The metal ages and medieval period. Рубрика в журнале - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
On a distinctive feature of the Andronovo (Fedorovka) funerary rites in the Baraba forest-steppe
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On phoinix and its distinguishing marks: a Karian “type site” or a demos to Hellenistic kamiros?
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The oldest known inhabitants of Taşlıca (Bozburun Peninsula, in Southwestern Turkey), recorded as Phoinix in the inscriptions, were the Tloioi people. In the light of the ancient Greek corpus reported especially from the site of Fenaket (namely Rumevlek, forming the core of the dwelling zone) and the Classical wall ruins at the Acropolis, it is understood that the village has been systematically occupied since the 5th century BC. The settlement, which grew as a dominion of Kamiros as of the 3rd century BC, expanded its territory in the NE-SW axis over the centuries. Although Phoinix’s chess-board system of insulae of the megara offers parallels with Kamiros, owing to its Hellenistic-style plan and layout, it contains clues to far more ancient codes. In this study, besides being greatly equated with the Hellenistic period, Phoinix’s identity in the historical process, which gives indications of her Karianism, is discussed with the help of selective materials, basically authentic architecture tracked over the region. Apparently, the pyramidal monoliths were not unique to Phoinix; however, the Tloans, like the other neighboring komai on the mainland, seem to have managed to keep their traditions of communication with the “other world” through such features. Hence, these monoliths, which evoke the ziggurat morphology or the famous Mausoleum at Halicarnassus to connect to the afterworld, must have been the typical manifestations of the Karian mentality, sufficiently reflected by the aboriginal communities, however inevitably overshadowed by the grandest architectural projects of the Hekatomnid dynasty.
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On the chronological position of Siba culture metal artifacts, Northwest China
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This study shows that bronze artifacts typical of the Siba culture (Gansu, China), such as cast convex plaques with loops, open-gap hook earrings with trumpet-shaped ends, and lamellar stemmed daggers, are similar to those from burials of the Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) and Andronovo (Fedorovo) cultures in Western Siberia, while the socketed celt-adze from the Ganguya cemetery is paralleled by those from Late Krotovo, Alakul, and Srubnaya complexes. Open rings with two opposed cast trumpet-shaped ends, open-gap hook earrings with trumpet-shaped ends, and cast convex plaques with loops, as well as stemless lamellar bronze knives with triangular section along the entire length, synchronize Siba with the cultures such as Munkh-Khairkhan, Late Qijia, Lower Xiajiadian, and Late Glazkovo. Therefore, radiocarbon dates of the Siba culture are confi rmed, suggesting that it falls within the 1800–1400 BC interval. If so, Siba bronze knives with curved spines and I-beam-shaped section of handles, as well as cast convex plaques with loops, can be considered prototypes of Late Bronze Age types of the Karasuk and Irmen cultures. Populations of western China preserved earlier (Seima-Turbino?) traditions of metallurgy, having infl uenced the culture of the mountain-steppe zone of Northern Eurasia in the last third of the 2nd millenium BC.
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On the history of Asian Bosporus in the early Byzantine times: excavations at Verkhnegostagaevskoye
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On the time and context of the earliest bronze mirrors in the Northern Pontic region
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Origin and evolution of the earliest iron-smelting technologies in the Khakass-Minusinsk basin
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The Khakass-Minusinsk Basin is archaeologically one of the best studied regions of Russia. Bronze artifacts from the pre-Scythian and Scythian epoch from that area are famous worldwide. However, iron production appears rather late there. From 2009 to 2018, a joint Russian-Japanese expedition excavated several sites documenting the earliest iron manufacture in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. On the basis of these excavations and experiments, metallurgical technology was reconstructed. The results suggest an evolutionary model of metal production in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin during the Xiongnu-Sarmatian period. Three types of iron-smelting furnaces are described, structurally differing in terms of air-blasting and slag removal. The conclusion is made that the initial iron production technology had been borrowed, and later evolved in situ.
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Philip Johan Tabbert von Strahlenberg: an 18th century Swedish prisoner’s research in Siberia
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This article analyzes the work done by the Swedish prisoner of the Great Northern War Philip Johan Tabbert von Strahlenberg during his stay in Siberia and aimed at exploring ancient and traditional cultures of Western Siberia and the Minusinsk Basin. A brief overview of earlier studies is presented. The conditions of Strahlenberg’s work are outlined. His main interests, from his arrival in Siberia’s capital until his return to Sweden, concerned the cartography, ethnology, and archaeology of the environs of Tobolsk and of the entire Western Siberia, Minusinsk Basin, and Southern Siberian highlands in particular. Some episodes in Strahlenberg’s activities as a researcher and collector are described with a focus on the difficulties he experienced, specifically when collecting ancient artifacts and written documents. Certain results of his research are highlighted. From the modern standpoint, the article examines the significance of Strahlenberg’s work for Russian archaeology at the stage when its basis of sources was being formed. His place among the first experts in Western and Southern Siberian ancient and traditional cultures is assessed. The key role in the organization and consolidation of research in the remote fringes of the Russian State in the early 1700s belonged to the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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Pit-grave (Yamnaya) and pit-grave-maikop burials at Levoyegorlyksky-3, Stavropol
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Possibilities of direct dating of rock art in the Khakass-Minusinsk basin
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The study addresses modern methods of absolute dating of rock art. We review prospective approaches to dating petroglyphs under various conditions: AMS, OSL, uranium-thorium, and cosmogenic isotope. Not so much methods per se are discussed as principles of their application to certain reliably dated rock art sites of various periods in Europe, Asia, America, and Australia. Examples of satisfactory outcomes in international practice are cited alongside our assessment of prospects and limitations to be considered with regard to the method of dating the earliest petroglyphs and rock paintings in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. The review suggests that the basic conditions for the use of the uranium-thorium method are not met, the AMS method requires a preliminary analysis of the context, whereas OSL and cosmogenic isotope method are the most prospective.
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This article outlines the findings of a technological study of the Kulai ceramics from Barsov Gorodok III/6 near Barsova Gora, on the right bank of the Ob River, Tyumen Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. We describe the site, its stratigraphic sequence and planigraphy, and the layout of the dwellings. The analysis was performed using binocular microscopy of traces in fresh transverse and longitudinal fractures of potsherds. Results were compared with those relating to the experimental sample. The examination of 50 specimens revealed a conservative tradition typical of the potters’ substrate skills. Its characteristics included the use of homogeneous clay mined near reservoirs in one and the same area, and the technology was based on bottom-to-body or body-to-bottom coiling. The body was constructed by side coiling. Adaptive skills were variable. Four mixed recipes for clay paste are described, making up one-fifth of the total number of recipes: clay + broken stone + chamotte; clay + broken stone + liquid organics; clay + + chamotte + sand; clay + broken stone + sand; and two unmixed recipes: clay + broken stone; and clay + chamotte. The mechanical processing of surface is variable, being based on 16 techniques and their combinations. Techniques used at various stages of pottery manufacture are listed. Simple paste recipes indicate groups of potters representing various traditions. Mixed recipes attest to a blend of traditions. Those using them might have been monocultural or multicultural groups of potters using different techniques and skills.
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