Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia @journal-aeae-en
Journal articles - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
All articles: 569
Scientific article
Cyclic variations of δ18O along the growth line of M2 and M3 molars provide information about the seasonality of enamel formation and thereby about reproductive seasonality in animals, taking into account the time of tooth eruption and full enamel maturation. Determination of birth seasonality of small ruminants is relevant to the reconstruction of pastoralist strategies. Two peaks of reproductive activity per year are one of the most reliable indicators of human control of the small ruminants. As part of this work, for the first time in Russia, a method of sample preparation and analysis of oxygen isotope ratios in the tooth enamel of small ruminants is proposed. Traditionally, breeding seasonality was evaluated by the isotopic analysis of carbonates, the content of which in dental enamel is only 4 %. According to a new approach, oxygen from a sample is converted to gaseous CO by the interaction of enamel with carbon in a helium flow under 1300 °С, enabling one to measure δ18O in all components of the dental enamel, including phosphates, which make up 90 % of enamel mass and are resistant to diagenesis. In this study, four sample preparation protocols depending on the degree of preservation of teeth and their age were tested: (A) cleaning and sampling of enamel, (B) treatment by H2O2, (C) treatment by NaOCl and CH3COOH, and (D) extraction of Ag3PO4. Results show that for assessing seasonality breeding, it suffices to evaluate the lowest and the highest δ18O along the tooth growth line. If the preservation of sample is good, minimal chemical treatment is enough to observe these extremes.
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Scientific article
This article focuses on the structure, content, and symbolic form of gift exchange practices among the Karakalpaks in the 20th and early 21st centuries, drawing on methodologies used by Russian and Western ethnographers. Our approach is based on a comparative analysis of practices and ideology of donating textile products among the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. We used field, archival, and published materials on the ethnography of the Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Altaians, etc. Characteristics of gift exchange traditions are outlined, functions and symbolism of textiles in rituals are described, and tendencies of their transformation in modern society are assessed. Findings suggest that among most Turkic peoples of Central Asia, gift exchange using textiles has traditionally accompanied many social practices. In Karakalpak family rituals, pieces of cloth were regarded as both material and spiritual values, and their exchange ensured the transfer of vital forces and strengthening the clan structure. As the analysis of modern Karakalpak gift exchange practices has shown, textiles are no longer regarded as products, but have retained their symbolic function at the level of social communication. Such an exchange has become a symbolic expression of mutual aid and solidarity at the family, clan, ethnic, and national levels.
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Textiles from the Ust-Voikary hillfort site (based on materials from 2012–2016 excavations)
Scientific article
The article describes 366 samples of clothing (some of them attributable), collected in 2012–2016 from cultural layers of the 15th to middle 18th centuries at the Ust-Voikary hillfort site in the subarctic zone of Western Siberia. We provide technological characteristics: size, state of preservation, color, properties of threads and fibers, interlacing system, technological errors, cut, and traces of repair. Both animal and plant fibers are present, and plain and twill weaving are attested. Ethnographic and zoological data provide information on the textile technologies used by residents of the polar zone of Western Siberia, and allow us to compare them with those known from other sites. We conclude that types of textiles for clothing remained virtually the same from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Fabrics, mostly woolen, were imported.
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The 18th-century Udmurt women's outfits depicted in J.P. Falk's book: interpretation and attribution
Review article
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Scientific article
We analyze a part of the Paleolithic layer of Afontova Gora IV (Ovrazhnaya) in Krasnoyarsk, evidencing intentional exploitation of outcrops of red sandstone and other local rocks. We describe archaeological finds and faunal remains, identify species important for subsistence. Based on the results of the intrasite spatial analysis, we separate an area of domestic activities centered on an open hearth. Scar-patterns and raw material links were analyzed. The preservation of the cultural context was demonstrated. The area likely functioned within a single activity episode. Types of activity are reconstructed. Primary reduction techniques applied to oval-flat pebbles to get first or second order blades were the same as those used to obtain ready wedge-shaped microcores transported to the site. To test the idea that red rocks were used as sources for mineral pigment, rock samples and archaeological artifacts were examined. In samples from Afontova Gora IV, no minerals that could be used to obtain the red pigment of the “ocher” type were found. Pieces of red rock brought to the site must have been used differently. The 14C-date of the complex with cultural remains is ca 18 ka cal BP.
