The metal ages and medieval period. Рубрика в журнале - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
The Jomon megalithic tradition in Japan: origins, features, and distribution
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The Marfa kurgan in the Stavropol territory: an example of an ancient architectural structure
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The Nagaybaks: from social stratum to ethnic group (the origins of ethnic identity)
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Archaeological fi ndings suggest that the Pazyryk burial chambers made from larch logs replicated dwellings, being a key symbol of culture. Log structures were built on both winter and summer pastures. Parts of them were placed in graves as substitutes for entire houses. Their inner structure corresponded to that of the house. All artifacts in the graves had been used in everyday life, being intrinsically related to the owners’ earthly existence. Felt artifacts functioned in the same way in elite burials and in those of the ordinary community members, although their quality was different. Felt carpets decorating the walls of the Pazyryk leaders’ houses were true works of art, while those found in ordinary burials were simple and rather crude. The typical form of the late 7th–3rd century BC wooden burial chambers in the Altai-Sayan was pyramidal. In the Southern Altai, this form survived until the 1800s–early 1900s in Telengit aboveground burial structures.
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The Russian pioneers' winter camp on Karachinsky island, the Lower Tobol river, Western Siberia
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In 2014, an expeditionfrom Tyumen State University excavated an underground dwelling on Karachinslqt Island, in the floodplain of the Tbbol, to check the chronicle data saying that Yermqk qnd his Cossacks had spent q winter at that place during their Siberian campaign. The log structure, measuring I0 m by 5 m by 2 m, consisted of two rooms. Three or four bottom tiers of logs have been preserved. Remains of a cellar were found in the central part east of the oven. The building existed for a short time because the area around it was sterile. Lenses of calcination and charcoal, and traces of fire on the logs of the structure suggest that it had burnt down. Then it was repaired, but the amount of garbage and kitchen waste is small. All household effects were carried out before the dwellers left. Finds include pottery, a grindstone, a potter s scraper, and pieces of slag and metal. An AMS date of the wood, generated at Arizona University, falls within the 17th century. The chemical analysis of background and old soils indicates intense use of the islandfor pqsture and manufacture. In sum, our survey provides no evidence of Yermak's stay on the island during his campaign. According to R.G. Skrynnikov, the Cossacks marchedfrom the Stroganov forts to the Siberian Khanate capital without wintering, which was tactically correct, since the Thtar forces were weak and fragmented because of Mametkul's foray into the Ural towns.
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The Tamga signs of the Turkic nomads in the Altai and Semirechye: comparisons and identifications
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The Umrevinsky hoard of silver wire kopecks from the reign of Peter I
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The Umrevinsky hoard, comprising 107 silver wire kopecks, was found in 2008 outside the walls of Fort (Ostrog) Umrevinsky, founded in 1703 on the right bank of the Ob River, 100 km north of Novosibirsk. This is the fi rst time such a hoard has been discovered in the Novosibirsk stretch of the Ob. Its composition is assessed with reference to archaeological fi ndings relating to Fort Umrevinsky. The chronology of the coins and of their deposition is evaluated. The location is near a dwelling within a manor, in an ash-layer. The coins are relatively poorly preserved. We were able to identify the minting-years of 34 coins. All specimens with legible stamp-impressions were minted between 1696 and 1717. On the basis of the results, it is concluded that this was a hoard of coin-silver. Firstly, most kopecks bear no discernible images that would guarantee specifi c weight and silver content; secondly, the hoard was deposited no earlier than 1735, i.e., 20 years after the coins had gone out of use. This conclusion is supported by the fact that some coins were apparently used as ornaments that were sewn on clothes by the natives. All these fi ndings enrich our knowledge of the history of Fort Umrevinsky.
