Enshin D.N., Skochina S.N., Ilyushina V.V.

Complexes with flat-bottomed pottery from the early 7th millennium BC settlements of the Mergen archaeological microdistrict (the Lower Ishim River basin)

An analysis was carried out on the materials from the settlements of the Early Neolithic period at Lake Mergen (Mergen 3, 7, 8) in the Lower Ishim River basin (Western Siberia). The aim of the research was the consolidation of the obtained data and its preliminary correlation with synchronous complexes of the forest-steppe zone of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. The source base of the work was constituted by the Early Neolithic pottery collections, stone goods, and planigraphic drawings of the archaeological sites. The pottery-making traditions of the ancient population were analysed from the standpoint of syncretising two approaches — formal classificatory, and historical and cultural — in several stages: comparative-typological analysis of the morphology and ornamentation, and preliminary conclusions of the technical-technological investigation of artefacts. The stone goods are presented from the results of the typological and traceological investigation and using the data of the petrography. The house-building traditions have been considered in terms of a thorough analysis of the planigraphy and stratigraphy of the buildings, as well as taking into account the established classification of the archaeological sites. As the result, it has been found that for the ancient communities at Lake Mergen characteristic were the dwellings with ditches of a rounded shape, contralateral recessions, and drains in the floors. Predominant were open thick-walled flat-bottomed pottery vessels of potted-jarlike shapes, with a rounded cut of the rims, ornamentation, in the stroke or streak technique. About a third of the items were without ornamentation. The straight line, sparse pitted indentation, and zigzag constitute the principal element of decoration. Nearly half of the ornamented vessels feature compositions elaborated with geometrical figures (triangles, rhombi, parallelograms), rhombic lattice etc. As the raw moldable material in the ware fabrication, potters used highly oversanded silty clays, to which chamotte and organic compound were added. Scrap was the main building material. The firing was carried out in the natural conditions under the effect of temperatures no less than 650°C. The dominant raw material in the stone industry is represented by local run-of-river quartzose sandstone. Also identified were rocks related to the South-Urals jasper province, Kazakh Uplands. The complex is lamelliferous, dominated by the items of a width up to 1 cm (60%). On the basis of the obtained data, there has been established the chronological priority of the considered materials with respect to the complex of the settlement of Mergen 6, whilst in the pottery making the link with its pottery group I (Boborykino). There have been confirmed the analogies with the Boborykino complex of the settlement of Yurtobor 3 (the Lower Tobol River basin). A hypothesis has been drawn on the synchroneity with the Barabino antiquities (the Barabino Culture of the Neolithic), similarity of the Neolithic with flat-bottomed pottery with them within the Western Siberian affinity, but not on the cultural unity.

Key words: Early Neolithic, Western Siberia, Mergen, flat-bottomed ceramic complexes.

 

Kupriyanova E.V., Solomonova M.Yu., Trubitsyna E.D., Kashirskaya N.N., Filimonova M.O., Afonin A.S., Sharapov D.V., Ivanov S.N., Ryabogina N.E.

Interdisciplinary research of ash heap sediment near Stepnoye settlement (Chelyabinsk Oblast)

An ash heap is defined as a specific object at an archaeological site, usually in the form of a separate hillock containing a layer of finely-dispersed greyish-yellow or ash-coloured soil. The existing assumptions about the formation and functional purpose of ash heaps, as special archaeological objects found near the Bronze Age pastoral settlements, have so far been poorly supported by scientific data. At the ash heap near the Sintashta fortified settlement of Stepnoye, Chelyabinsk Oblast, for the first time, large-scale and comprehensive studies were carried out on the structure of these deposits, their granulometric and geochemical composition, in combination with the analysis of plant macroremains, paleoparasites, microbiomorphic and palynological complexes, indicative bacterial groups, and keratinophilic fungi. Judging by the archaeological materials, it is patently obvious that this was a multifunctional object that developed over many centuries and played different roles at different stages. The results of the conducted analyses showed that the 45 cm thick “ash” horizon in the Stepnoye ash heap contains a significant proportion of a fine sand fraction, and not a silty fraction. An increase in the biophilic elements (predominantly calcium, as well as phosphorus and sulphur), accumulated mainly in the organic matter of faunal origin, was noted in the upper bench of the ash layer. However, the high concentration of phytoliths in the “ashy” deposits indicates that the layer was formed mainly as a result of the accumulation of a large amount of plant organic matter. The absence of charcoal and the scarcity of charred macroremains indicate that the deposited organic material was not burnt but decomposed naturally. The increased content of saprotrophic bacteria in the “ashy” layer also supports the natural decomposition of an organic matter. The composition of the phyto-lithic and pollen spectrum of the “ashy” horizon is not typical for the steppe of the south of Western Siberia, since it is dominated by a group of mixed herbs with elements of a ruderal flora, and not by cereals. All the data supports the hypothesis that the ash heap is the result of regular practice of cleaning of the floor and interiors of the buildings of the fortified settlement of Stepnoye. This is evidenced by the increase in the number of keratinophilic fungi, which decompose wool and hair and therefore accumulate in the occupational layer of the structures. Based on the results of the study, the hypotheses that the Stepnoye ash heap is a place of consolidated ash removal or composting of stable manure were rejected.

Keywords: ash heap, Bronze Age, Southern Trans-Urals, Sintashta settlement, phytoliths, pollen, geochemical composition, saprotrophic microbes, keratinophilic fungi, functional purpose.

 

Degtyareva A.D.

Technology for the production of sickles and knives of the Petrovka Culture of the Southern Trans-Urals (by the results of metallographic analysis)

The data of the metallographic study of sickles and knives (37 pcs) of the Petrovka Culture from the Southern Trans-Urals and the Middle Tobol River basin of the 19th–18th centuries BC are reported. The implements originate from settlements (Ustye 1, Kulevchi 3, Starokumlyak, Kamyshnoe 2, Ubagan 2, Nizhneingaly 3) and burial complexes (Ozernoe 1, Krivoye Ozero, Verkhnyaya Alabuga). The reconstruction of the manufacturing technology of the Petrovka Culture tools from the Southern Trans-Urals was carried out by both taking into account the results of the surface visual inspection, as well as by the data of the microstructural study of the metal. The metallographic analysis was conducted at the Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the RAS (microscope Axio Observer D1m from Zeiss; microhardness tester PMT-3M from LOMO). A certain correlation was revealed between the functional purpose of the product, type of the raw material, and the tool manufacturing flowchart. The sickles and knives with handles are produced primarily from pure copper (including oxidised) both in the process of casting in mould with subsequent finishing, as well as in the result of the forming forging. The tools obtained in the casting process often had casting defects, accompanied by the phenomenon of shrinking warpage of the metal. The finishing of the copper tools was taking place in most cases either in the regime of incomplete hot forging at 300–500 C, or hot forging at 600–800 C and at near-melting temperatures of 900–1000 C. Most of the sickles in the forging process were purposefully hardened by forging on the cold metal. Unlike the sickles and knives with handles, shank knives are made mainly of low-alloyed tin bronze. Apparently, this category of tools was given a special ritual significance, especially considering the fact that about a third of the tools came from burial complexes with a specific selection of the related implements. The use of tin bronze in the production of knives significantly contributed to the fabrication of high-quality castings with the smooth surface without metal warping defects. The finishing of the knives after casting was carried out with heating up to 600–800 C or 900–1000 C (44 % of the tools) or in the regime of incomplete hot forging (25 %). The forging on the cold metal with annealing was rarely used. Thus, at the basis of the choice of the technological traditions of the metal production lies the availability of a certain raw material base, the type of the metal obtained from this ore, as well as the inheritance of the technologies from the preceding cultural communities. Technological innovations in the processing of non-ferrous metal, associated with the supply of Sn-bronzes in the form of ingots or finished products from Central Kazakhstan to the Southern Trans-Urals, led to the significant increase in the quality of the produce.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Petrovka Culture, Southern Trans-Urals, Middle Tobol region, metal production, metallographic analysis, production technology, sickles, knives.

 

Kuzminykh S.V., Degtyareva A.D., Orlovskaya L.B., Vinogradov N.B.

Non-ferrous metal tool complex of the Petrovka Culture of Northern Kazakhstan: morphological and typological characteristics

Tools and weapons made of copper and bronze from the Petrovka Culture of the Northern Kazakhstan of the 19th–18th centuries BC are presented, originating mainly from sites complexes explored in the 70–80s 20th century G.B. Zdanovich and S.Ya. Zda-novich. When distributing tools and weapons by type, methods of typological division of equipment were used, taking into account the configuration of the product, the presence or absence of certain qualitative features, the design features of the handle, the handle, the area in the area of the transition of the blade part to the handle, the shape and section of the blade. The sample is represented by tools, weapons, ingots, semi-finished products, analytically studied in the 70–80s 20th century in the Laboratory of Natural Science Methods of the Institute of Archeology of the RAS (109 copies). Most of the products come from the sites Novonikolskoe 1, Petrovka 2, Bogolyubovo 1. The study of the typology of North Kazakhstan metal showed that in the practice of metal production in the region, they adhered to the general standards for the types of tools and weapons (adzes, chisels, knives, sickles, hooks) adopted in the Petrovka communities of the entire area. Such a general stereotypical set of implements, inherent in the forest-steppe and steppe cultures of Northern Eurasia, can be explained by the common genetic roots of the carriers of these cultures and by the fact that the metalworking of the circle of chariot cultures inherits the traditions of metal production in the hearths of the northern zone of the CMP. At the same time, the specificity of the production of the hearth of Northern Kazakhstan was discovered, which is associated with the appearance of forms of sickle-plows, hooks, massive knives with a subtriangular blade and an elongated handle, unknown in the monuments of Central Kazakhstan and the Urals, razors with asymmetrical blades. The penetration of these forms into the Ishim region is associated with the Late Yamnaya-Poltavka, Catacomb, Abashevo stereotypes and influences in the process of the genesis of the forest-steppe and steppe metal complex of the Late Bronze Age.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Petrovka Culture, Northern Kazakhstan, non-ferrous metalworking, typology, morphology.

 

Berseneva N.A.

Children’s burials of the Alakul Culture in the Southern Trans-Urals: reconstruction of age groups

The proposed study concerns the Alakul Culture whose sites are located in the forest-steppe and steppe zone of the Southern Trans-Urals and are dated to the 18th–17th cc. cal BC. The work is based on the materials of the published burial grounds: Urefty I, Кulevchi VI, Stepnoye VII, Тasty-Butak 1, Lisakovsky I, Alakul, and Tashla 1. One of the most remarkable features of the Alakul cemeteries is that children constitute between 50 % and 80 % of all the interred. In this work, 212 burial pits (242 individuals) were analysed. The aim was the reconstruction and interpretation of children’s age groups of the Alakul population in the Southern Trans-Urals by means of the analysis of the specifics of the children’s burial rites and grave goods. The children’s burials were divided into three groups in accordance to the age-at-death: infants (0–2 years old), children (2–10 years old), and adolescents (10–15 years old). Next, the grave goods of children from the different groups were studied; specifics of the deposition of grave goods for the different age groups were analysed. Comparing the variations in the children’s burial rite, it can be concluded that the place of children in the social structure of the Alakul society was quite important, despite the differences in the structure of the burial pits and the content of the grave goods. First of all, this is evidenced by the number of children's burials at the sites, which exceeds the number of the adult’s burials, and secondly, by the presence of the children's burials performed in accordance with the ‘adult’ version of the rite, including the position in the grave pit and the sets of jewellery. The youngest age group (infants, from the birth to two years old) was the most numerous. Sixty one individuals (69.3 %) from this group were buried only accompanied by pottery or with gender-neutral grave goods. In the older children's age group (2–10 years old), a third of the individuals were buried with a large amount of jewellery, a third without grave goods, and the rest with astragali or with gender-neutral grave goods. The adolescents (10–15 years old) is a relatively small category in terms of the number of the interred; their funeral rite, judging by the few well-preserved burials, was identical to that of the adults (for example, the Alakul burial ground, mound 13, pit 9). We can conclude that by the age of 13–15 adolescents were reaching the full social adulthood.

Keywords: Southern Trans-Urals, Bronze Age, Alakul culture, children’s burials, age groups.

 

Ilyushina V.V., Klimova A.D., Novikov I.K.

