The complex-composite bow from the Ulug Choltukh burial ground in the Mountainous Altai

The South Siberian team of Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS found the antler brackets from the complex-composite bow in the male burial of the barrow No. 41 in the course of excavations at the Ulug Choltukh burial ground of the Xiongnu and Xianbei time in 2008. The site is situated in the Edigan River valley of Altai Mountains. These findings give an opportunity to reconstruct the shape of bow. Among them, the one is the ending bracket for the upper part of bow. It has the roundish upper limb, eyelet-arch gain for the loop of bowstring and acuminate lower limb. The second twin bracket for the upper tip of bowstave (kibit) preserved fragmentary. The brackets for the lower limb of bowstrave preserved incompletely. These brackets have the roundish tips and arch gain for bowstring. The medial side-brackets laid in the grave almost entirely. The medial frontal bracket with expanded limb consisted of two part. According to denoted constructive features, this bow had an elongated bowstrave and symmetric shoulders. Even though the brackets preserved incompletely, their comparison permits to retrace the development of bow with antler bracket among ancient nomads of Mountainous Altai, which left behind the sites of Airydash type. The bows of such construction were typical of nomadic culture of Middle Katun River during the second half of first millennium BC. Based upon this finding, the ancient nomads of Mountainous Altai not only adopted the effective for that time far-ranging bows from the Central Asian nomads, but also tried to modify it.