The metal ages and medieval period. Рубрика в журнале - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
Seasonality of Sintashta funerary rites (based on the Kamennyi ambar-5 Bronze Age cemetery)
Scientific article
Based on archaeological materials from the Kamennyi Ambar-5 cemetery, we test the hypothesis about the connection between the seasonality of pastoral practices and funerary rites during the Late Bronze Age (early 2nd millennium BC). We studied growth layers in the teeth of 24 cows, 19 sheep/goats, 14 horses, a dog, and ten humans from 17 graves. We combined samples from various species from the same contexts into eight assemblages. With regard to animals, differences in seasons of death were revealed only once. 70 % of graves were arranged in spring and 30 % in autumn. Therefore, the hypothesis about the seasonal use of the cemetery can be supported at least partially. The contemporaneous settlement of Kamennyi Ambar demonstrates a similar tendency in the seasonality of animal slaughtering. However, the reasons for slaughtering at the settlement differed from those in the cemetery. At the settlement site, it was motivated by practical needs, and in themortuary site, only by the seasonality of human deaths, specifically Ьy a higher frequency of deaths in late winter and spring. Also, postmortem selection is possiЬle, whereЬy kurgan burials were arranged only for some individuals. In practice, several of the above factors overlapped, resulting in an anomalous composition of the buried cohort (disproportion of sexes and a higher proportion of individuals who died at the peak of vital activity).
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Shift of the Yenisei and Abakan Beds as Reasons for Constructing the Second Abakan Fort in 1707
Scientific article
The study explores the reasons behind the relocation of the construction site for Fort Abakan from the mouth of the Abakan River, as initially planned, to the right bank of the Yenisei River, between two mountains, Unyuk and Turan. The shift of sand ridges, damming these rivers and changing their beds, is examined, and the locations of the projected forts are described. Written sources suggest that the Abakan and Yenisei beds as related systems changed their positions simultaneously, likely between 1691 and 1697 and definitely no earlier than 700–400 BC. Modern hydrological data suggest that processes that occurred in the region in the Early Modern Age were essentially like those that occurred in the Early Iron Age. The earlier date of the Abakan bed’s change is evidenced by the destruction of the 1st millennium BC Tagar sites near Sartykov village on the Abakan. At present, the Yenisei makes an abrupt eastward turn in that place, following the general direction of rivers in the region. D.A. Klements’s idea that after leaving the Western Sayan canyon, the Yenisei had flowed westwards is rejected. The change of location for the prospective fort was caused by the evolution of riverine systems of Western Siberia, specifically by the shift in the Abakan bed.
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Scientific article
Silicate slag inclusions in iron artifacts from the Trans-Urals and in iron slags from sites of the Itkul culture were analyzed to assess the geochemical characteristics of iron ore sources exploited during the Early Iron Age. Slag inclusions were found in 19 out of 25 samples from Kichigino I and Krasnaya Gorka. For comparison, we used 12 iron slag samples from Early Iron Age and medieval sites near Lake Irtysh and from Zotino mine. Via statistical analysis, four geochemical groups were separated, each including one or more Kichigino artifacts, which suggests a variety of iron ore sources used by the nomads. Slags and artifacts of the first group are associated with infiltration-sedimentary ironstone ores of the Middle Trans-Urals. Smithing slag from the Itkul site of Shatanov V suggests that these ores were already smelted in the Early Iron Age. The fact that group 1 includes only one artifact from Kichigino I demonstrates that the nomads of the Southern Trans-Urals obtained iron mainly from other sources. Group 2 is characterized by a higher content of Mn and sometimes Ba and S in inclusions. This may attest to the use of Fe-Mn ironstone associated with barite-polymetallic deposits of Central Kazakhstan. Group 3 shows an elevated content of CaO and MgO, indicating the use of ironstone from platform carbonate strata. In the fourth group, the content of K2O is high, and that of MnO, low.
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Spatial Distribution of Finds on the Eastern Outskirts of Poltse I, the Amur Region
Scientific article
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first excavations at Poltse I The study addresses the spatial arrangement of features at Poltse I—a Poltse culture settlement near the village of Kukelevo. An analysis of past scholarship reveals the sources of the modern understanding of the geographic and topographic location of the site and of its present condition. Although Poltse I and Poltse II, which is located nearby, were damaged by plowing in 1968, it is possible to continue excavations and obtain new information. On the basis of published materials, field plans in the archives, and artifacts at the SB RAS Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, the first complete plan of excavations at Poltse I has been prepared, showing the arrangement of dwellings. Certain features of their design are described. Ceramic vessels found in each of the ten dwellings are listed. The vessels were placed along the perimeter of the interior, leaving free space around the central hearth and a passage to the exit. Most were concentrated in six dwellings. Only a few of them were used in everyday life, while most could have been destined for trade and barter. The abundance of ceramics (965 specimens and numerous separate fragments) makes Poltse I a key source for information on pottery manufacture, subsistence, and cultural ties. So far, it is impossible to say whether the vessels were manufactured in situ or imported.
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Star-shaped pendants from the Perm region, Western Urals: Hunnic polychrome ornaments reanimated
Article
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Stone Tools from an Island in Berd Bay, Novosibirsk Reservoir
Scientific article
This article presents the results of a multidisciplinary study of stone tools (discoid mace-head, adze, and axe) found on an island in Berd Bay, Novosibirsk Reservoir. Trace analysis suggests that the mace-head is made of fragile sandstone, precluding its use as a striking weapon. Therefore, it was likely a ceremonial weapon. The adze and the axe are also made of a local rock—shale. The specimens resemble prestigious weapons of the Early and Middle Bronze Age from the forest-steppe zone of southwestern Siberia. Discoid mace-heads, like globular ones, are typical of the Middle Bronze Age. Importantly, all the specimens were found where the submerged Fort Berdsk was possibly situated. Early artifacts have also been found near other Siberian forts such as Tomsk, Umrevinsky, and Sayansk, suggesting that these were built at places with a long history of habitation.
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Tagar artifacts at the Stavropol state museum reserve (G.N. Prozritelev's collection)
Review article
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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 Andronovo age women's costume, based on finds from Maytan, Central Kazakhstan
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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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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