Remote combat arms nomads valley Edigan: Hun-Syanbi epoch (based on Ulug-Choltuh burial ground in 2002)

Purpose: The article examines findings of armaments used for remote actions, which were discovered in Ulugh-Choltuh Landfill located in the valley of the River Edigan in the Altai Mountains. Results: The items reviewed and analyzed included bow linings as well as iron and bone arrowheads found in the male burials excavated during the 2002 field season. According to their design features, mounds and graves excavated, as well as the burial rites, belong to the ayrydashsky type of monuments. All the male graves excavated contained bone bow linings and iron and bone arrowheads. As a result of our classification analysis, we highlighted different forms of hand-thrown weapons that were used by ancient nomads of the Altai Mountains to defeat the enemy in remote combat during the Hunn-Syanbi era. As judged by the findings of the Ulugh-Choltuh monument, the ayrydashsky bowmen shot their arrows at targets using bows that belonged to the same type, namely that with terminal and medial bony plates. Such bows can be traced proliferating in the Altai Mountains during the Hun time. The iron arrowheads from the graves excavated on the Ulugh-Choltuh monument were divided into two groups based on the cross section of the pen and into six types according to the pen’s shape. Conclusion: In general, the set of bone arrowheads kept in the male burials found at Ulugh-Choltuh Landfill in 2002 appears to be diverse. We found out that the bone arrowheads from the Ulugh-Choltuh burial could be attributed to multiple sections, groups and types. As judged by the findings studied, the ancient archers of the River Edigan valley possessed long-range bows and a diverse set of iron and bone arrows. The materials represent a wide range of weapons for remote combat that the ancient nomads, who were living in the mountain valley in the middle Katun River, had at their disposal in the second quarter of the I century A.D. Along with the typical bows and iron arrowheads widely spread in Southern Siberia and Central Asia, the set of weaponry under study demonstrates various types of the bone arrowheads including quite rare, original forms, analogous to the culture of the nomads who occupied the eastern parts of Central Asian historical-cultural region and typical only for the ayrydash set of weapons.