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The beginning of iron metallurgy in East Asia
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This study focuses on the beginning of the Early Iron Age in the Far East. A revision of the published data indicates a lack of synchrony in the appearance of bronze artifacts in cultures of the Amur region and Primorye in the late 2nd to early 1st millennia BC. Iron and cast iron were widely distributed in the Urilsky and Yankovsky cultures. However, no such artifacts are known in contemporaneous cultures such as the Evoron, Siniy Gai, and Lidovka, which are attributed to the Bronze Age, whereas the earliest iron and cast iron artifacts of the Urilsky culture come from the western parts of the Amur basin. All known bronze artifacts of that culture were widely distributed during the Shang and Western Zhou stages, in Karasuk-type cultures of Southern Siberia and Central Asia of the late 2nd to early 1st millennia BC. In China, the earliest iron artifacts appeared between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, while in the provinces of eastern Liaoning and southwestern Jilin they appeared between the 4th and 1st centuries BC. Cast iron celts of the Yankovsky culture in Primorye, which in 1960s were dated to 1000–800 BC, are now believed to be no earlier than 400–200 BC, coinciding with the appearance of iron in Manchuria. It is concluded that in East Asia, iron and cast iron first appeared in the western Amur basin in 1100–900 BC.
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This article presents a current perspective on the historical and cultural development of the population in the foreststeppe zone of the Ob-Irtysh interfl uve in the Stone and Bronze Ages, using various methods of the natural and exact sciences, as well as archaeological fi ndings from adjacent parts of the Ob and Irtysh basins. A geographic description of the region is given. The history of excavations in the region is outlined beginning from the 19th century to the present. A considerable amount of new materials has been accumulated, providing the basis for historical and cultural reconstructions. The study spans the period from the Upper Paleolithic through to the Late Middle Ages and the recent centuries. The initial peopling of the Baraba forest-steppe occurred 18 thousand years ago. Cultures of the Early and Late Neolithic, Early, Middle and Late Bronze Ages, and the transition to the Early Iron Age are listed. All periods have a reliable timescale. The archaeological potential of the region provides a basis for further elaborations of this model.
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The objective of this article is to clarify certain important issues relating to early urban culture. The complexity of the task stems from the absence of early written sources. This is why the study draws on archaeological materials. It especially focuses on the incipient proto-urban sites—the sources of the proto-urban culture. Certain Bronze Age settlements in Azerbaijan meet the criteria of the early urban civilization. On the basis of the facts cited here, hypotheses about the factors underlying the emergence of proto-urban centers (the harbingers of the first class societies) are put forward. The main features of proto-urban settlements are surface area, structure, fortifications, population size, and population density. The evolution of crafts in such centers is reconstructed along with other aspects. It is argued for the first time that nearly all cultural values typical of the advanced ancient Near Eastern centers were borrowed by South Caucasians. Monumental Late Bronze Age burial mounds of Karabakh are viewed in the context of proto-urban evolution. The idea that elite burials were connected with early urban centers is based on the fact that only powerful chiefs of large tribal unions and early class societies could afford monumental burials on such a scale.
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The final Bronze Age in the Minusinsk basin
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Based on the most recent excavation fi ndings, this article discusses a disputable group of burials, previously believed to represent the Bainov stage of the Tagar culture (900–700 BC) in the Minusinsk Basin. Analysis of these burials unambiguously supports I.P. Lazaretov’s idea that they fall into two independent and unrelated groups. One of them continues Late Bronze Age traditions, whereas the other demonstrates new features exclusively associated with the Tagar culture. Most complexes of the Bainov type represent the fi nal stage in the evolution of Late Bronze Age traditions. This is evidenced by various categories of grave goods, features of burial structures, and the funerary rite. These burials can be attributed to stage IV of the Late Bronze Age in the Minusinsk Basin. The second, smaller group reveals entirely new features, typical of the Podgornoye stage of the Tagar culture. These include novel structural features in kurgan architecture, different female funerary attire, and the custom of placing weapons in graves. This attests to the arrival of a new population group with its own traditions, resulting in the emergence of a Scythian type culture on the Middle Yenisey. These burials should be attributed to the beginning of the Podgornoye stage of the Tagar culture. Hopefully, future studies will help to separate out a special late group of Bainov burials, contemporaneous with the early Podgornoye kurgans. Currently, it is possible to discern certain features suggesting that this population took part in the origin of the Tagar culture.
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