Accidental finds of weaponry of the Kulayka culture in Northern Kuzbass

This article discusses iron weapons found near Mount Archekas in Northern Kuzbass, which are now kept in the Museum of Archaeology, Ethnology, and Ecology at Kemerovo State University. They were attributed to two caches and were provided with metrical description. The collection contains 27 plates of a helmet crown, three armor plates, sward, two daggers, two knives, and two spearheads. Using traditional archaeological methods, the weapons were attributed to the Kulayka culture (the Sarov stage of the 1st-4th centuries BC). In spite ofthe military activity of its population in northwestern and southeastern directions, and military conflict with the carriers ofthe Sargatka culture, the available assemblage of offense and defense weaponry ofthe Kulayka people is relatively scarce. After the Parabel hoard, this is the second fairly large discovery of Kulayka weaponry, which, moreover, was made on the southeastern periphery of the Kulayka cultural area. It not only substantially enriches the known set of Kulayka weaponry but also provides new knowledge about it. For the first time in the study of the Kulayka culture, an almost entire set ofplates from a helmet crown and two battle knives have been found. These varieties of weaponry were unknown to have been a part of the weapon set ofthe Kulayka taiga population. Militarization of societies in Western Siberia in the latefirst millennium BC-earlyfirst millennium AD is briefly described. It is suggested that adoption of nomadic types of weaponry was not only effective in battles but was also useful for invading open spaces of forest-steppe areas in Western Siberia.