Traditions of creating the form and ornamentation of the pottery vessels of the Alakul Culture in the Alakul burial ground (a case study for the burial mounds 1 and 14)

This paper reports on the results of the analysis of the form and ornamentation of the pottery vessels of the Late Bronze Age Alakul Culture from the burial mounds 1 and 14 of the Alakul burial ground (the Trans-Urals). The study was carried out within the framework of the historical-cultural approach developed by A.A. Bobrinsky. The work is aimed at the identification of pottery-making traditions of creating the form and ornamentation of pottery vessels amongst the population who built the burial mounds 1 and 14. In the result of the analysis, there has been identified the cultural core of the traditions of the form-making of the pottery vessels in the population who built the burial mounds 1 and 14. The vessels are primarily of medium proportions and quinquepartite structure — ‘lip + neck + brachium + body + base’. Also, the dominant parameters of the functional parts appeared to be similar amongst the vessels from the different burial mounds. These data indicate relatively high uniformity of the composition of the consumers of the ware. The study of the ornamentation revealed that smooth stamp, which was used in the techniques of stamping and drawing, served as a traditional tool for the application of ornament. Toothed stamp was less frequently used in the techniques of stamping and drawing. The main ornamental elements were a ‘short straight line’ and a ‘long straight line’. Twenty two ornamental patterns have been identified; the widespread ones were the ‘horizontal zigzag, ‘horizontal straight line’, ‘cross-hatched isosceles triangle with point upwards’, and ‘cross-hatched isosceles triangle with point downwards’. Most of the identified leading and infrequent ornamental patterns functioned as a main motif. In the complementary motif, the widespread one was the pattern ‘horizontal straight line’. In the composition of the ornament, traditional was the placement of the ornamental motifs in the upper part of the neck and on the upper and lower parts of the body, with the allocation of a “free band” in the lower part of the neck and brachium. In the result of the correlation of the obtained data on the pottery vessels from the burial mounds 1 and 14, certain dissimilarities have been noted. In the burial mound 14, a large quantity of the vessels have a relatively higher neck; the vessels with the lowest index of the proportionality and the slope angle of the body are also present; in the ornamentation, toothed stamp was employed more frequently in the technique of drawing, which was used to apply only ‘horizontal zigzag’ and ‘horizontal straight lines’ patterns. The correlation of the data on the form and ornamentation of the vessels for the burial mounds 1 and 14 revealed that toothed stamp in the technique of drawing was used to apply ornaments mainly to the vessels with lower indices of proportionality and angel of the body. A hypothesis has been put forward on the increasing complexity of the composition of the studied group of the Alakul Culture population during the period of construction of the burial mound 14, which may explain the noted nonuniformity of the pottery-making skills.

Keywords: forest-steppe zone of the Tobol river, Bronze Age, Alakul Culture, Alakul burial ground, ceramics, historical-and-cultural approach, vessel shapes, ornament.

 

Kukushkin I.A.

Main characteristics of burial complexes of Central Kazakhstan in the Late Bronze Age

The main factual basis of the research comprised the materials of 25 necropoleis of the Late Bronze Age examined in the Karaganda and Ulytau regions of Central Kazakhstan. The total number of the investigated burials amounts to 167 individual structures. There were 190 burials recorded. Since the 2000s, nine cemeteries belonging to the Late Bronze Age have been investigated. There were 72 burial structures studied, including one of the eight largest mausoleums in the region — Karazhartas, excavated in 2016–2017. All known burial structures were divided into three groups: surface stone boxes, boxes imbedded in the bedrock, and ground graves, which, according to the characteristic above-ground structures, were divided into ten types of burial structures. It has been noted that for the first group of the burials, the most characteristic are quadrangular funeral structures erected using the masonry technique. The second group is dominated by quadrangular fences built from vertically set slabs, less often from stone laid on flat. The third group is clearly dominated by a ring-shaped layout in the form of the stones selected according to their dimensions, laid in a circle. The most numerous appeared to be the first group, for which the characteristic feature is the arrangement of the burial chambers in the form of stone boxes raised above the ground. The less representative was the second group with subsurface burials, including those that had a form of composite stone boxes. The third group comprised the burials in ground graves. It is assumed that in the first two groups, the westward orientation of the interred is predominant, with a certain role of the northeastern sector. The third group is characterised by the invariable orientation of the deceased in a southward direction with the sleeping position of the skeleton laid on the right side.

Keywords: Late Bronze Age, funerary architecture, typology, ceramics, inventory, mausoleum construction.

 

Kostomarova Yu.V. , Sechko E.A.

Tools for the metal processing of the Alakul population of the foreststeppe Tobol River basin

The paper presents the results of the study of a tool complex associated with metalworking from the sites of the Alakul Culture of the forest-steppe Tobol River basin — the settlements of Kamyshnoe 1 and 2, Uk 3, Nizhneingalskoe 3, and Zolotoe 1. The Alakul antiquities, in general, date to 1900–1450 BC. The purpose of this work is the consolidation and clarification of information on the metalworking of the Alakul population of the forest-steppe Tobol basin. For this purpose, collections of trade tools of the aforementioned Alakul settlements were revisited; the tools used in the production in question were identified; the signs of their wear, documented by a series of microphotographs, were characterised; and groups of the tools were identified according to their functional feature. The main research method was experimental-traceological. It implies, firstly, the study of traces of wear, their mutual occurrence and specifics of the location on the tools; secondly, the comparison of the obtained characteristics with experimental data. In the work, theoretical and experiential concepts of the methodology and classification schemes developed by S.A. Semenov, G.F. Korobkova, and V.V. Kileynikov were employed. To verify the traces of wear on archaeological tools, experimental reference samples of the tools were used, obtained during many years of work and stored in the Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RAS. As analogies, published results of the experiments and experimental and traceological studies of similar tools from territorially close Bronze Age sites were used. As the result, forging tools (hammers for cold and hot forging of castings, smoothers) and abrasive tools were identified; their technological characteristics and distinctive signs of wear marks were clarified. A set of tools in one quantity or another was recorded at each of the studied sites; therefore, the blacksmith production was quite developed also on the periphery of the Alakul Culture. Additional arguments were obtained in favour of the hypothesis that the ore processing was taking place in the immediate vicinity of its sources, and the metal could have been supplied to the remote villages already in a ‘finished’ form; there, the products were cast, forged, and finished. Analogies to the studied tools are known from the earlier Petrovka and Sintashta complexes of the Southern Trans-Urals. Thus, we can talk about common patterns in the manufacture and use of metalworking tools during the Bronze Age in the Trans-Urals territory.

Keywords: Tobol region, Alakul Сulture, metal processing tools, hammers, abrasives, experimental traceological analysis.

 

Zimina O.Yu., Zakh V.A., Skochina S.N.

The ceramic complex of the Transitional Period from the Bronze to the Iron Age of the settlement of Mergen 6 in the Lower Ishim River basin (Western Siberia)

The settlement of Mergen 6 is located in the Ishim District of the Tyumen Oblast on the northeastern shore of Lake Mergen by the head of the river Mergenka. It was studied in 1990 and 2002–2011 under the direction of V.A. Zakh and S.N. Skochina. On the site, 1494 m2 were examined. The settlement is multi-layered and contains the materials from the Neolithic Period through to the Middle Ages. The research is aimed at the detailed characterisation of the ceramic complex of the Transitional Period from the Bronze to the Early Iron Age (TPBIA), dated to the 8th–7th cc. BC. The TPBIA ceramic complex is a large one (approximately 7.5 thousand items identified), deposited at a depth predominantly no more than 60 cm from the surface in the layers disturbed by ploughing. It is highly fragmented; whole forms are lacking; in some cases, ceramics was deposited in clusters. Therefore, the object of the research was a subset from the TPBIA ceramic complex of the settlement of Mergen 6 which was analysed on the basis of the formal-classificatory and cultural-historical approaches. With the aid of the methods of mathematical statistics, possible interrelations between the morphological and ornamental traits of the object of the research were established. In the TPBIA ceramic subset, the fragments of the pottery vessels which can be correlated with the ceramics of the archaeological cultures of Krasnoozerka (335 vessels identified by the necks), Gamayun (no more than 8 items), and Itkul (37 items), and a ceramic group designated as ‘synchretic’ (102 items) were identified. The analysis of the morphological and decorative features of the TPBIA ceramics showed quite a close interaction of the diverse population during the considered period. Elements of the ornament and morphological features of the pottery vessels, constituting the specifics of both the syncretic group of the ceramics, characterised by mixed Krasnoozerka-Gamayun-Itkul traits, as well as by the individual traits of the main cultural groups of the site — on the pottery vessels of the Krasnoozerka group, some elements characteristic of the Gamayun-Itkul decorative patterns; the vessels of the Gamayun-Itkul group have been produced with a deviation from the typical canons — served as markers of the mutual influence.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Ishim River region, Lake Mergen, Mergen 6 settlement, Transitional Period from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, Krasnoozerka Culture, Gamayun Culture, Itkul Culture, ceramics.

 

Tkachev A.A., Tkachev Al.Al.

The burials of the kurgan 2 of the Menovnoe VII burial ground (Eastern Kazakhstan)

Emerged in the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD, the nomadic confederation of the Kipchaks up until the beginning of the 13th c. dominated the Eurasian steppes, which became known from the 11th c. as Desht-i Qipchaq or Kipchak steppe. The oecumene occupied by the Kipchak tribes covered, according to the experts, vast areas from the Irtysh River to Ural Mountains, but there is no consensus amongst researchers as to where the formation of the Kipchak traditions, which were part of the Kimek Khanate, was taking place. Kipchak sites of the 11th–12th cc. in the steppe zone are very few, but they are considered, as a rule, in the context of the transformation of the earlier traditions of the Oghuz, whereas the medieval burials of the Mongolian period, studied in the steppe zone of Kazakhstan, are considered apriori as Kipchak’s. The materials obtained during the study of the Menovnoe VII burial ground reveal peculiar features, both in the elements of the funeral rites, as well as in specific components of the material culture, allowing one to consider this site as a funerary monument built by a group of the early Kipchak population who lived in the pre-Mongol period in the territory of Eastern Kazakhstan. The burial ground of Menovnoe VII is located 1.5 km east-southeast of the village of Menovnoe of the Tavrichesky District of the Vostochno-Kazakhstanskaya Oblast. Within the burial platform, 24 mortuary structures have been recorded: 5 Early Medieval kurgans and 19 stone heaps of the Late Middle Ages period. The article concerns the kurgan 2, which had a diameter of 8 m at a height of 0.25 m. The mound was spanning over an oval fence measuring 7.1×6.5 m. Two pits were examined within the fence: one, located in the centre, contained a paired burial of a man and a woman; the second, located by the south wall of the fence, contained a paired burial of horses. The deceased were accompanied by a broadsword, iron arrowheads, an iron cauldron, bone buckles, iron knives, and remains of a saddle. The specifics of the funeral rites and the analysis of the material obtained during the study make is possible attributing the burial of the kurgan 2 of the Menovnoe VII burial ground to the Kipchak cultural tradition developing within the final stage of the early Turkic era, which allows it to be dated to the 11th — beginning of the 12th c. CE.

Keywords: Upper Irtysh region, the Middle Ages, Kipchaks, burial mound, funeral rite, paired burial, clothing inventory.

 

Kharitonov R.M.

On the genesis of the bow designs from the “Old Buryat” burials

In the paper, the finds of fragments of bows from the “Old Buryat” burials of the 17th–18th centuries from the Baikal region are analysed, and an attempt is made to determine their genesis from the data on their technological features. On the basis of the conventional method of weapon-analysis classification, two types were distinguished by the set of the reinforcing onlays. To understand the missing structural elements, the data is drawn in on more recent fully preserved items produced locally in the 19th — early 20th c. from the museum and private collections from the territory of the Baikal region, since a genetic affinity can be traced between them and the earlier products by the available onlays. This allows one to speak about similar morphological and metric characteristics between the Buryat bows of the 19th — early 20th c. and the objects from the “Old Buryat” burials. In the result of the conducted analysis, the relationship between the distinguished type 1 and items of the 12th–14th cc. of the population of the Ust-Talkinskaya Culture of the Cisbaikalia region has been established by the onlays used and the structure of the wooden base (in comparison with the products of the Buryats of the 17th–18th cc. associated with the bows of the 19th — early 20th c.), on the basis of which it was concluded that the design evolved in the Mongolian period from a local prototype. The type 2 is also associated with ‘Mongolian type’ bows by the presence of the median frontal remiform onlay, although it has the features of Yakut’s ‘Central Asian’ bows (the end frontal straps made of staghorn with a wide and a narrow areas). In the course of the study, it has been revealed that the design of the objects of the 19th — early 20th c., predominantly Transbaikalian bows of the Selenga Buryats, has features of both the type 1 as well as the type 2, and it evolved from a local basis as a result of the synthesis of the elements of these types, thus combining the features of the northern and local workmanships. In the result, the structures appeared, which were reinforced with long end straps made of staghorn, with a long wide area creating transitional zones, and a short narrow one reinforcing the rigid limb tips. In the Cisbaikalia region, modifications of the type 1 bow were further developed by means of combining materials in the onlays of the transitional zones. All of the recorded bows, in terms of the shape of the ends and transitional zones, are much closer to the Mongolian bows of the 12th–14th c. from the rock burials of Mongolia, than to the Manchurian-Mongolian bows widespread in Central Asia since the 17th c.

