The metal ages and medieval period. Рубрика в журнале - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
Scientific article
Beads are the most frequent finds in 1st–5th century AD female burials at Tarasovo on the Middle Kama, the largest Finno-Ugric cemetery, dating to the Great Barbarian Migration era. Larger beads are common in burials of women aged 17–45, whereas seed beads were typically worn by girls and young women aged 13–29. This was probably because unmarried girls wore beanies embroidered with beads and bronze ornaments. Also, variously sized beads were attached to bands of the headdress, framing its bottom edges in one or more lines. Single beads found near the crania suggest that they were amulets. In one- and several-strand necklaces, beads alternated with bronze ornaments. Necklaces were often parts of gift sets, some of which are completely preserved, including the organic base. Larger beads were used as pendants. Some of them decorated strips, used for appending knives and other utensils to belts. All these ways of using beads are still practiced by Finno-Ugric women in the Ural area.
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Scientific article
Archaeological and anthropological data concerning two children’s burials representing the early horizon at Boldyrevo-4 kurgan 1, Orenburg Region, excavated in 2019–2020, are presented. Early mounds were covered by a huge kurgan above another, later burial of adults. The entire complex was built by the Yamnaya people at the turn of the early and middle stages of this culture, about 3300–3100 cal BC. Remains of three children, aged about 6, from two graves, were examined. Severe pathological conditions were discovered. The child from burial 3 died of metastatic cancer. Child 1 from burial 4, represented only by a cranium, possibly suffered from scurvy. The oncological condition may have been triggered by a long stay at a smoky hearth or proximity to a metalworking site, since the Yamnaya population of the Southern Urals was engaged in an intense exploitation of copper deposits. In both children’s burials, common elements of the Yamnaya funerary rite were accompanied by certain unusual features. Vessels were similar in form and decoration, but different in manufacturing technique. The organic substances of which the mats under the skeletons were made display certain differences. These features suggest that children belonged to related but separate groups. Children buried under early mounds apparently had a special inherited social status that had an effect on the further construction of the kurgan for members of the elite.
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Scientific article
Science-based studies at Gordinskoye I (Guryakar) fortified settlement in northern Udmurtia (9th–13th centuries AD) were carried out. The occupation layer had been largely destroyed by plowing. The statistical analysis of multispectral images and segmentation of the generated images of vegetation distribution make it possible to assess the integrity of the occupation layer. The preliminary conclusion about the presence of its parts, varying in thickness, is based on the analysis of the configuration of areas of segmented multispectral images and the correspondence of diverse segments to relief features. Assessment of archaeological context and of the preservation of occupation layer (superficially disrupted, replaced, or transported) is possible only with the use of geophysical and soil studies and targeted excavations. The available reference data allow us to interpret individual segments present solely on the flat surface of the promontory. The assessment of the parameters of the occupation layer within the entire survey area is possible through the extrapolation of properties of vegetation segments with known characteristics. Based on the totality of data, it can be assumed that the built-up area of Guryakar was limited by the outer fortification line. A thick occupation layer is localized on the promontory, within two inner structural parts of the site. Two other parts of Guryakar, situated between the residence area and the outer fortification line, were probably used for utility purposes and manufacture. The deposition of the medieval occupation layer was less intense there. Additional markers of the fortifications, delimiting the boundaries of the settlement’s structural parts, are vertically oriented linear areas of the transported layer on slopes of the promontory.
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Burial of a Warrior in the Pazyryk Mound at Khankharinsky Dol, Altai
Scientific article
This article presents the findings of excavations of mound 46 at the Khankharinsky Dol cemetery on the left bank of the Inya River, 1–1.5 km southeast of the Chineta village in the Krasnoshchekovsky District of the Altai Territory (northwestern Altai). Inside the mound, there was a burial of a male, placed in a crouched position on his right side, with his head oriented toward the east. Along the northern wall of the grave, the burial of a horse was found, oriented in the same direction. The most interesting funerary items were an iron dagger, an iron pickaxe, and decorated belt plaques made of horn. Parts of a horse harness included iron ring bits, a horn girth buckle, and a block. Analysis of the funerary rite and artifacts allows us to attribute the mound to the Pazyryk culture, and tentatively date it to the late 5th to 4th centuries BC. The fact that the dagger and the pickaxe were real weapons rather than replicas, and that the horse was buried, suggests that the man was a professional warrior, possibly a high-ranking one. Another sign of this are the decorated horn belt plaques, known to be endowed with important socio-cultural meaning among the Central Asian nomads.
