The metal ages and medieval period. Рубрика в журнале - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
Clay-Plaster “Masks” from Mound-Vault Skalnaya 5, Khakassia
Scientific article
Findings of excavations at the burial mound-vault Skalnaya 5 of the Tes stage in Khakassia are presented. The article focuses on ritual aspects of clay-plaster coatings of human crania and their semantics. The coating was applied to cervical vertebrae and trepanned skulls. It consisted of a single type of local clay; sculptural portraits were modeled of plaster (with two main layers and a finishing layer), and pigments were made of ocher with various shades, cinnabar, and charcoal. The masks, apparently made by various artisans, represented unique faces with ethnic features. Female masks had more elaborate paintings (one or several trefoils) than male ones which were uniformly red. Wooden structures, certain details of the funerary rite, and the technology of clay-plaster coatings reveal high similarity among the burial mounds at Skalnaya 5, Noviye Mochagi near Kaly, and Lisiy near Sabinka, possibly because they were contemporaneous (first to third centuries AD). Trefoil designs are paralleled by those on two female masks from Kamenka III burials, suggesting that these women belonged to a single ethnic group. Nomadic pastoralists of Southern Siberia did not make sculptural representations of painted plaster, suggesting that the tradition was introduced from the west. But conceptual resemblance is found only among Egyptian plaster funerary masks of the Roman Age.
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Contents of an Early Byzantine Amphora from Kruglaya Bay, the Black Sea
Scientific article
A fragment of an amphora found in the Kruglaya Bay near Sevastopol was filled with an unknown brown substance with a strong smell of tar. On the vessel’s neck, there is a round stamp ~30 mm in diameter, depicting the bust of an emperor encircled by an inscription. It resembles stamps on amphorae made in Alexandria and the Geronisos Island. The inscription reads, “επί Πτολεμαίου επάρχου”. The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis revealed dehydroabietic acid, methyl dehydroabietate, norabietatrienes, retene, and other phenanthrene derivatives, suggesting that the substance resulted from dry distillation of wood of the Pinaceae family. The headspace analysis yielded components of turpentine oil such as α-pinene, camphene, limonene, cymenes, and others terpenes. To establish the sample’s origin, the amphora’s content was compared with modern pinewood tar obtained by the traditional method. Given nearly identical chromatogram profiles of the amphora’s contents and of tar in areas relating to resin acids, similar values of peak areas of biomarker components, and the presence of turpentine oil components in the sample, it is highly probable that the amphora indeed contained tar.
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Cremation Burials at Ust-Zelinda-2, the Northern Angara Region: Typology and Chronology of Artifacts
Scientific article
We describe artifacts found in cremation burials at Ust-Zelinda-2 in the Northern Angara region. Such sites have been traditionally attributed to the Early Iron Age, specifically to the second stage of the Tsepan culture (8th–2nd centuries BC), first described by V.I. Privalikhin. Six cremation burials were found at the cemetery. We focus on the most informative burial 16, while other burials are described in brief. The bodies were cremated outside the graves; most artifacts also reveal traces of fire. Cremated remains are those of adults. Accompanying finds are rather abundant, including stone, bone, and bronze arrowheads, horn sockets for attaching them, horn overlays for bows, and bronze ornaments. A specific type of butterfly-shaped belt plaques was common in Scythian-type cultures of northeastern Eurasia from Ordos to the Upper Ob region. Those from Ust-Zelinda-2 are the most numerous in the Angara area and the taiga zone from the Tomsk stretch of the Ob to the Upper Lena. Bronze butterfly-shaped belt plaques used in eastern North Eurasia were examined. On the Angara, they appeared in the 5th century BC and continued to be in use until the 3rd century BC, i.e., longer than on the Upper Ob or in Tuva. The attribution of culture that existed in the Northern Angara region is an open question.