Keywords: traditional bow, Transbaikalia, Cisbaikalia, “Old Buryat” burials, Buryats, Ust-Talkin Culture, Yakuts.

 

Tataurov S.F.

Archaeological evidence for Domozhirov's campaign of 1595 at the Nadezhdinka IV burial ground in the Tara-Irtysh basin

The study deals with the events that took place in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia, in the Tara-Irtysh basin, in the spring of 1595, associated with the campaign of the Tara detachment led by B. Domozhirov to the middle reaches of the Tara River and to the Baraba forest-steppe. During this campaign, the fortress of Tunus was taken by storm. The aim of the work is to trace, with the example of the burials of the Nadezhdinka IV burial ground, the fate of the defenders of the town and, in general, of the Tatar population living in the Tara-Irtysh basin. The capture of the fortress is described in detail in the memorandum report of the Tara vaivode. The archaeological investigations confirmed the information of the written source. The article is based on the materials from the Nadezhdinka IV burial ground excavated by the author in 2004–2006. In particular, a series of graves were investigated, in which the defenders transferred from the fortress were buried. The analysis of the burials allows the reconstruction of individual elements of the funeral rite, and exposition of the accompanying grave goods. The result of the study was the assessment of the situation developed at the end of the 16th c. in the Irtysh basin and the reasons for the retreat of the Russians to the north to the fortress of Tara. In the result of this campaign, Tatar settlements of this volost were plundered and this region of the Tara basin was appreciably depopulated. By the end of the 16th c., the Russians occupied the lands up to the river Om from its mouth to the middle course. However, the migration of the Kalmyks from the east to Western Siberia forced the Russians to abandon this territory and retreat essentially down to Tara. The reason for that was the lack of human resources both in the town of Tara as well as in the local population. Only towards the end of the 17th c. the Russians began to move southwards — this was the price of the cruel treatment of the Siberian Tatars in the spring of 1595. The burnt fortress of Tunus and the graves of its defenders at the Nadezhdinka IV burial ground have become a testimony of the ill-thought policy of the Tara vaivodes. The local Tatars, after waiting a certain time following the departure of the Tara detachment, visited the fortress and buried the remains of the defenders on the cliff of the Tara River. After that, most of them left the Irtysh basin and went to their historical homeland in the Southern Trans-Urals.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Moscow, Russians, Tunussky town, development.

Enshin D.N., Skochina S.N.

The Lower Ishim Basin in the Sociocultural Space of the Trans-Ural Neolithic (based on data from the Mergen archaeological microregion)

The Neolithic period in the Lower Ishim Basin (Western Siberia) is represented by several cultures and pottery groups (Boborykino, Koshkino, the group of the cordoned ware, Kozlovo, Mahanjar, comb ceramics with the features of the Sosnovoostrovskaya Culture, Kokuy, and Ekaterininsk). The reference territory for the study of the period comprises the north-eastern shore of Lake Mergen. Basen on the study of the settlements of Mergen 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 the vectors and nature of the relations between the Lower Ishim Basin population and that of the adjoining territories have been identified. The aim was set by the need for tracking their dynamics in retrospective — from Neolithisation of the region to the final stage of the period, and in the context of the extant V.S. Mosin’s hypothesis of the sociocultural space of the Trans-Urals. As the basic markers of these processes, the following have been considered: raw material preferences within the lithic industries; morphological, ornamental, and technological specifics of the featured ceramic complexes; and specifics of economic adaptation. The data analysis has revealed that in the early and middle Neolithic (7th — mid to the third quarter of the 5th mil. BC) the dominant direction of contacts was south-south-western, western, and, probably, north-western (the Upper Ishim River and the Turgay Depression, the Tobol-Iset and Upper Miass River regions, the Lower Tobol River Basin, left bank of the Irtysh River, and, probably, the Konda lowland). The population of the Ishim River valley during this period constituted an integral part of the sociocultural space of the Trans-Urals. At the end of the Neolithic (the third quarter of the 5th — first quarter of the 4th mil. BC), the principal vector of the relations of the population of the Lower Ishim Basin shifts to the east, which resulted in the formation of the syncretic Kokuy complexes (on the basis of the Artyn Culture of the right-bank Irtysh Basin and Baraba and in the penetration into the river valley of the bearers of the comb-pit (Ekaterininsk) tradition of the Middle Irtysh River Basin.

Keywords: Lower Ishim region, Neolithic, settlements of Lake Mergen, vectors of connections, sociocultural space.

 

Khramcov M.V., Chairkina N.M., Dubovtseva E.N., Myznikov S.A.

Stone-tool assemblage of the Eneolithic settlement of Tolum-1 in the Konda River Basin

In 2020, the expedition of Poengurr and the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Ural Branch of RAS investigated the settlement of Tolum-1, which functioned during the Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages. The site is located in the north of Western Siberia, in Kondinsky District of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra. Structure (dwelling) No. 3 containing a complex of stone tools and pottery of the Enyi type, as well as the adjoint area, were investigated by an excavation trench of an area of 499 m2. On the settlement, 108 stone items were found, the large part of which concentrates within the boundaries of dwelling No. 3. The research is based upon the method of technical and typological analysis of stone-tool assemblage, implying the development of a typology of stone tools and the study of their production technology taking into account the quality of the ornamental raw materials used by the ancient population. According to the raw-material composition of the stonetool assemblage, mainly represented by soft rocks (grey-green slate, burgundy schist, etc.) and, to a lesser extent, by flint of various colors, quartz and quartzite, the ancient population of this region did not have continuous sources of high-quality ornamental raw materials. Prevailing on the settlement are the tools for woodworking (drillbit-shaped tools, adzes, chisels), and also found were knives and a representative collection of arrowheads. Items for stone processing are few: a hammer-stone, a retoucher, and two cores. There is a higher presence of unprocessed pebbles and tiles, and chips and fragments of polished products. The main technological chain on the site was production of polished tools from local gray-green slate by chipping off and subsequent grinding. The production of flint tools by splitting and retouching was insignificant. The stone assemblage of the Tolum-1 settlement finds analogies in the complexes of the Enyi type of the north of Western Siberia. Certain categories and types of products are more widespread — double-sided retouched fish-shaped arrowheads are found in quantity in the Trans-Urals, polished leaf-shaped arrowheads with a groove — in the Eneolithic sites of the north of Western Siberia, while polished arrowheads with a tapered truncated base were found among the Eneolithic materials of the Surgut Ob Basin and on the sites with the Ushya ceramics of the Neolithic Period of the Konda lowland. Polished rounded and teardrop-shaped pendants are found in the funerary and, to a lesser extent, settlement complexes of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia in the Late Neolithic — Eneolithic. A series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the settlement of Tolum-1 and other sites of the Enyi type in the north of Western Siberia, as well as the technical and technological characteristics and morphology of the stone inventory of the settlement under consideration, and a wide range of analogies leave open the possibility of attributing the structure No. 3 to the Eneolithic Period, within the span of the calibrated dates in the interval of 3600–2600 BC.

Keywords: north of Western Siberia, stone tools, typological analysis, technological analysis, Eneolithic.

 

Epimakhov A.V.

Pro et contra of frontier interpretation of Sintashta antiquities (Bronze Age in the Southern Urals)

The practice of archaeological research often illustrates situations where the sum of facts does not correspond to the cultural-historical approach; it is impossible to squeeze this sum into the framework of the term “archaeological culture”. Deviations from his canonical understanding of the term may relate to the duration of the phenomenon, its spatial distribution or the degree of stereotyping of material culture and rituals. The frontier can be one of the options for interpreting such non-standard groups of archaeological objects. The purpose of the study is to test the possibilities of using the concept for the interpretation of the Sintashta sites of the Bronze Age of the Southern Urals (the turn of 3rd — 2nd millennium cal BC) in the light of new data from a comprehensive study (paleogenetics, chronology, etc.). Sintashta settlements and cemeteries are located on the compact territory of the northern steppe: settlements in the Trans-Urals, the burial ground — on both sides of the Ural Mountains. Previous studies have accumulated a huge amount of data on all major aspects, but the general concept remains debatable. The new data comes from mass radiocarbon dating, which allowed to use Bayesian modeling. New data of mass radiocarbon dating confirm the brevity of the functioning of the Sintashta settlements and burial grounds, as well as the possibility of partial synchronization of this tradition with others. Paleogenetic analyzes (more than 50 samples) have shown the heterogeneity of the Sintashta population. Peleogenetic data made it possible to diagnose traces of a subtratian population absorbed by the main migratory group. In material culture, The evidences in material culture are not traced. The same data confirmed a special scenario for the formation of necropolises, weakly associated with the consanguinity of the buried individuals. Only 1/5 of the deceased turned out to be relatives of the first and second degree. The new data significantly complement the previously formulated criteria, which allow us to consider the group of Sintashta sites as a reflection of the situation of the frontier. The Sintashta society in the frontier was formed as complex society. But it did not have the prospect of forming statehood.

Keywords: archeology of stateless societies, frontier, Bronze Age, Southern Urals, Sintashta, paleo-DNA, chronology.

 

Mimokhod R.A, Usachuk A.N.

Bone tools for leather processing (blunt knives and curriers knives) in the funeral rite of the Post-Catacomb period as cultural and chronological indicators

In the paper, the burials of the Post-Catacomb period (2200–1800 cal BC), whose inventory included large bone tools for leather processing, are analysed. Most of them are represented in the Lola Culture circle (Ciscaucasia and the Volga-Urals), and only in few instances they have been found in the burials of the Babino Culture circle (the Lower Volga and the Lower Don regions). The mapping indicates that in the latter case we are dealing with the evidence of intercultural contacts between the representatives of the Lola and Babino traditions. The analysis of the materials shows that the tradition of using large tools for skin processing in the funeral rite developed at the end of the Middle Bronze Age in Ciscaucasia within the Lola Culture circle. The Lola Culture was the main generator here. Its materials contain the largest number of such tools and their greatest variety. To such an extent, it is not represented within the materials of any other cultural formation of the Post-Catacomb period and in any of the cultures of the Late Bronze Age, where this tradition was inherited and rooted itself. It is noteworthy that in the Post-Catacomb burials, large leather-processing tools in most cases were present in the toolsets alongside other production implements, most often with stone tools. Besides, the functional relation between the bone and stone components of such toolsets is either not obvious or completely absent. It is possible that the interred with the attributes of different crafts might have been associated with the variants of the well-known Cult of Demiurge, well represented in archaic societies. The analysis of some features of the rite and combinations with other categories of the inventory in the burials of the Lola Culture circle shows that there is a correlation between the types of the large leather-processing tools and particular specific features of the ritual practice. Thus, the tools made from the lower jaws and pelvic bones of large ungulate animals clearly correlate with the southward orientation of the skeletons in the burials. The leather-processing tools made from the ribs of the large ungulate animals were seen predominantly in the burials with northward orientations. It is still difficult to say what lies behind such steady correlations, but it should be noted that in a reduced form they recur in the subsequent Late Bronze Age. The answer to the last question requires further expansion of the source base.

Keywords: leather-processing tools, funeral rite, Lola cultural circle, Post-Catacomb period, chariot cultures, continuity.

 

Stefanov V.I., Stefanova N.K., Korochkova O.N.

On the lunula stone pendants and their taiga counterparts

The paper provides brief information about crescent-shaped or moon-shaped stone pendants from the Bronze Age sites of Southern and Western Siberia. These artifacts belong to the category of rather rare finds. Across the vast territory from Cisbaikalia in the east to the Middle Irtysh Basin in the west only about 50 such items are known from the complexes of Glazkovo, Okunevo, Elunino, Odino, Krotovo, and Stepanovo archaeological cultures. In most cases, lunula pendants originate from the burial complexes. Particular attention is paid to the items associated with the archaeological cultures of the taiga zone of Western Siberia (Kulyegan, Polymyat, and Vary-Khadyta). The context of 13 finds, their raw material and shape has been characterized in detail. The items of the forest series feature small dimensions: a length from 4.7–5 to 8.5 cm and a thickness from 0.17 to 0.45 cm. In comparison with the larger artefacts of the Glazkovo, Krotovo, and Odino Cultures, the taiga pendants look like their miniature imitations. Most of the items were found in the settlements. The Eneolithic — Early Bronze Age archaeological sites of the taiga Ob Basin, whose materials contain lunula pendants, belong to the 3rd — early 2nd mil. BC. This chronological range coincides with the presence of such artifacts in the forest-steppe zone. The peculiar stone pendants are interpreted as an attribute of a new symbolism in the cultures of the forest communities, introduced by the Seima-Turbino groups of the population. Migrations of the Seima-Turbino populations along the Ob and Irtysh Rivers were accompanied by the mass distribution in the taiga zone of large fortified dwellings, new types of metal tools and weapons, advanced metal production technologies, and the widespread use of tin bronzes. They explain the similarity of the pottery materials and stone inventory of the taiga and the forest-steppe sites. The discovery of stone pendants in various forest zone regions, including its Arctic outskirts, allows one to interpret them as a characteristic Siberian symbolic attribute of the Palaeometal Period.