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Burial of the Pazyryk elite members at Khankarinsky dol, Northwestern Altai
Scientific article
This article presents the results of an interdisciplinary study of kurgan 30 at Khankarinsky Dol, located on the left bank of the Inya River, 1–1.5 km southeast of Chineta, Krasnoshchekovsky District, Altai Territory (northwestern Altai). This is a Pazyryk kurgan, under which a looted double burial of a male and an adolescent was found. Their heads were apparently oriented toward the east. Along the northern wall of the grave, an accompanying burial of seven horses was found, placed in two rows, heads oriented to the east. The morphological analysis showed all of them to be stallions, resembling those from other mounds of this group. Morphological comparison with horses from other Pazyryk kurgans in the Altai revealed both similarities and differences. Analysis of the grave goods, including iron bits, a bone pipe-shaped bead, tiny bronze daggers in wooden scabbards, a pickaxe, numerous fragments of gold foil from the horse harness, and fragments of Chinese wooden lacquer ware, suggests that the burial was made no earlier than the 4th century BC – possibly in the late 4th to early 3rd century BC. Radiocarbon analysis was carried out at the Tomsk Institute for Monitoring Climatic and Ecological Systems of the SB RAS Center for Isotopic Studies. The funerary rite and the artifacts suggest that kurgan 30 was constructed for members of the nomadic elite of the northwestern Altai.
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Review article
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This study focuses on the southern line of wooden defensive structures (palisade, platform, and two towers) at Fort Umrevinsky (first third of the 18th century), based on the findings of archaeological excavations. Continuous development in this borderline fort are reconstructed over a period of 30 years. Initially, during the era of Peter the Great, Fort Umrevinsky was a regular, subrectangular fortification, enclosed by a palisade, and somewhat similar to a field redoubt. A few decades later, two towers were built on pile foundations at the corners of the palisade enclosure on the fort’s southern face. One of them was subquadratic, the other subrectangular in plan view. As a result, Fort Umrevinsky became a bastion-type fortification. The strengthening of the southern face was motivated by the presence of gates in the palisade wall between the towers, by the proximity of transportation routes (roads and waterways), and by the fact that fortifications were arranged parallel to the borderline. Fortification changes in the 1730s were caused by a number of factors. These included the spread of European fortification principles to Siberia, the political situation in southwestern Siberia, and the beginning of large-scale military engineering works in the region. The southern line of wooden fortifications at Fort Umrevinsky helps to estimate the number of towers there.
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Review article
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Chinese coins from the early medieval cemetery Gorny-10, Northern Altai
Scientific article
We describe a representative series of Chinese coins found during the excavations at Gorny-10, carried out by expeditions from Altai State University in 2000–2003. The coins were found in eight burials (No. 6, 18, 44–46, 48, 62, 66). Because of its composition and diversity, the sample is unusual for North and Inner Asia. It includes 29 specimens, relating to various groups. Apart from coins of the Wǔ-zhū and Kāi-yuán Tōng-bǎo types, which are rather common outside China, there are very rare ones belonging to the Cháng-píng Wǔ-zhū and Wǔ-xíng Dà-bù categories. A numismatic analysis allowed us to date separate burials and the entire cemetery. The lower date of most burials (No. 6, 45, 46, 48, 62, 66) cannot be earlier than AD 581, as evidenced by Sui coins of the Wǔ-zhū type. Burials 18 and 41, where Kāi-yuán Tōng-bǎo coins were found, are later than the 630s. In view of additional data (absence of late issues of Kāi-yuán Tōng-bǎo coins, and results of radiocarbon analysis), burials at Gorny-10 date to late 6th and 7th centuries. Notably, coins were found only in burials of women and children. Their locations suggest that they had been used as head ornaments and parts of belt sets, as well as pendants and amulets.
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Scientific article
This study attempts to elaborate a chronology of rock art in the Russian and Mongolian part of the Altai Mountains, from the Paleolithic to the Late Middle Ages. We focus on the style and themes of rock art and on petroglyphic palimpsests. The earliest representations date to the Upper Paleolithic. On certain palimpsests, images of horses in the Kalguty style are overlaid by Bronze Age petroglyphs. The key challenge is to identify Neolithic petroglyphs. Among the huge number of Bronze Age representations, some follow the traditions peculiar to the Afanasyevo and Chemurchek cultures. The key feature of the latter is so-called “Chemurchek anthropomorphs”. Bronze Age petroglyphs, representing animals, humans, weapons, wheeled vehicles, etc., are chronologically and culturally diverse and must be subdivided respectively. Early Iron Age ones require attribution to either the initial stage or to the mid-1st millennium BC. We discuss the difficulties of analyzing rock art of the Xiongnu-Sarmatian age, the expressive Turkic style, that of the early medieval rock art, and recent petroglyphs of the southern Russian Altai.
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