We describe an unusual Old Turkic statue at Borili (Ulytau, Central Kazakhstan), distinguished by a peculiar position of hands and by an unusual object-a pickaxe held instead of a vessel. Stylistic features and possible prototypes among actual pickaxes suggest that the statue dates to 7th to early 8th centuries AD. The composition attests to the sculptor's familiarity with Sogdian/Iranian art and with that of China. Several interpretations of the statue are possible. The standard version regarding Old Turkic statues erected near stone enclosures is that they represent divine chiefs-patrons of the respective group. Certain details carved on the statue indicate an early origin of the image. It is also possible that such statues are semantically similar to those of guardians placed along the 'path of the spirits" near tombs of Chinese royal elite members.

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An anthropological study of mummified remains from the Zeleny Yar cemetery on the Lower Ob, Western Siberia

Bagashev A.N., Razhev D.I., Poshekhonova O.E., Slepchenko S.M., Alekseeva E.A.

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An assemblage from a medieval burial at lake Parisento, Gydan peninsula, the Arctic zone of Western Siberia

Gusev A.V., Plekhanov A.V., Podosenova Y.A.

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An early Bronze Age hoard of bronze tools from Dvin, Central Armenia

Gasparyan B., Korenevskiy S.N.

Статья научная

We describe a hoard found in 2018 on a hilltop near the village of Dvin, Armenia, and comprising seven daggers and six adzes. Similar pickaxes and adzes were found in caches at Dzhrashen, Yerevan, and at Nahal-Mishmar, Israel. A peculiar feature of the Dvin adzes is that their blades are sharply rounded, resembling those of the Bronze Age battle axes. All the Dvin daggers belong to a single type, similar to tangless daggers of the Maikop culture, but more robust. Results of an X-ray diffraction analysis show that the Yerevan, as well as the Dvin, specimens are made of arsenic bronze, whose source is hard to determine. Judging by the typology and the presence of blanks, the Dvin hoard indicates local metalworking, a production of artisans working in the southern part of the Alaverdy mining area. According to GPS, the direct distance between the Dvin and Yerevan hoards is just 13 km. Both locations apparently belonged to one and the same metalworking region in Armenia, and both hoards date to the late 5th to early 4th millennia BC.

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An early Jurchen text among rock representations near the Arkhara river in the Amur basin (history, research results, and new evidence)

Zabiyako A.P.

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An early Pazyryk kurgan at Khankarinsky dol, Northwestern Altai: chronology and attribution of artifacts

Dashkovskiy P.K.

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An early iron age camp of reindeer hunters in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, Nenets autonomous okrug

Murygin A.M., Kosintsev P.A., Marchenko-vagapova T.I.

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An early iron age foundry at Kargat-4, Southwestern Siberia

Durakov I.A., Kobeleva L.S.

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An elk figurine from Tourist-2, Novosibirsk: technological and stylistic features

Zotkina L.V., Basova N.V., Postnov A.V., Kolobova K.A.

Статья

Most fi gurines from the Bronze Age cemetery Tourist-2 in Novosibirsk are anthropomorphic, and follow one and the same iconographic style, termed “Krokhalevka”. Two fragments, however, refer to a zoomorphic image—that of an elk. As they cannot be refi tted, a special analysis was carried out. Computer-aided measurements and statistical comparisons suggest that they belong to a single specimen. This is important for further study, the search for parallels, and interpretation. Stylistic comparison with other items of portable art from Tourist-2 is diffi cult, since these are anthropomorphic. Nonetheless, the analysis suggests that the elk fi gurine is a perfect match with the homogeneous and stable technological complex revealed by other specimens. In terms of technology and style, the elk fi gurine parallels those of the Late Angara fi gurative tradition. Because the Tourist-2 burial had not been dated, a preliminary AMS-date of 4601 ± 61 BP (3511–3127 cal BC) was generated. Given this date and the archaeological context of the elk fi gurine, it can provide a reference point for the cultural and chronological attribution of other stylistically and technically similar images.

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An old Turkic statue at Borili, Ulytau hills, Central Kazakhstan: cultural realia

Ermolenko L.N., Soloviev A.I., Kurmankulov Z.K.

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An old believers' skete near Maltsevo, fort Chaus, based on mid-18th century documents and their comparison with ethnographic and archaeological sources

Borodovsky A.P.