Keywords: Bronze Age, West Siberia, taiga, Seima-Turbino, symbolism.

 

Sataev R.M., Sataeva L.V.

Morphometric characteristics of the bovine bones from the excavations of the Bronze Age site of Gonur-depe

Gonur-depe is a Bronze-Age archaeological site in Turkmenistan, the presumable center of Ancient Margiana (the Bactrian-Margiana archaeological complex), located in the South-Eastern Karakum. The proto-urban center was functioning from 2500 to 1500 BC. The basis of the economy of the ancient population was mixed farming, including irrigated agriculture and livestock. Cattle was used as the source of meat, milk, skins, as well as draft animals and in rituals. In terms of the number of bones from the excavations, cattle is inferior to small cattle. However, in terms of the meat production, the contributions of bovine cattle and small cattle to the diet of the inhabitants of Gonur-depe were commensurable. Bones of older individuals predominate amongst the animals slaughtered for meat. Bones of bovine cattle are found in all excavation trenches of the site in garbage layers and ritual structures. At the same time, information on the morphological features of the cattle has been extremely limited until recently. Therefore, this study was aimed at the analysis of the morphometric characteristics of the skeletal remains of cattle from the excavations of Gonur. These data give an idea of the size of the cattle bred by the ancient population. Complete skeletons are of particular interest for the morphological study. We have studied the skeletons from burial No. 3895 of Northern Gonur, tomb No. 12 of Gonur-21, and remains of a dismembered carcass from burial No. 3890. The first skeleton belongs to an adult bull, the second to a calf, and the dismembered carcass belongs to a young cow. The size of the bull, measured by the skeleton, is quite large. It reached a height of at least 136 cm. Comparison of the measurements of disparate cattle bones from Gonur and other sites of the Bronze Age shows that they are on average larger than those of cattle of the Late Bronze Age of Eastern Europe, close in size to the bones of cattle from the Trans-Urals, and slightly smaller than the Eneolithic cattle of Southern Turkmenistan. The sizes of the metapodia, talus bones and first phalanges were used to calculate the height at the withers by disparate bones. The average height at the withers of the cattle from Gonur, reconstructed on the basis of the measurements of the skeletons and scattered bones, was at least 120 cm for cows, at least 130 cm for bulls, and 132 cm or more for oxen. Therefore, the size of the cattle bred by the inhabitants of Gonur in arid conditions was not smaller, and in some cases even larger than that of cattle of some other cultures of the Late Bronze Age and differed insignificantly from the Eneolithic cattle of Southern Turkmenistan.

Keyword: Turkmenistan, Bronze Age, Bactrian-Margiana archaeological culture, ancient animal husbandry,
cattle.

 

Ankushev M.N., Alaeva I.P., Ankusheva P.S., Artemyev D.A., Blinov I.A., Varfolomeev V.V., Panteleeva S.E., Petrov F.N.

The nature of some Late Bronze Age iron-bearing artefacts of the Ural-Kazakhstan region

The problem of the beginning of iron production in the Late Bronze Age of the Ural-Kazakhstan region is discussed. For this, 13 iron-bearing artefacts from nine settlements that functioned in the 2nd mil. BC were studied using the SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-MS methods: metal objects, metallurgical slags, and a bimetallic droplet. Most of the studied artefacts are not related to the iron metallurgy. High ferric impurities in copper metal products of the Late Bronze Age on the territory of the Southern Trans-Urals are caused by the use of iron-rich ore concentrates. The raw materials for these products were represented by mixed oxidized-sulphide ores from the cementation subzone of the volcanogenic massive sulphide and skarn copper deposits. Iron droplets, frequently found in the Late Bronze Age copper slag in the Ural-Kazakhstan region, are not directly related to iron metallurgy. They are by-products of the copper metallurgy formed in the process of copper extraction from the iron-rich components of the furnace charge or fluxes (brown iron ore, iron sulphides). The only artefacts that indicate direct smelting of metal from iron ore are the slag fragments from the Kent settlement. Presumably, oxidized martitized ore of the Kentobe skarn deposit or its nearby analogues was used to extract iron at the Kent settlement. Rare finds of iron slags from the Late Bronze Age, known only in the territory of Central Kazakhstan, confirm an extremely small scale of iron production. Iron ore had been already deliberately used for these experiments. However, iron metallurgy in the Ural-Kazakhstan region developed into a mature industry much later. The discovery of iron metallurgy based on the smelting of copper-sulphide ores in the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes is doubtful. The use of sulphide ores here is known from the 20th c. BC, and it was widespread. In the meantime, the first iron slags and products appear much later, and their finds are sporadic. The development of iron metallurgy on the basis of experiments with iron ores seems more likely.

Keywords: iron metallurgy, copper metallurgy, Late Bronze Age, Final Bronze Age, South Trans-Urals, Republic of Kazakhstan.

 

Zakh V.A.

Zhuravlevo complex of the of Borki 1 hillfort in the Lower Ishim River Basin

At the end of the Late Bronze Age, there were events taking place in the history of the Eurasian steppes that manifested the beginning of the formation of cultures of the Scythian type. These processes, in many aspects triggered by the climate changes, spread into both southern taiga and forest-steppe territories of Western Siberia. In understanding the processes of the transitional period from the Bronze to Early Iron Age and beginning of the Early Iron Age in the southern taiga and forest-steppe Ishim River Basin, a major role pertains to the materials of the multi-layered hillfort of Borki 1, in the study of which, as well as of the cultures of the concerned period in general, a significant contribution was made by E.M. Danchenko (1991, 1996). The site is located nearby the village of Borki of Vikulovo District, Tyumen Oblast. This paper aims at the analysis and introduction into the scientific discourse of the materials of the Zhuravlevo type from the excavation trench of 2014 with the clean archaeological layer of the beginning of the Early Iron Age. During this period, the fortified platform of the hillfort was overbuilt with dwellings of the above-ground type, probably timber crib. The Zhuravlevo ware of the settlement finds its closest similarities in the materials of the sites of the Lower Ishim Basin: the settlement of Borovlyanka 2, hillfort of Lastochkino Gnezdo 1, fortified settlement of Maray 4, as well as the sites of Yamsysa 7, Kip 3, Novonikolskoe 3 and others in the southern-taiga Ishim-Irtysh area. Differences in the pottery and material culture assemblages even within a range of the Zhuravlevo complexes, not to mention the later ones of the Bogochanovo type, which have certain continuity with the aforementioned complexes, help to reveal evolutionary development of the culture of the transitional period in the Lower Ishim Basin and to raise the issue of the revision of its chronology and periodization. Giving the studies of E.M. Danchenko credit for unification of the Zhuravlevo and Bogochanovo types within the framework of the Bogochanovo Culture of the Early Iron Age, we believe that it would be more logical to consider earlier, Zhuravlevo, materials as a stage in the development of the Krasnoozerka Culture. The existence of the latter we tend to define from the mergence of the Suzgun and Atlym complexes to the formation of the steady Sargatka Culture. In spite of certain dissimilarities in the ware originating from the forest-steppe territories of the Lower Tobol River Basin, Ishim-Irtysh interfluve, Baraba and the Ob River Basin, it still seems that the processes of the development of the cultures of the concerned period in these regions have similarity in many aspects. There is a notable uniformity in the bronze assemblages of the sites of these and much wider territories. Products, similar to those found at the hillfort of Borki 1, are present in the complexes of the steppe belt of Eurasia from Tuva to the Circumpontic area and date to, most likely, the period within the 8th–6th cc. BC.

Keywords: Lower Ishim River Basin, Borki 1 settlement, transitional period from Bronze to Early Iron Age, Zhuravlevo ware, inventory, beginning of the Early Iron Age.

 

Tkachev A.A., Tkachev Al.Al. A Кipchak burial of the Menovnoe VII burial ground in the Upper Irtysh River Basin

In this paper, the materials of one of the burial mounds of the Early Kipchak cemetery of Menovnoe VII dated to the turn of the 1st–2nd mil. AD are introduced into the scientific discourse. It was the time of transition in the steppes of the Upper Irtysh River Basin of the hegemony from the Kimaks to Kipchaks; it is scantily addressed in the scientific literature, although, according to the written sources, it was specifically in the steppes of Eastern Kazakhstan where the Kipchaks started dominating; the vector of power changed, and the genesis of the Kipchak Khanate took place. There was the beginning of the Kipchak migration into the bordering regions of Kazakhstan, Central Asia, steppes of the Volga region, and Northern Circumpontic region, where they became known in history as Polovtsy, according to the Russian chronicles, or Cumans in the Byzantine sources. Materials from the burial mounds of the Menovnoe VII cemetery are indicative of the earliest period of the emergence of the Kipchak traditions, which further developed already outside the region of their formation.

Keywords: Upper Irtysh region, the Middle Ages, Kipchaks, burial mound, funeral rite, clothing inventory.

Kotov V.G.

Engraved images of the Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) cave, Bashkortostan, South Ural

The cave of Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) with wall drawings of the Upper Paleolithic is located in the mountain course of the River Belaya in the Southern Urals, nearby the village of Gadelgareevo, Burzyansky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. In the process of more than 50 years of studying the cave sanctuary, the search for engraved images has been carried out. Two compositions with engraved images were discovered in 2008. Composition No. 1 is located in the Main Gallery, 100 m from the entrance, in a niche on the western wall at a height of about 2 m above the floor level. It consists of the elements located on two levels. At the lower level, a number of elements are confined to the natural fracture and a chain of caverns. Parallel to the horizontal crack, five lines were drawn. The lines connect to a quadrangular shape filled with vertical and horizontal lines. Behind it, the crack merges into a chain of caverns. The upper tier consists of four oval artificial recesses. The fourth groove is located under the engraved anthropomorphic figure, between the legs. This indicates that this is a vulva-shaped symbol. The grooves are connected by deeply incised lines to the quadrangular figure and caverns of the lower tier. Lines also run from the chain of the caverns downwards. Thus, these groups of artificial and natural elements were combined into a single composition. Composition No. 2 is located in the Dome Hall, 150 m from the entrance, above the Chapel of Skulls in the western wall, nearby the colorful wall images in the shape of splashes. It was made on a 16 cm × 14 cm rock surface leveled and cleaned of calcite deposits. The composition consists of three pictorial elements made in three different ways. The first element is represented by two parallel arcuate bands of comb lines of 4 cm wide and about 30 cm long made with a serrated stone tool of 4 cm wide in the soft mondmilch. Under them, with finger impressions in the mondmilch, a circle of about 6 cm in diameter was made of round dimples; rows of engraved straight lines and zigzags were applied to the right of the circle. At present, the composition is held together by calcite incrustation and has completely hardened. The use of stone tools to create the engravings and grooves, the calcite crust inside the engraved lines, the use of the natural forms of the wall relief in the pictorial ensemble, the similarity of the quadrangular figure with the quadrangular symbols painted with ochre in the same cave, and the presence of a vulva-shaped symbol — all this indicates the Upper Paleolithic Age of these compositions.

Keywords: Southern Urals, mountain course of the Belaya River, Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) cave sanctuary, engravings, Upper Paleolithic.

 

Zakh V.A., Efremov M.I.

The Neolithic and Early Metal complexes of the Chepkul 5 settlement in the North of the Andreevskaya Lake System

The problems of development of the early Neolithic and Early Metal Age complexes in the Tobol-Ishim interfluve are still insufficiently studied. A certain understanding of the cultural and historical processes that took place during these periods can be based on the materials of the multi-layered settlement of Chepkul 5, located on the territory of the Andreevskaya lake system near the city of Tyumen. The purpose of this work is to introduce into scientific discourse the research materials of the early Neolithic and Bayryk Culture complexes. Within the Neolithic pottery complex of Chepkul 5, it is possible to conditionally distinguish groups of vessels comparable to the ware of the Boborykino, Koshkino, Basyanovo and comb types, which find similarities in the vast territory from the eastern slopes of the Urals to the Baraba forest-steppe, and from the Lower Ob River to the steppes of Kazakhstan. Stone tools of such complexes, including Chepkul 5, contain points with high steep retouch, oblique points on blades, and geometric microliths. The presence of lips (overhangs) on the rims on the inside of the vessels, and certain other characteristics of ceramics, bring the analysed complex closer to the ware of the Boborykino Culture of the Yurtobor 3 settlement [Zakh, 1995]. Considering the date from charcoal from the settlement of Yurtobor 3 — 6591–6478 cal BC (UPI-559) [Zakh, 1995, 2009] — the time of existence of the settlement Chepkul 5 in the early Neolithic can be correlated with the end of the humid stage and the beginning of the dry period (8.2–5.5 cal ka BP) [Zach, 2021]. According to the location of the pits in the trench of the Early Metal Period dwelling 2 of Chepkul 5, which contained pottery with comb-pit and large-stroke ornamentation, the building can be reconstructed as a semi-dugout with a pillar-frame structure, with an area of about 40 m2. Similar structures, ware, stone and clay sinkers and other items belong to the Bayryk Culture, are dated to the 3rd mil. BC and can be considered together with the Ishim complexes of the Alexandrovo stage of the Ekaterinino Cultures within the comb-pit community of the 3rd mil. BC. However, the complexes of the Tobol and Ishim regions belong to different cultures, as evidenced by the complete absence of clay sinkers in the Ishim region and in the territories to the east. The presence of the latter, as well as drawings on dishes and petroglyphs in the Early Metal Period cultures of Trans-Urals, suggests that the population of the Tobol region was engaged in drive hunting for waterfowl during molting [Zakh, 2022], which could not but affect its cultural specificity.

