Burials of the Early Scythian period from the Chesnokovo-1 burial ground as a probable result of migrations from the Northeastern Xinjiang (China)

Excavations at the Chesnokovo-1 burial site in the western low hills of the Altai in 1998 revealed a group of seven graves with unusual funeral rite. Grave structures were ring-shaped stone placements with one grave in the middle. Skeletons of persons on the back with the heads to north-northwest or northwest were at the bottom of the most of the graves. Grave goods were not numerous or were absent, but judging by horse harness and pottery from the sacrificial pit, this group of burials can be dated to the 7th - early 6th century BC. The most important feature of the Chesnokovo-1 burial ground was presence of sacrificial pits containing bones or complete human skeletons, domestic animals, as well as stone, bone, and horn tools. The remains of the pits could be clearly seen in the filling of the graves. Such burials are yet unknown from the adjacent territory of the Altai-Sayan and Kazakhstan. However, the author of this article has recently found some information in Chinese scholarly publications about numerous burials with similar funeral rite at the burial sites of Dongheigou and Heigouliang in Hami region in Northeast Xinjiang (China). Most of these burials belonged to the 5th - 3rd century BC, but some earlier burials at the Dongheigou site could be dated to the 8th - 7th centuries BC. A relatively large amount of burial inventory from these sites, which can be dated to 7th - 3rd centuries BC, was made in the Scythian-Siberian style. It is possible to conclude that this area was a specific cultural center which had close contacts with the Scythian cultures of Siberia. In the 7th century BC, the Hami region was the place from where migration to the Altai originated about 100-150 years before the first occurrence of the Korgantas burials left by the people from the eastern part of Mongolia and North China.