth arrest lines on tibiae (Harris lines) and dental pathologies (enamel hypoplasia and caries) were recorded. To evaluate developmental anomalies in the bone tissue, digital X-ray analysis was used. The principal sample includes representatives of various sex and age groups buried at the largest cemetery in the region, Tartas-1 (Baraba forest-steppe). Harris lines and enamel hypoplasia result from a broad range of factors such as infections, occasional malnutrition, traumas, vitamin defi ciencies, etc. Caries is caused by a high amount of carbohydrates in the diet, accompanied by low standards of oral hygiene. These pathologies occur at different ages: Harris lines and enamel hypoplasia evidence adverse factors during infancy and adolescence, whereas caries is typical of adulthood. Late Krotovo and Andronovo groups differ in terms of occurrence and combination of pathologies. Enamel hypoplasia is less frequent in the Andronovo sample, indicating a lesser stress level in children. Harris lines are less frequent in the Late Krotovo group, suggestive of lower stress level during adolescence. These differences may be tentatively attributed to various models of subsistence and cultural adaptation.
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A dugout from the Don river exhibited at the State historical museum, Moscow: discovery and dating
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A functional analysis of lithics of the Early Iron Age Yankovsky culture: new findings
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We present the results of a functional analysis of lithics of the Yankovsky culture (800 BC to the turn of the millennium) from two sites–Cherepakha-7 and Solontsovaya-2, excavated over large areas during salvage works in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Such tools are traditionally described as axes, adzes, chisels, knives, spearheads, and projectile points. Certain findings of the functional analysis disagree with this classification. The question arises of the correspondence between formal typological and traceological criteria. For functional analysis, the so-called Keeley method, or High Power Approach, was used, along with the classification of polishing types, elaborated at Tohoku University (Japan). Functions of 28 of the 62 tools selected for high-precision functional analysis were assessed. The existing nomenclature of woodworking tool types is clarified, information on the technique of harvesting herbaceous plants and on leatherworking tools is significantly specified. More details are provided on tools involved in bone carving, as well as those used to open shells of bivalve mollusks. The High Power Approach has enhanced our understanding of the functions of stone tools, which, despite the use of metals, were basic in Yankovsky technologies. Further directions of traceological studies are suggested.
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A half of a metal bipartite mold of the Seima-Turbino period from the Upper Irtysh region
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