Keywords: Lower Tobol region, Andreevskaya lake system, Chepkul 5, housing and household complexes, Neolithic, Early Metal Age, pottery, inventory.

 

Kupriyanova E.V.

The charioteering in the Bronze Age societies of the Southern Trans-Urals as a social phenomenon

The sites of the Sintashta and Petrovka archaeological cultures of the Bronze Age of the Southern Trans-Urals (Russia) have been traditionally considered as part of the realm of chariot cultures of early Indo-European communities. The analysis of the finds demonstrates that the phenomenon of charioteering carried an important symbolic role in the paradigm of the steppe communities of the Bronze Age. Numerous finds of chariot fragments, elk antler cheekpieces, paired horse sacrifices, remote combat weapons in cemeteries of Stepnoye I, Stepnoye VII, and Krivoe Ozero have been repeatedly subjected to scientific investigation. Collective burials have been discovered, in which even women and young children are accompanied by weapons, cheekpieces, fragments of chariots and sacrificial horses. Based on this, we have concluded that the community of “charioteers” included members of a certain clan, possibly related to the production and use of chariots, horse training, etc. At the same time, however, individual burials of adult men with elements of a chariot complex have also been found, which occupied central positions in kurgans; those men could have been actual chariot warriors. Recent findings provide a vivid evidence for this. In the field season of 2021, the Sintashta burial complex (kurgan 33) was investigated in the Stepnoye I cemetery, the central burial of which contained a skeleton of a 35–50 year old man who had a round healed hole in his skull. Theoretically, such an injury could have been caused by a battle axe, similar to ones found at the sites of the Sintashta and Petrovka Cultures. Furthermore, abnormal osteophytosis growths have been recorded on all areas of the man's spine, which could have resulted from both injury and high pressure on spine caused by driving a chariot. One elk antler cheekpiece (an element of horse bridle) was found in the burial, along with numerous bones of sacrificial animals. All details of the burial rite indicate that the buried man was a significant person for the community, probably a charioteer warrior. Previously obtained AMS dates attribute the Sintashta complexes of the Stepnoye I cemetery to the range of about 1950–1850 BC. Thus, the newly investigated kurgan 33 of the Stepnoye I cemetery respresents another piece of evidence indicating the existence of chariot culture among the steppe communities of the Bronze Age in the Southern Trans-Urals.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Southern Trans-Urals, Sintashta Culture, Petrovka Culture, charioteering, burial rite.

 

Shorin A.F.

The history of the study of the Cherkaskul Culture at the present stage 

The article presents the analysis of the current stage of the history of study of the Late Bronze Age Cherkaskul Culture, mostly distributed in the forest, forest-steppe and steppe areas of the Trans-Urals, including the Tobol region. The source base of the study is a critical analysis of scientific publications concerning the problems of the culture. Five stages in the history of the study of the Cherkaskul Culture were identified, but the achievements of the first four are presented only briefly, as these have been previously published. At the fifth stage (the end of the past — first two decades of the present century), new knowledge on various problems of the culture, as can be seen from the bibliography, was formed primarily by the efforts of scientific centers of Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk. These publications provide various concepts for the genesis of the culture, new calibrated radiocarbon dates are analyzed, which determine the age of the Cherkaskul Culture within the middle — beginning of the third quarter of the 2nd mil. BC. These also demonstrate the intense spread of the sites of this culture to adjacent regions to the west, east and south. Yet, a reasonable point has been raised regarding apparently not so significant influence of the Cherkaskul migrants on the archaeological sites of the eastern regions of Tataria (in particular, the Taktalachuk burial ground), and the Middle Volga region — the Suskan Culture. At the same time, the first publications have appeared on the technical and typological analysis of the Cherkaskul ceramics, the specifics of its metal complex and other categories of the grave goods. The research continues on different aspects of the diversified economy of the Cherkaskul communities in various natural and climatic zones of their habitat; the first data about possible acquaintance of some communities of the forest-steppe Tobol region with the basics of cereal cultivation have been introduced into scientific circulation. However, not all the issues are close to their final solution, which is in particular due to the specifics of the archaeological sites of the region, multi-layered and nonstratified nature of the majority of the settlements, small number of semi-closed housing complexes within them, as well as small number of identified and analysed closed burial sites.

Keywords: Trans-Urals, Late Bronze Age, Cherkaskul Culture, history of study.

 

Riabinina E.A., Maslyuzhenko D.N., Spiridonov I.А., Usachev E.V.

The hoard of the Early Iron Age at the settlement of Dianovo-II (Belozersk district of the Kurgan region)

In 2016, in the area of Dianovo village of the Belozersk district of the Kurgan region (West Siberia), a hoard of the Early Iron Age artifacts was found. While examining the area for the identification of structures of the Civil War period, a round-bottomed vessel was accidentally discovered. Inside the container, there was a massive rectangular bronze plate, glass beads, and fragments of jewelry, including bronze strings, bronze plaques in the shape of fish and four-petal plaques strung on leather cords, all wrapped in organic material (felt?). In total, the Dianovo treasure contains 370 objects made of bronze and glass, assembled within a single set, classified as women’s. At present, this is one of very few elements of the women’s costume of the Early Iron Age that have been best preserved in the Southern Trans-Urals. These finds were transferred to the archaeological laboratory of the Kurgan State University, and later the archaeological survey was carried out at the discovery location by I.A. Spiridonov. The purpose of this research is a typological description of the contents of the hoard, its chronological analysis, and a possible reconstruction of the bronze ornament. The main research materials are the container in which the treasure was found — a ceramic round-bottomed vessel, a set of bronze objects that piece together a female (breast?) adornment, a set of glass beads of three types (rounded blue, black (square and rounded) with festoon-like white and yellow pattern), and a massive bronze plate with traces of manufacturing, which probably had the purpose of an ingot. Based on the analysis of the materials, it has been established that the hoard was most likely left by the population of the Gorokhovskaya Culture. This conclusion was made on the basis of the shape and features of the ceramic vessel. This is also supported by the location of the treasure and the general dating of individual items: glass beads of the Black Sea origin have numerous similarities in the sites and are quite clearly dated by these analogues to the 4th–3rd c. BC. The dating of other items of the hoard — elements of the bronze ornament and a bronze ingot-plate is complicated due to the lack of clearly dated analogues or chronological duration of their use. Judging by the composition and carefulness of packing of the items, this hoard apparently was of a situational (possibly in the event of an attack) and returnable character.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Tobol basin region, Early Iron Age, hoards, Gorokhovo Culture, women's jewelry.

 

Kashchey O.A., Nedashkovsky L.F.

Сhronology of the Karakiyasay II rock art

The article provides a brief description of the history of the study and characteristics of six large assemblages with petroglyphs of the Karakiyasay complex, located on the southern slopes of the Karzhantau mountain ridge (North-Eastern Uzbekistan). Currently, about 600 stones and rock outcrops with more than 3700 images have been identified within the site. The most interesting is the organization of the pictorial series of one of the assemblages — Karakiyasay II, on the materials of which, using cluster, planigraphic and stratigraphic analyses, it was possible to carry out the chronological attribution of almost all images of this section of the complex. For this, the semantic units of the organization of the visual series of the assemblage were initially designated, including single and paired images, multi-figure “scenes” and plot compositions. Then, for the most numerous images — 169 figures of the Siberian mountain goat, by the means of measuring the figures and calculating the ratios of a various quantities characterizing the proportions of the design of body parts of the animals — the ratio of the body height, length of the legs, neck and head to the length of the body, as well as by introducing quantities containing numerical indicators of the way animals are depicted (number of horns, number of legs, turn of the figure, angle of the legs, angle of the neck) — nine quantitative characters were determined. The next stage is the cluster analysis, which allowed us to identify three clusters (groups) of similar figures of mountain goats. Since the data obtained in the first two clusters turned out to be heterogeneous, they were also subjected to cluster analysis, as a result of which it was possible to identify nine types of figures characterized by a number of similar features. Later, using the analysis of planigraphy and stratigraphy, the accuracy of the identified types was verified, their chronological sequence was determined, and, based on the analogies with the manner of completion of figures in these types, the chronological attribution of the entire pictorial series of the site was carried out. The results of the study indicate that the petroglyphs in the Karakiyasay II assemblage were created mainly in the Late Bronze Age (the second half of the 2nd mil. BC — beginning of the 1st mil. BC) — Early Iron Age (7th c. BC — 4th c. AD).

Keywords: Western Tien-Shan, Uzbekistan, Karakiyasay, petroglyphs, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, pictorial series, mountain goat figures, chronology of rock art, quantitative features, cluster analysis, palimpsests, planography.

 

Seregin N.N., Tishkin A.A., Matrenin S.S., Parshikova T.S.

Burial of a warrior of the Rouran period from Northern Altai

The article introduces into scientific discourse cultural, chronological and social interpretation of the warrior burial, investigated during the excavations of the necropolis of the Bulan-Koby Culture of the Choburak-I funerary and ritual complex. The site is located on the right bank of the Katun River, to the south from the Elanda village of Chemal district, Altai Republic. During the research, a burial of a man with a horse and accompanying equipment, including a representative set of weapons (bow, a large number of arrows with iron tips, a sword, two combat knives), a belt decorated with numerous belt fittings, horse equipment, and other items were studied. A detailed description of the finds, including both widespread and very rare types of items, has been carried out. The indicated circle of analogies from the sites of the Bulan-Koby Culture of Altai, as well as complexes excavated in adjacent territories, allows us to determine the date of burial mound №30 to the 4th c. AD. This conclusion is confirmed by the results of radiocarbon dating of a series of objects from the Choburak-I necropolis. The complex of elements of ritual practice indicates that the burial mound belongs to the previously identified Dialyan burial tradition of the Altai population of the end of the 1st mil. BC — first half of the 1st mil. AD. This is suggested by the combination of the following features: an oval mound with a crepidoma, inhumation burial rite, northwest orientation of the deceased, accompanying of the deceased by a horse laid “at the feet” of the person and its orientation with its head in the same direction as the deceased, inner grave construction in the form of a deck. The composition of the grave goods allows us to conclude that the buried man was of a high social status, possibly a warrior who commanded a large unit of professional warriors, and also, possibly, the leader of a local group of pastoralists who left the Choburak-I necropolis. Some peculiar features of the analysed complex reflect the ideological paradigm of the Bulan-Koby population, such as placement into the grave of a broken (disassembled?) bow and a large number of arrows, covering the person’s body at the time of the burial.

Keywords: Altai, Bulan-Koby Culture, Rouran period, warrior burial, chronology, interpretation.

 

Lyashchevskaya M.S., Bazarova V.B., Dorofeeva N.A.

Environment and man in the Late Palaeolithic — Middle Ages in the southern Primorye: review

Questions concerning the effect of environment on appearance, development and disappearance of archaeological cultures in the territory of southern Primorye have been addressed in the article. The chronological framework of the research is from the Late Palaeolithic through to the Middle Ages. Thirty three natural sections of different genesis have been examined for reconstruction of the Late Pleistocene — Holocene environment. Palynological, diatomic and radiocarbon methods have been used for their examination. The data on archaeological periods and cultures have been provided based on the analysis of materials of Primorye archaeological sites (including 14 Palaeolithic, 33 Neolithic, 30 Paleometal, and 15 Medieval). Climatic changes have been discussed in terms of their effect on the resource base of people. The earliest Palaeolithic sites, which 14C date approximately 16,000 years BP, were found in Eastern part of Primorye. Climate warming and rise of sea level in the Early Neolithic (ca. 8,000 years 14C BP) facilitated the growth of resource base and expansion of the Neolithic people with sustainable adaptation models in Primorye. This manifested in the appearance of long-term settlements and differentiation of the tool sets. The beginning of the sea regression around 6,000 14С years BP resulted in the extinction of the Boysman Culture. Slight cooling and aridization of the climate 5,600–5,400 14C years BP contributed to the appearance of a new cultural tradition involved with agriculture. The long existence of cultures in the Late Neolithic and Paleometal periods, with significant climatic shifts, can be explained by introducing mixed economy model with increased role of the economy of producing type. In the Late Paleometal and Medieval periods, economic, political and military factors had a great impact on communities, along with environment and climatic factors. Correlation of palaeogeographical and archaeological data demonstrated a certain synchronicity of environmental changes and cultural events. Climatic fluctuations led to migrations, variations in local population density, changes in adaptation strategies of the people, and changes of direction of economic activities.