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Cultural horizons at the Uyelgi cemetery mound 11, southeastern Urals
Scientific article
The article outlines the findings from excavations at Uyelgi mound 11, the most informative one at the cemetery. Its lower horizon revealed a burial demonstrating features highly indicative of the nomadic culture of the Southern Urals. The upper horizon contained two burials belonging to the Srostki culture, characterized by certain artifacts of the "Hungarian" (Carpathian) type, evidencing the return of some South Uralic groups from the west at the time when the Srostki people migrated in the opposite direction from Eastern Kazakhstan and the Altai. This conclusion is supported by findings from the Aktobe cemetery, where typically "Hungarian" ornaments of horse harness co-occur with a belt set with floral decoration following the Srostki tradition of the Altai. Inside the mound and on the platform under it, fragments of five clay vessels were found, most of which are decorated with comb-and-cord patterns of the post-Bakal, Nevolino, and Petrogrom-Yudina type, associated with the East Uralic and West Siberian Ugrians. In terms of spatial structure, stratigraphy, and typology, then, the Uyelgi mound 11 demonstrates at least four cultural horizons: South Uralic, "Hungarian" (Carpathian), Altaic (Srostki), and Ugric (East Uralic and West Siberian), jointly mirroring complex ethnic processes in the region between 800–1000 AD.
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Cultural interaction patterns in the Bronze Age: ritual bronze artifacts from Korea and Japan
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Scientific article
This study focuses on the drawings of items collected during D.G. Messerschmidt's fi rst multidisciplinary expedition to Siberia in 1719–1727. Pictures of the artifacts have been preserved among the documents held by the Academy of Sciences Archive in the personal papers of the traveler, which includes his fi eld journals, the appendices of his reports to the Pharmaceutical (Medical) Registry, and a large handwritten treatise “Sibiria Perlustrata” (1727), outlining the expedition's fi ndings. In 1728, Messerschmidt's archaeological collection was included as part of Peter the Great's Siberian Collection, exhibited at the Kunstkamera. Watercolor and pencil drawings and engravings depicting the exhibits are identifi ed. Handwritten descriptions and drawings of the items have made it possible to a certain extent to reconstruct the fi rst encyclopedist's Siberian archaeological collection, which perished during the 1747 fi re at the Kunstkamera. As Messerschmidt's graphic works demonstrate, he documented items spanning the time from the Bronze Age to the Late Middle Ages and covering the territory from the Urals to the Trans-Baikal region, including things imported from Western Europe, China, and Central Asia. Also, he collected archaeological items representing virtually all cultures of the Minusinsk Basin. It is concluded that in the fi rst third of the 18th century, Messerschmidt's collection was the world's largest and most representative assemblage of artifacts from northeastern Eurasia.
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Decorative belts of Xianbei period nomads from Karban I, Northern Altai
Scientific article
In 1989–1990, five decorative belts worn by the Xianbei Period nomads were excavated from the Karban I cemetery in the Chemalsky District, Altai Republic. Their details (33 plaques, five buckles, six “units”, and two “pendant tips”) were found in four undisturbed graves of males (mounds 11, 27, 33, and 39). They are described with regard to function, decoration, and chronology. Parallels from the Altai and adjacent territories, dating to the late 1st millennium BC–early 1st millennium AD, are listed. A more precise attribution is the Early Xianbei Period (100–300 AD), correlating with the Bulan-Koby culture of the Altai. Available facts suggest that the style of these artifacts was influenced by the Xiongnu and Xianbei traditions. On the basis of the finds in situ, several variants of belt sets, some of which are hitherto unknown, have been reconstructed. The composition of the belts is unrelated to the owners' age and evidently mirrors their personal preferences. The results demonstrate the social relevance of the belts, since most were found in burials of top-ranking males.