Статья научная

This study focuses on an Old Believers' skete near the village of Maltsevo, Fort Chaus, north of modern Novosibirsk, where, according to mid-18th century documents, community members committed self-immolation. Documents differ as to where the rite occurred, how many people died, and how the skete was built. As compared to other contemporaneous sketes in Russia, this one is described in more detail. To all appearances, its construction resembled that of other Siberian forts. Similarities include an outer palisade wall, up to 2.45 m high, and the use of the logwork of houses as towers. The reason behind those parallels may be that preachers and community members were familiar with the fortifi cations of Fort Chaus. Fortifi ed Old Believers' sketes are known in the Upper Ob region. The estimated living space of the log cabins fully corresponds to written data about the number of persons who took refuge in the skete. The search for the actual remains of the skete is ongoing and should be continued because this architectural structure, which existed for no more than one and a half months before the fi re (May–June 1756), is a unique site of the late 18th century.

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An unusual burial of a Xiongnu-Sarmatian era warrior in the Western Siberian forest-steppe: results of a paleogenetic analysis

Pilipenko A.S., Cherdantsev S.V., Trapezov R.O., Pozdnyakov D.V., Chikisheva T.A., Molodin V.I.

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An unusual fabric from Jety-Asar-2, Eastern Aral Sea region, in the context of the Central Asian textile tradition

Polosmak N.V., Karpova E.V., Amosov E.V.

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An upper Paleolithic mandible from Listvenka, Siberia: a revision

Khaldeyeva N.I., Vasiliev S.V., Kharlamova N.V., Akimova E.V., Drozdov N.I., Vasiliev A.Y., Zorina I.S., Petrovskaya V.V., Perova N.G.

Статья научная

The mandible of a child from the Upper Paleolithic site of Listvenka in the Krasnoyarsk-Kansk forest-steppe, south-central Siberia, was subjected to a new detailed study. It was found in 1992 and was first published five years later with very incomplete information about place and context. The need for revision was prompted by the sophistication of dental trait batteries, new views of the diagnostic signifi cance of certain dental traits, availability of new techniques, etc. Now the fi nd can be related to habitation layer 12d, consistently dated to ca 13 ka on the basis of three estimates. Results of the multi-slice computed tomography suggest that the child was 3.5–4.5 years old. Like most fossils representing early anatomically modern humans, the specimen is rather robust by modern standards. Based on the combination of nonmetric and metric traits, the individual's place among other eight Upper Paleolithic children was assessed. The distinctive feature of the mandible is generally modern morphology combined with robusticity and a neutral position on the west-to-east scale. We tentatively describe this trait combination as Upper Paleolithic Central Siberian.

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Analysis and museumization of a wooden burial structure from Pazyryk kurgan 5, the Altai mountains: a methodological study

Mylnikov V.P.

Статья научная

This article describes the methods used in the multidisciplinary study, preservation, and museumization of a wooden structure from a grave under the Early Iron Age kurgan 5 at Pazyryk in the Altai. The structure consisted of two chambers with additional elements on top. Its technological analysis was carried out during the excavations, and the structure was subjected to special treatment after extraction. At the side the mound, the outer cribwork was reconstructed; its details and technologies were evaluated. The stages in the field conservation of all artifacts are described. The museumization of the outer cribwork at the Anokhin National Museum of the Republic of Altai is outlined.

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Analysis of 3D-models of artificially deformed crania, using geometric morphometry

Pugacheva E.V., Uchaneva E.N., Kazarnitsky A.A., Gromov A.V.

Статья научная

The study of artificially deformed crania is complicated by difficulties in analyzing curvilinear shapes without reliable reference points for measurement. Methods of geometric morphometrics (GM) help to solve this problem. We generated 3D-models of deformed crania (26 male and 19 female) from burials of different chronological periods of the Okunev archaeological culture (Verkhniy Askiz I, Uybat III and V, Uybat-Charkov, Itkol I and II), Southern Siberia (2600–1700 BC). Using the Landmark IDAV software, each model was transformed into a set of six traditional craniometric landmarks and 450 semi-landmarks regularly distributed over the entire surface of the braincase. For further processing with the Procrustes and principal component analysis, functions of several R-packages (Morpho, Geomorph, and Arothron) were employed. Crania from early Okunev burials were found to have a small deformed area around lambda, spanning the posterior parts of parietal bones and the upper part of the occipital squama. In crania from later Okunev burials, the deformation extends on the parietal area, causing the reduction of cranial height owing to a lesser curvature of the parietal segment. The lateral walls of the braincase, the frontal squama, and the lower part of the occipital squama in such crania are more convex.

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