Keywords: southern Primorye, climate change, Palaeolithic — Middle Ages, archaeological cultures, Late Pleistocene — Holocene, migrations, cultural adaptations, economic activity, resource base.

 

Chernysheva E.V., Kashirskaya N.N., Dushchanova K.S.

Soil biochemical inticators of initial presence of fat in different archaeological contexts

The article proposes a new biochemical approach for the reconstruction of the initial presence of fatcontaining products in different archaeological contexts (ceramic vessels from burials, soil samples in different parts of the skeleton and cultural layers of archaeological sites) based on the study of qualitative and quantitative changes in the parameters of the soil microbial community, namely, specific groups of microorganisms (lipolytics), a number of lipolytic enzymes, as well as the utilization spectrum of readily available low molecular weight substrates. Ground samples of the studied objects were collected in the following regions: ceramic vessels — the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and the Chechen Republic; burials — Krasnodar Krai; the cultural layer of the settlement — Lipetsk region. The number of lipolytic microorganisms and the level of enzymatic activity in the soil directly depend on the amount of the incoming substrate, in the decomposition of which they participate. After the decomposition of organic residues in the soil, a microbial and enzyme pools are formed, which can persist for a long period. The obtained preliminary data on the study of the decomposition dynamics of fatty substrates give us possibility for the reconstruction of the initial presence of fat in different archaeological contexts using the methods of soil microbiology and biochemistry. But, for a more accurate extrapolation of the results of a model experiment to archaeological objects, more points of observation in time are needed, since the introduction of substrates with different properties and composition can provoke microbial community succession in different ways. Hence, the equilibrium state of the microbial community in each variant of the experiment will be reached at different times. However, the results of the study of soils and cultural layers of archaeological sites of Bronze Age and early medieval time have convincingly shown the possibility of applying our approach. As we assumed, the maximum lipase activity was found in the soil samples under the skull, chest and pelvis, i.e. in areas of human body with the highest content of fat tissues. This showed the possibility for reconstruction the original contents of the vessels from burials using the methods of soil microbiology and biochemistry. A high number of lipolytic microorganisms and lipase activity were detected only in 15–20 % of the vessels. We suggest that fat food may not have been as widely used in the funeral rite as ritual food. The study of lipase activity made it possible to clarify the features of the economic usage of the territory of archaeological site, to identify possible places for cooking.

Keywords: archaeological microbiology, soil biological memory, microbial communities, enzyme activity, cultural layers.

Golovanova L.V., Doronichev V.B., Doronicheva E.V.

New data on the formation of local variations in the Upper Paleolithic of the Caucasus

As of today, very few Upper Paleolithic sites are known on both the southern and the northern slopes of the Caucasus. Their materials allow tracing settlement dynamics in the region from 40/39 to 20 cal ka BP. The change of the research methodology, which today is focused on thorough excavations involving a range of natural science disciplines for complex investigation of the materials, including complete water sieving of the cultural deposits, enables obtaining many new, often unique data on human occupation, life-support strategies, and adaptations of humans in different periods of the Upper Paleolithic in the Caucasus. In our paper, a wide range of issues is discussed, concerned with the cultural affinity, diversity, and interaction of the Upper Paleolithic population of the Caucasus. The earliest Upper Paleolithic industries (40–35 cal ka BP) of the southern as well as the northern slopes of the Caucasus show the closest affinity. Studies of the raw-material strategies indicate the presence of contacts between populations of the northwestern and South Caucasus throughout the entire Upper Paleolithic and the development of extensive social networks. During the Late Upper Paleolithic period, the materials of the North and South Caucasus acquire certain features of distinctiveness, as in the stone industry and in bone tools and decorations. The appearance of geometric microliths in the South Caucasus contemporaneously with the Near East attests to the contacts between these regions. The delivery of seashells from the Caspian Sea coast to the Lesser Caucasus also indicates the southeastern direction of the contacts. The import of seashells from the Black Sea coast to the northwestern Caucasus indicates the southwestern direction of contacts. The unique finds that have analogies in the Upper Paleolithic of the Russian Plain indicate contacts between populations of the northwestern Caucasus and the Russian Plain that belong to different cultural areas. The current data demonstrate formation of local differences in the culture of the Upper Paleolithic populations in both the South and the North Caucasus, including under the influence of the neighboring regions.

Keywords: Upper Paleolithic, remote migrations, social networks, contacts between different cultural areas, Caucasus.

 

Karmanov V.N., Belitskaia A.L.

Muchkas-1 — a new reference complex of the Chuzh’yael’ Culture on the Mezen’ River

The results of the studies of the Muchkas settlement in 2020 are reported. The site is located on the right bank of the Mezen’ River in Udorsky District of the Komi Republic (northeast of the East European Plain). The exploitation of an unpaved motor road endangered the preservation of dwelling No. 1, which necessitated extensive excavation of an area of 82.5 m2. On the basis of the analysis of the complex of traces and remains, it has been determined that the studied structure is of a rectangular shape in plane, measuring 3.8m×5.5m with the area of 20 m2. Within the building, two hearths were used sequentially or concurrently. Related to them are two external horizontal heatingand-ventilating chimneys. Some information is preserved about the underground part of the structure. This was a frame strengthened at corners by bundles of thinner trunks of trees, possibly, pointed and stuck into the ground. Pine and to a lesser extent spruce, juniper, and birch were used to build the dwelling. The collection of Muchkas-1 contains 3819 objects, including 30 identifiable flint implements, a flint pendant, 21 implements made from non-siliceous rocks, fragments of three ceramic vessels, and debris of calcinated bones. Scrapers predominate in the flint toolset, while knives, awls, and arrowheads are represented to a lesser extent. As the result of the traceological analysis, it has been determined that the arrowhead and the pendant bear traces of long-term carrying in a container, or wearing on the clothing or on the body. Tools made of non-isotropic rock include mostly grinding stones. A hammer stone and an adze are represented by single specimens. Among the faunal remains, bones of reindeer, beaver, marten, wolverine, squirrel, black grouse, goose, and pike have been identified. This attests to the dominant role of hunting in the appropriating economy of the inhabitants of Muchkas-1 settlement. The specifics of the building structure and technical-and-typological parameters of the pottery and stone tools allow attributing Muchkas-1 complex to the Chuzh’yael’ Culture of the final Neolithic period — the Chalcolithic. By virtue of 10 radiocarbon dates, the time of its construction is determined by the end of the 4th — first half of the 3rd mil. BC. The published data advance our understanding of the traditions of housebuilding, stone-working, and pottery-making of the prehistoric population of North-Eastern Europe and permit considering Muchkas-1 complex as a source of reference for the study of the Chuzh’yael’ Culture of the 4th — first half of the 3rd mil. BC.

Keywords: archaeology, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, settlement, semi-subterranean dwelling, ceramics, stone assemblage, house-building, traceology, archaeozoology, radiocarbon chronology.

 

Savko I.A., Kholoshin P.R., Demin M.A., Sitnikov S.M.

Analysis of the shapes of clay vessels from the Chekanovsky Log-2 burial ground of the Andronovo (Fedorovo) Culture in the foothills of Altai

The shapes of 32 vessels from the burials of Chekanovsky Log-2 cemetery were examined by a technique applied within the historical-and-cultural approach to study pottery shapes. The analysis was carried out at the levels of general proportionality of the shape, its natural structure, and the formedness of the functional parts. The aim of the study was to characterize the pottery traditions of the Andronovo population in terms of pottery shaping and to clarify their cultural dynamics. As the result, two mass traditions were identified, manifested by vessels of similar overall proportionality (35–36 degrees) but of two different structural types: ‘Lip+Neck+Pre-Shoulder+Body+Body Base’ (5 parts) and ‘Lip+Pre-Shoulder+Body+Body Base’ (4 parts). Comparative analysis of the vessels from two excavated sections of the burial ground (northern and southern), making use of the information about other morphological features of the vessels (decoration and surface treatment), as well as about the specifics of the burial ritual, enabled revealing the dynamics in the development of the considered pottery traditions and the cultural composition of the population that used the burial ground. It appears that the vessels of 5-part shapes with a fully formed body and a more pronounced neck tend to the classical Andronovo (Fedorovo) period. They are characterized by burnished surface and ornamentation with fine-toothed stamps in a variety of geometric motifs. The vessels of these shapes prevail in the burials of the northern dig, which demonstrated considerable cultural homogeneity. The vessels of 5-part shapes with a partly-formed body and a lower neck, along with 4-part shapes, probably became more widespread in the Late Fedorovo period. These items were less thoroughly burnished, but, more often, smoothed, with simplified ornamentation applied with a coarse-toothed or smooth stamp. These traditions are represented to a greater extent in the southern dig, which, in addition, appeared to be not so homogeneous due to the distribution of squater pots of various structures. This peculiarity may attest to the increasing complexity of the cultural composition of the population and intensification of cultural contacts at the late stage of the burial ground.

Keywords: forms of clay vessels, historical and cultural approach, Andronovo (Fedorovо) Culture, burial ground Chekanovsky Log-2, Altai foothills.

 

Bersenev E.V.

Abzakovo hoard of the Bronze Age in the Bashkir Trans-Urals

The paper is concerned with the results of the study of a hoard of bronze sickles discovered in 1970 in Baimaksky District of Bashkortostan. Originally, it comprised 13 items, but as of today three of them have got lost, and the collection numbers to only 10 sickles reposited in the National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan. It stands out that the items are lacking clear traces of use. Over the past 50 years, materials of the complex have not received sufficient coverage in the scientific literature, despite the rarity of this category of finds for the South Urals region in general, and for the territory of Bashkortostan in particular. This paper constitutes the first publication which combines and refines information about the hoard available in the scientific literature; it also provides a description of each item with updated and further detailed data on their parameters (length, width, thickness, bending height, etc.). In addition, the paper introduces in the scientific discourse photographic images of the bronze objects of the complex, which have been absent until now, instead of rather schematic drawings. Revisiting the materials of the hoard allowed it to observe that the data which was available in the literature had some inaccuracies, associated primarily with the parameters of the objects, the study of which helped clarify and extend the information on the description of the sickles remaining to date. The analysis of the material shows that the considered set of reaping tools has some analogies originating from the Bronze Age sites of the Trans-Urals, both from similar hoards and from settlements, cultural identity of which is determined quite clearly and is attributed by researchers to the Alakul antiquities. For this reason, the origins of the Abzakovo hoard are also associated with the representatives of traditions of the Alakul archaeological culture.

Keywords: Bronze Age, hoard, sickle, Trans-Ural, Bashkiria, Alakul Culture.

 

Prokonova M.M.

Sacred objects from the sites of the Sargatka Culture in the context of interaction of the forest-steppe population with the nomads of the Ural-Kazakh steppes

The paper concerns the stone altars, clay dishes, and censers from the sites of the Sargatka Culture of the Early Iron Age. Analysis of their morphological features is carried out, as well as of the dynamics of changes in the forms, the context of their deposition in burials, and specifics of their use. As the result, the reasons for the appearance of these products in the forest-steppe zone of the Tobol-Irtysh and Baraba areas (Western Siberia) are clarified and their subsequent distribution in the given region is traced. Stone altars of types I, II, and IV started appearing in the 5th–4th cc. BC in the Irtysh Basin and Baraba regions as a consequence of the Saka migration. Transformation of the religious and mythological views of the Sargatka population, as a result of the interactions of the Tobol-Irtysh communities with the nomads of the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes, led to the appearance of new rituals requiring small stone altars for their performance, due to which there was a growing demand for these products among local communities. However, by the 4th c. BC the production of altars in the Kazakhstan center ceased due to the decline of the Early Saka Culture. From this time, the population of the Sargatka Culture began making local copies of small type I altars from stone, although their production in the Sargatka area was difficult due to the lack of sandstone outcrops, which facilitated the use of more accessible material — clay, as reflected in the appearance of clay dishes of types III–V in the territory of the Baraba and Irtysh Basin. Connection between the local and imported products is indicated by the traces of their similar use. From the 3rd c. BC, scarce altars of type I could make their way into the Sargatka context as a result of close contacts with the population of the Upper Ob Basin, among whom these objects were widespread up until the 3rd–2nd cc. BC. The appearance of type III stone altars and type VI clay dishes in the complexes of the Sargatka Culture of the Tobol and Irtysh Basins in the 5th–4th and 4th–3rd cc. BC might have been caused by the migration of a small group of nomads of the Southern Urals, or by close contacts with the population of the Gorokhovo Culture. Type V altars also were borrowed from the bearers of the Gorokhovo Culture. Their appearance may indicate the process of assimilation of the newly arrived Sargatka population in the Tobol Basin. In the 4th c. BC, clay dishes of type I appeared in the Irtysh Basin. From the 3rd c. BC, as a result of the intensification of contacts between the local population and nomads of the Sarmatian origin, these products became more widespread, while ceramic censers and clay dishes of type II also appeared.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Early Iron Age, Sargatka Culture, Sacred Objects, Censers, Ceramic Plates, Stone Altars.