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The Andronovo age women's costume, based on finds from Maytan, Central Kazakhstan
Review article
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Review article
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The Aul-Koshkul-1 Cemetery in the Baraba Forest-Steppe: Findings of a Multidisciplinary Study
Scientific article
We present the results of aerial photographic and magnetometric studies at Aul-Koshkul-1, a group of mounds in the Baraba forest-steppe. Photogrammetry proved highly efficient for constructing orthophotographic plans and digital models of outward features at archaeological sites. Data were processed with an original approach, generating a map of relative heights, decreasing the effect of natural relief and highlighting altitudinal anomalies of an anthropogenic origin. Aerial photography is highly efficient for revealing archaeological features that are hard to locate by visual analysis of the surface (mounds destroyed by tillage, shallow ditches, etc.). Orthophotographic plans constructed by aerial photography in oblique sun rays at sunset present the most contrastive representations. Aerial magnetometry revealed most mounds at Aul-Koshkul-1, although the site was surveyed with minimal accuracy because magnetic anomalies caused by archaeological features were rare. Our multidisciplinary study yielded new information about the mounds previously registered by ground-based magnetometry, and discovered new features, leading to a revision of the cemetery’s reconstructed boundaries and composition. The study demonstrates the great potential of a joint use of aerial magnetometry and aerial photography for locating and studying archaeological sites at a new, sophisticated level.
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The Chemical Analysis of Glass Samples from Roman Era Cemeteries in the Crimean Piedmont
Scientific article
We assessed the chemical composition of more than 40 fragments of glass vessels from the Roman Period cemeteries in the Crimean piedmont— Druzhnoe, Neyzats, and Opushki, using X-ray spectral microanalysis. The results suggest that the glass from all the cemeteries belonged to the soda-lime-silica group, based on natural soda. The samples fall in glass groups “Levantine I”, “HIMT”, and “Roman glass”, typical of central and peripheral Roman manufacture in 0–500 AD. Most vessels are made of glass with a high content of iron, manganese, and titanium, as in the HIMT group, most common in Europe since 300 AD. The likely workshops are those in the Syro-Palestinian area, northern Egypt, and Sinai, pointing to contacts of the northern Pontic with other parts of the Greco-Roman world. The composition of glass from all the three cemeteries is the same, suggesting that the sub-mountainous Crimea imported glassware from the same workshops.
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The Earliest Snake Images in the Middle Irtysh Region
Scientific article
Herpetomorphic images are quite rare in Paleolithic and Mesolithic art. Published bone daggers from Cherno-Ozerye (OMK 9675/702) and Aitkulovo (MAEAAGU OF 93) are the earliest examples of the Middle Irtysh Final Paleolithic or Mesolithic art showing snakes engraved in a stylistically original manner. Both specimens show opposed reptiles striving, as it were, to meet. This plot has so far not been described or geographically localized. An attempt is made to interpret it at least tentatively. It is proposed that people inhabiting southwestern Siberia and the southern Urals in the Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic practiced a snake cult, resulting in amazingly similar works of art. While this region has not been subjected to detailed archaeological studies, examples of early art suggest that it was an ancient cultural province, comparable with that of Malta–Buret, where a search for graphic forms of communication was conducted, special cultural texts were created, and major aspects of worldview were discussed.
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Scientific article
In 2019, a group of previously unknown mounds with “mustaches” was discovered in the north of the Kulunda steppe. They are quite unusual: all of the mounds are ground and located on floodplains. In 2023, a set of remote sensing methods (aerial photography, electromagnetic profiling, and electrical resistivity tomography) was used at Karasuk-1 and Troitskoye-1 to assess the design of the mounds and see if additional features were present on their periphery. For this type of structure, geophysical methods were employed for the first time. Maps based on aerial photography data have made it possible to record the relief features of objects in high detail. Troitskoye-1 consists of five rather than four mounds. Using the electrical tomography method, the composition of the mound platforms was shown to be homogeneous. On geoelectric sections, they correspond to conductive areas ca 0.5 m thick. At both sites, the central mounds do not have “walls” on the eastern side. Apparently, no removal of soil was carried out on that side, in order to provide access to the ritual areas from the space enclosed by the “mustaches”. According to the results of aerial photography, at Karasuk-1 cup-shaped depressions were discovered on the surface of the western ends of the “mustaches”. They can be tentatively associated with the design of the mounds. The northern “mustache” is markedly broken. No additional features were identified inside or near the mounds. The results suggest that both complexes were built at the same time and are autonomous.
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