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Early Iron Age Ceramics from the Ust-Polui Ritual and Production Center: Aspects of Technology
Scientific article
This article outlines the findings of a multidisciplinary analysis of pottery from the Early Iron Age ritual and production complex at Ust-Polui, in northwestern Siberia. The raw material used in pottery manufacture was aleuritetype silty ferruginous clay with a small amount of sand. Six recipes for paste preparation are described, the most common of which was adding grus to clay. Both materials were mined nearby. Two types of modeling are identified: base and base-and-body. Both the hollow form and the base were modeled by the coil method. Surface treatment was variable. Eighteen combinations of tools are identifi ed. Two peculiar techniques were employed: shaping the rim by an additional coil, and smoothing with a denticulate tool on the inner surface of the shoulder-body junction. Three pots were painted with ocher. Ceramics were used in foundry as crucibles and possibly ladles for molten metal. Comparison of Ust-Polui ceramic technology with that of Kulaika culture revealed both similarities and differences. Basically, the Ust-Polui ceramics belong to the Kulaika tradition. Their specifi city, however, supports the idea of the Ust-Polui variant, which is not synonymous with the Ust-Polui culture sensu V.N. Chernetsov. People associated with this variant were not isolated; they maintained ties with people living upstream on the Ob as far south as Barsova Gora, resulting in a blend of technological traditions differing from those of the Lower and Surgut stretches of the Ob.
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Early medieval jeweler's kit from the Western Amur region
Scientific article
A late 9th century jeweler's kit from dwelling 2 at Osinovoye Ozero, a Mohe site on the Middle Amur, is described. Bronze was smelted in a crucible placed on a ceramic support inside a vessel-like furnace. Nine bronze plaques from the same dwelling are compared with negatives of molds in which they were cast. Based on results of the elemental analysis of plaques, these fall into three groups. The fi rst differs from the other two by the source of ore, and plaques of the second group were recast more than once. Most Turkic type plaques were evidently destined for recasting into Mohe ornaments. The latter include one openwork and two fi gured plaques as well as bronze bells found in 2012 in dwelling 3. Because bronze items differing in composition were recast several times, the source of ore cannot be identifi ed. Techniques of manufacturing molds and facing of plaques, used by Central Asian and Mohe artisans, are reconstructed.
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Scientific article
An attempt is made to classify, analyze, and interpret female burials with weapons in the graves of early nomads in the Southern Urals, dating to late 5th–2nd centuries BC. In the Early Iron Age, this vast region was a center of the nomadic elite. The sample includes 23 graves with 24 buried individuals at well documented cemeteries. Only individuals for whom skeletal sex indicators are available have been included. Criteria and opinions are revised. Weapons in female burials include mostly quiver sets; whereas daggers, swords, and spearheads are rare. The placement of weapons was the same as in male burials: bladed weapons were placed on the right side, with hilts directed to the right hand, whereas quivers were found mostly on the left side. The remaining funerary items were exactly like in other female burials: there were numerous ornaments, bronze mirrors, spindle whorls, and stone altars. Female burials with weapons were found in kurgans regardless of social status. Apparently, those women represented all social strata, from elite to low-ranking nomads. Nothing indicates the existence of female military units, which, however, does not imply that women took no part in armed confl icts or did not use weapons to protect themselves and their homes.
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Foundries at Stary Tartas-5-an early bronze age site in the Baraba forest-steppe
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This study focuses on areas evidencing bronze casting at the Odino culture site, Stary Tartas-5, in the Baraba foreststeppe. One such area is within dwelling 1 and has a smelting hearth and pits situated nearby; the other, outside the dwelling, has a smelting kiln. We provide characteristics of these areas and their archaeological context. Each artifact from the foundries is described in detail, parallels are listed, and results of binocular microscopy of the molding compound are outlined. Based on fi ndings of thermogravimetric studies, we assess the functions of technical pottery represented by fragments, and the number of times various items of the casting set could have been used. Previously, crucibles shaped as straight-walled jars have not been found at Odino sites, with the exception of a single intact specimen from burial 286 at the Tartas-1 cemetery. Dwelling 1 at Tartas-5 and the workshop associated with it were apparently parts of a single household. The Odino bronze casting tradition was retained by the Krotovo population, who supplemented it with innovations, such as the use of oval cups with thicker bottoms adapted to their own casting practices. The Odino sites in the Baraba forest-steppe date to the fi rst half of the third millennium BC. It is concluded that the evidence of the bronze casting industry found at Stary Tartas-5 is the earliest in that region, and that its level in the Odino culture was high.
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