 

Seregin N.N., Demin M.A., Matrenin S.S.

The weapon complex of the Northern Altai population in the Xianbei period (on materials from the necropolis of Karban-I)

The paper is aimed at introducing into the scientific discourse and complex interpretation of the weapon items discovered during excavations of the sites of the Bulan-Koby archaeological culture of the Karban-I necropolis. This site, which comprises a series of burial mounds of the Great Migration Period, was partially investigated by the expedition of Barnaul State Pedagogical Institute in 1989–1990. The complex is located on the left bank of the Katun River, 1.7 km north-west of Kuyus village, in Chemalsky District of the Altai Republic. Weapons were found in five undisturbed male burials of the Xianbei period (mounds № 9, 11, 14, 33, 39). The finds analyzed include long-range and close-range weapons: five compound bows; 14 iron arrowheads; four iron combat knives; and one dagger. Morphological analysis and classification of the objects, as well as their comparison with known artefacts of the last quarter of the 1st mil. BC — the first half of the 1st mil. AD from the sites of Central, Inner, and North Asia became the basis for conclusions concerning the determination of the dating of the products. It has been found that the complex of weapons of the nomads who built the necropolis of the Bulan-Koby Culture at the mouth of the Karban River, was aimed at efficient countering of a lightly protected enemy and was appropriate for light cavalry and infantry. It includes both the already well-known (Xiungny) and new (local) modifications of the offensive weapons. In terms of its diversity and level of development, this set of weaponry was significantly inferior to the military arsenals of the Xiongnu and Xianbei periods, as well as that of the population of the Bulan-Koby Culture of the late 3rd — 5th c. AD. The body of the conclusions made permits it to assume that the considered corpus of weapons reflects the initial stage of the evolution of the armament of the Altai population in the first half of the 1st mil. AD. The published materials expand the source base for the study of warfare of the population of Northern Altai in the Xianbei period. The obtained results of the chronological interpretation of different categories of weapons can be used to refine the periodization of the sites of the Belo-Bom stage (2nd — 1st half of the 4th c. AD) of the Bulan-Koby Culture.

Keywords: Altai, Xianbei time, weapons, Bulan-Koby culture, bow, arrowheads, combat knife, dagger, chronology.

 

Zaitceva O.V., Vodyasov E.V.

The ‘old wood’ effect and problems of dating iron smelting sites

The paper is aimed at the analysis of the ‘old wood’ effect in radiocarbon chronology of iron smelting complexes of South Siberia. The production sites are here set outside the settlements, and radiocarbon dating remains the only means of their chronological attribution. With the example of Kuyahtanar metallurgical site in the Mountain Altai, we show that the range of a series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the same iron-smelting furnaces can span a thousand years. It has been established that such a chronological range can be explained by the use of wood from long-lived tree species for charcoal production and the resulting significant apparent age due to the ‘old wood’ effect. The essence of the effect consists in that as a tree grows, its inner annual rings die out and stop exchanging carbon with the environment, while the tree is still alive. Therefore, the pith of a longlived tree is much older than its outer rings, and radiocarbon analysis determines not the age of the archaeological object, or time when the tree was cut, but the date of the death of that part of the tree which was sampled for the dating. Methodological recommendations have been drawn up capable of minimizing the impact of the ‘old wood’ effect in the dating of iron metallurgy sites. During the sampling, it is recommended to collect fragments of charcoal from the tree outer rings. In a case, where this is not possible, it is necessary to obtain a series of at least three dates for one site. In such a series, the latest of the three dates will be the closest to the age of the archaeological object. It is also necessary to determine the tree species used for burning the charcoal for smelting. After the tree species is identified, it becomes possible to infer its average and maximum life expectancy in the specific natural and climatic conditions, and, consequently, possible average and maximum impact of the ‘old wood’ effect. Since in the case of dating metallurgical sites the impact of the ‘old wood’ effect is virtually unavoidable, it is suggested that, in the future, the chronology of the complexes radiocarbon dated with a single sample of charcoal is revisited.

Keywords: radiocarbon dating, iron metallurgy, “old wood” effect.

 

Avdeev A.G., Okladnikova Ye.A., Svoiskii U.M., Romanenko E.V.

A new interpretation of the inscriptions on the handles of signature knives found on the shores of Sims Bay

The article reports on a new interpretation of the inscriptions on two personalized knives found on the coast of Sims Bay in the Laptev Sea. This interpretation differs from the readings published previously by paleographers and source-study experts due to the fact that it has been possible to devise correct transcription of these inscriptions with the aid of the method of non-contact 3D modeling of epigraphic records developed by the RSSDA Laboratory and used in the Code of Russian Inscriptions (CIR). The reading of the inscriptions on the signature knives proposed by the authors of this paper has enabled establishing their ownership to Gurii (baptismal name) — Akakii (prayer? name) Ivanov son of Karzyaev’s, likely the head of the commercial and industrial expedition of the 1620s. The site of the polar mariners of the 17th century in Sims Bay is located 70 km west of the island of Thaddeus Severny, where in 1940 members of the hydrographic detachment of the East Taimyr hydrographic expedition found similar articles, including 8 other knives. Unfortunately, these knives have only partially preserved handles, and most of them turned out to be represented only by the blades. Inscriptions made in the Slavic ligature could be found only on two knives from a hut in Sims Bay. According to the official version, both sites belong to the members of the Russian trade and industrial expedition of the 17th century. The rich composition of the collection of archaeological artifacts assembled at the locations of these two sites makes this monument unique for the Russian culture of the 17th century.

Keywords: Taimyr Peninsula, island of Thaddeus Severny, Sims Bay, archaeological artifacts, expeditionary research, nominal knives, 17th century, Russian polar expeditions, Code of Russian Inscriptions, Old Russian epigraphy, non-contact 3D modeling of inscriptions, mathematical visualization methods, photogrammetry.

 

Tataurov Ph.S.

Residential buildings of the Russian population in the Omsk Irtysh region in the 17th — beginning of the 20th c. in the archaeological and architectural-ethnographic dimension

Over the past thirty-five years, a series of archaeological sites of the period of the Russian colonization of Siberia have been investigated in the territory of the Siberian macroregion, which made it possible to identify regional features and to trace evolution of the socio-cultural identity of the Russian Siberian in the 17th–19th cc. A topical issue is the in-depth study of the processes of ethno-cultural adaptation in microregions. In this work, as one of the aspects of adaptation, changes in the house exterior in the Omsk Irtysh region are considered. This work is aimed to consider main types of the residential buildings of the Russian population in the Omsk Irtysh region in the 17th — early 20th c. in order to determine their specifics and development trends. The work is carried by a complex approach, involving the use of different types of sources, such as archaeological, written, and ethnographic. To compare the buildings studied in the Omsk Irtysh region with houses in other regions, a comparative historical method was used. Analysis of the archaeological materials on the architecture and layout of urban dwellings of the 17th–18th cc. showed specifics of the housing in different parts of the town. The houses of the representatives of the tsarist administration, senior clergy, and military commanders with multi-chambered buildings were located in the territory of the kremlin — the central part of the town. In the walled part of Western Siberian towns, where representatives of other social groups lived, both single-chambered and multi-chambered houses were built, although so far only few of them have been identified archaeologically. Stoves with chimneys and mica windows, as socially significant structural elements of the house, were gradually becoming attributes of the dwellings not only of the representatives of the tsarist administration, but also of the middle strata of the townspeople. In the rural areas, Russian immigrants in the 17th — first half of the 18th c. were erecting multi-chambered buildings of a large area. The set of socially-marking structural elements was the same as in the town. The archaeological material obtained during the study of residential buildings of the rural sites of the Irtysh Basin is generally of the same type and is equally characteristic of village and town alike. Based on the results of the author’s own ethnographic observations, a characteristics of individual residential buildings of the 19th — beginning of the 20th c. is given. There has been noted the prevalence of two-chambered dwellings by the end of the 19th century in the Russian village, which required less building material, as compared with multi-chambered counterparts, and were easier to heat. Multi-chambered buildings and carved platbands constituted socially marking traits of dwellings of the wealthy strata of the rural population. The field observations warranted further archaeological and ethnographic studies of the rural and urban wooden architecture to gain a deeper insight on the evolution of the housebuilding that combined traditional elements of the 17th–18th cc. with innovations, simplification, and standardization of the 19th–20th cc.

Keywords: residential buildings, Omsk Irtysh region, the 17th — beginning of the 20th century, archeology, ethnography of Russians.

Shevnina I.V., Logvin A.V.

On the problem of identifying the Belkaragai type of the Neolithic ceramics in Turgai

The settlement of Belkaragai 1 is located on the shore of a dry lake, 160 km south-west of the city of Kostanay (Kostanay Region, Northern Kazakhstan), at an altitude of 6 m from its bottom. The paper examines the materials of the settlement of Belkaragai 1, where it was possible to identify a new type of ceramics — Belkaragai. The purpose of this work is to determine the cultural and chronological affiliation of all archaeological materials obtained from site B of the settlement of Belkaragai 1. The settlement covers an area of about 15 hectares. Several accumulations of finds were recorded; one of them, designated as site B, attracted attention due to significant quantity of plates. An exploratory dig was set up; the total area of the excavation was 144 m². The analysis, synthesis, generalization, description, comparison, statistical methods, comparative typological method, and the method of analogies were used to distinguish the Belkaragai type of the Neolithic ceramics in Turgai. The raw feedstock and molding masses of the ceramic products were studied using binocular microscopy and petrographic analysis. The main feature of the Belkaragai type ceramics is the combination of the Eneolithic exterior of the vessels with the typical Mahanjar admixture of wool and animal hair in the composition of the clay dough. The Belkaragai type of ceramics accompanied a lamellar complex of stone tools, which is commensurable with the Mahanjar complex but has its own characteristics manifested in the width of the plates and composition of the tools. The peculiarities of the ceramics and flint industry allows placing chronologically the Belkaragai type of ceramics between the Mahanjar (Neolithic) and Tersek (Late Neolithic) antiquities. Besides, it should not go unnoticed that the Belkargai type may be genetically related to the Mahanjar Neolithic antiquities. As the result of the search for analogies to the Belkaragai type in the materials of other Turgai sites (the sites of Duzbay 3, Svetly Dzharkul, and the settlements of Bestamak and Buruktal 1), it was possible to identify pottery which, in terms of its main features, correlates well with the Belkaragai type. It is possible that the Belkaragai-type materials are not a local phenomenon, but have a wider character (at least within the Turgai trough). Most likely, this is a cultural phenomenon that reflects the processes that took place in Turgai at the end of the Neolithic period.

Keywords: Neolithic Turgai, Turgai trough, Makhanjar Culture, Belkaragai settlement, Belkaragai type of ceramics.

 

Karimikiya A., Rezalou R., Abedi A., Javanmardzadeh A., Mohammadi M.R.

Study and analysis of the Chalcolithic Period of Mughan plain based on archaeological data Yataq-Tepesi, northwest of Iran

The rivers, including Aras, in the Mughan region played an important role in the formation of the prehistoric sites. The Mughan Plain has not received particular attention in terms of the archaeological investigations, as the extensive scientific activities concentrated on the Lake Urmia basin. Yataq-Tepesi is a prehistoric site in the city of Germi (Mughan Region) that became the subject of the scientific research. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the pottery traditions at the site and to determine the chronological sequence of the studied region. In view of further detailed studies on the cultural relations of Mughan population with other territories, and to establish its chronological sequence, two main questions are posed: how do we date Yataq-Tepesi on the basis of cultural information, including pottery traditions? The main hypothesis suggested here is that the site development took place during the Middle Chalcolithic and Late Chalcolithic periods, somewhere between 4500 and 3700 / 3600 BC. The second question relates to the geographical regions that Yataq-Tepesi was in contact with through cultural relations and trade with other regions of northwestern Iran, especially with the region of Qaradagh and the Lake Urmia basin, as well as with the Southern Caucasus.

Keywords: Yataq-Tepesi, Mughan Plain, Germi City, Chalcolithic, South Azerbaijan.

 

Klimova A.D.

Shapes of the pottery vessels from the burial ground of the Late Bronze Age near the village of Peschanka in the Southern Transurals

In this article, the first experience of applying methods of the historical-and-cultural approach to the analysis of the shapes of the pottery of the Alakul Culture is presented. Eighteen vessels from 13 burials of the Peschanka cemetery were used. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the capabilities of the historico-cultural approach in the study of pottery vessel shapes of the Alakul Culture with the example of the burial ground of the Late Bronze Age in the Southern Transurals. The analysis has been carried out within the framework of the historical-andcultural approach developed by A.A. Bobrinsky. The study of the vessel shapes is conducted at three levels of the analysis: (i) general proportionality of the vessels; (ii) natural structure of the vessel shapes; (iii) the degree of formedness of the functional parts of the vessels. The author has identified the features that characterize the leading trends in the traditions of creating forms of clay vessels in the studied population. At the level of general proportionality, the vessels are evenly distributed among stages 33–35. At the level of the natural structure, a fivepart construction ‘lip + neck + brachium + body + base’ dominates. At the degree of formedness of the functional parts, most vessels exhibit a rudimentary neck, an unformed brachium, and the fully formed body. The listed features of the forms characterize the cultural core of the traditions of molding forms of the clay vessels at the Peschanka burial ground. The traditions of the cultural core are indicative of an early phase of the existence of this cemetery. Shapes of the vessels which differ from the core in their structures and degree of formedness of the body are representative of the later phase of the site's existence. This is confirmed by the traits of independent cultural and chronological features of the morphology of the Alakul and Srubnaya-Alakul ceramics, as well as by two available radiocarbon dates. The results of the conducted research showed the possibility of: a) deriving a cultural core of the traditions, with the example of the specific site; and b) establishing a chronology of burial complexes on the basis of data on the traditions of creating the vessel shapes.

Keywords: ceramics, Alacul Culture, historical-and-cultural approach, vessel shapes, Southern Transurals.

 

Beisenov A.Z., Gorashchuk I.V.

To the study of economic activities of the population of the Saka period in Central Kazakhstan (on the materials of traceological studies)

The Tasmola Culture of Central Kazakhstan, dated to the 8th–5th centuries BC, was discovered more than half a century ago by M.K. Kadyrbaev. He studied dozens of kurgans, on the materials of which he characterized the mortuary rites and funerary equipment of the new culture at a high professional level. On the basis of the materials from the burial sites, he for the first time considered the features of the economic activity of the population of the Saka period in Central Kazakhstan. Recent materials, including those obtained from the settlements, make it possible to largely extend the existing conclusions and assumptions of those years. At the settlement of Abylai, located in the territory of the Karaganda Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan, six seasons of archaeological excavations were carried out in 2016–2021. First results of the traceological analysis of stone tools from this site have already been published by the authors. In this paper, we report the results of the traceological study of a new series of stone tools from the Abylai settlement. In 2021, 254 stone objects were examined, functions of 202 of which were determined. As the analysis showed, 185 tools were used in various economic areas. The remaining 15 items were identified as kitchen utensils; there was also one mortar for grinding paints and one small altar (‘credence’), which is very often found in the burials of this culture. The 185 tools are divided into 5 classes, each of which belongs to a certain area of economic activity (ancient industries). Among those, 92 articles (49.73 % of the total number) are tools for the earthworks. Fifty articles (27.03 %) belong to the class of grinding tools. These are pestles and upper and lower grindstones, which were used for grinding plant products. Next 26 tools (14.05 %) were used in the processing of skins (tanning industry). Thirteen tools (7.03 %) were used in metalworking, including the work with iron products. Four tools (2.16 %) were used to process bone and wood. Among the results obtained, of a particular importance are the finds of numerous hoes and grating tools, as well as tools for metalworking, on which traces of iron surface are clearly identified. In addition to the whetstones, used for dressing knives and other iron objects, the new series of tools contains stone anvils, on the working surface of which some iron scale preserves.

Keywords: Central Kazakhstan, Tasmola Culture, Saka era, burial ground, settlement, traceological analysis, classes and types of stone tools, economy.

 

Tkachev A.A., Tkachev Al.Al.

An elite burial of the Early Turkic period from the Upper Irtysh Region

In the second half of the 1st millennium AD, Early Turkic tribes started penetrating the territory of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, and Siberia. Under their influence on the territory of the Upper Irtysh, the process of development of a Kimek-Kipchak state formation began. The initial stage of this process, reflected in the funeral rite and characteristic elements of the material culture, is barely known. In this paper, materials of the kurgan 1 of the barrow cemetery of Menovnoye XII, located in the territory of the Upper Irtysh 2.1 km to the southeast of the village of Menovnoye, Tavrichesky district, East Kazakhstan Region, are analysed. Under the mound of the kurgan was a fence with an annex containing a burial of a person, a dog, and two pairs of horses. The central male burial has been robbed. In the sacrificial pit, located south of the grave, there were remains of two horses: one had been laid on the stomach with its legs bent under the body and head to the east; the other, overlaying the first one, had been placed on a banket, laid on the right side with its legs bent under and head to the east. The man was accompanied by a child lying on the back with the head to the north, placed in a stone box attached to the eastern wall of the fence. The burial of the dog was in a pit placed in the aisle of the western wall of the fence. In the pit of the annex, there were remains of two horses: the complete carcass and the hinder part of the carcass. The grave goods were represented by a leather rendering and parts of a horse harness (iron stirrups and a bone belly buckle). The belts of the horse ammunition were adorned with silver and bronze decorations: badge-triplets, onlays, and buckle tips. To adjust the strain of the check-straps, a bronze buckle with an iron prong was used. Two horses showed traces of saddle bags containing iron adzes. The features of the funeral rituals and analysis of the material remains allow attributing the burials of the kurgan 1 of the Menovnoye XII burial ground to the Early Kimek period of the Turkic epoch within the 7th–8th centuries AD.

Keywords: Upper Irtysh Region, Middle Ages, Turks, Kimaks, mound, funeral rites, clothing inventory.

 

Adamov A.A.

Lead bullets of the Russian warrior host of 1582–1585 (based on the materials from the settlement of Isker)

The capital of the Siberian Khanate, the Isker hillfort, is located on the right bank of the Irtysh River, 17 km up from the mouth of the Tobol River. A large collection of bullets has been assembled on the monument, which were left by the soldiers who participated in the Yermak's campaign. For the first time, the data on 30 bullets from Isker were reviewed by A.P. Zykov in a joint monograph published in 2017, which included the bullets stored in Tobolsk Museum Reserve. However, some conclusions made by the researcher were not supported by the museum's collections. In total, 23 bullets are stored in the museum, and there are no bullets less than 8 mm in diameter, no bullets with a lead funnel, and no cylindrical bullets produced by cutting a lead rod into pieces. In total, our work made use of the data on 139 bullets that are stored in Tobolsk Museum Reserve and bullets that we found during the field research and collection of artefactual remains from the Isker hillfort since 2007. The bullets can be divided into two groups: molded (137 items) and mechanically manufactured (2 items). For the bullets, 12 variants of the traits, which characterize some features of their manufacture, and traces of impact on the projectiles before expulsion and those that appeared afterwards, were identified. During the manufacture, the bullet shape was attempted to be made spherical; this was recorded for 37.4 % of the items. Twenty-three percent of the bullets feature a seam from the mold sections, 14.4 % of the bullets preserved areas from lead shrinkage when cooling in the mold, 1.4 % of the bullets preserved a lead funnel, and 27.3 % of the bullets have notches made to increase their lethality. Furthermore, 58.3 % of the bullets bear traces of shooting — striation caused by friction of the projectile against the smooth barrel and traces of deformation caused by hitting a hard surface; only 10.1 % of the bullets are significantly undermolded or cut in halves. Summarizing the data on the bullets from the Isker hillfort, it must be noted that the Russian warrior host of 1582–1585 were armed with Russian-made muskets of small calibers of 8–15 mm. At the same time, the vast majority of them had a caliber of 10–14 mm, of which almost 2/3 were of a 12–13 mm caliber. The warriors campaigning in Siberia did not feel a noticeable shortage of ammunition, conducting annual target practice shooting at hard targets. Ball bullets were used, without lead funnels, which were cast from a precisely measured amount of lead. Notched bullets were quite widely used.

Keywords: Isker, Western Siberia, Khanate of Siberia, 16th century, weaponology, Russian warrior firearms, Yermak, lead bullets.

 

Tataurova L.V., Tataurov S.F., Tataurov F.S., Sopova K.O.

The Russian Frontier in Western Siberia (XVI–XVIII centuries) — an archaeological rendition

The Tara Irtysh region, including the city of Tara, as the main frontier outpost of the 17th–18th centuries, and its rural environs, is chosen as the pilot region in the study of the Russian frontier. Here, extensive archaeological material on the culture of urban and rural populations has been accumulated, and there is a representative body of written sources. The aim of this research is to study, on the basis of a complex analysis, the main developmental strategies of the Tarsky frontier: military, economic, and cultural. This will enable building a multicomponent model of the Russian frontier in the 16th–18th centuries for this region, identifying specifics of its formation, characteristic features, markers, and dynamics of changes as prerequisites for the advancement of the state to the east and southeast. In the study of the military strategy, a special role is assigned to the analysis of defensive structures which, together with weapons, specifically firearms, allowed resisting the militant nomads and defending the bordering territories inhabited by both Russian and indigenous populations. The study of the economic strategy revealed that the Russians in a short time created their own food economy based on the development of agriculture, cattle breeding, and the use of the natural resources — forest foraging, fishing, and hunting. Military confrontations and the formation of a life sustenance system required the development of various crafts: blacksmithing, pottery making, there was a need for clothing and footwear, and for food production. Trade relations were developing. The strategy of the cultural development was based on the paradigm of the Russian world — the spread of the Orthodoxy, into which the indigenous population was converted, including those serving in the Tarsky garrison. However, Muscovian authorities did not inhibit Islamization of the Tatars. Cohabitation of the Russians and Tatars facilitated the spread of the Russian language and Russian culture in the indigenous environment. This manifested in the change of the foundations of the traditional way of life of the native population, its restructuring according to the Russian model, and introduction of the advanced technologies. The Siberian Russian identity was developing on this international foundation.

Keywords: Siberia, frontier, archeology, Russians, Tara Irtysh region.

 

Bachura O.P., Lobanova T.V., Kardash O.V.

Cattle stock (Bos taurus) in Yeniseysk (Krasnoyarsk Krai) in the 18th–19th centuries (according to the archaeobotanical and archeological data)

As a result of the large-scale rescue excavations on the territory of the town of Yeniseysk (58°27'N, 92°10'E) in Eastern Siberia, a large osteological collection has been assembled. In this study, cattle bone remains from the excavations on the territory of the architectural complex ‘Balandin mansion’ have been analysed. The deposits of the mansion span both the initial period of settlement in Yeniseysk, almost from the moment of its foundation, as well as the late period — the end of the 19th century. The focus of the livestock production in the 17th–19th centuries in Yeniseysk was cattle breeding. The sex and age structure of the herd and size of the body of the animals have been reconstructed using special techniques from the parameters of the lower jaws and size of the metatarsal, metacarpal, and talus bones, as well as the first phalanges. On this basis, the breed characteristics and cases of economic use of the cattle have been described. The presence of a large percentage of newborn animals indicates that the cattle were kept within the town territory. Some amount of beef was imported to Yeniseysk as a result of the trade with indigenous cattle farmers. The reconstructed age and sex structure, where about 50 % of animals are cows older than 4 years, while the proportion of young animals among the slaughtered stock does not exceed 40 %, indicates the meat-and-dairy use of the cattle. The livestock was predominantly horned, and the polledness was not pronounced. Yeniseysk livestock had an average body size. The cattle in Yeniseysk were bigger than those of the Russian population in the forest belt of the European part of Russia. The sizes of cattle from other Russian cities in Siberia are identical to the Yenisei cattle. With a high degree of probability, the described breed can be attributed to the Siberian cattle, which were widespread on the territory of Siberia, the Urals, and the Far East.

Keywords: Eastern Siberia, the Late Middle Ages, Russian population, bones, livestock.

 

Sataev R.M., Dubova N.A., Sataeva L.V.

Domestic donkey (Equus asinus asinus) at Gonur Depe and its distribution in the Ancient East

The domestic donkey (Equus asinus asinus) is a hardy, versatile working animal. This species still plays an important role in the traditional economy of the peoples of Central Asia and adjacent regions. At the same time, very little is known about the ways in which this domestic species appeared in the region and the nature of its use in the early historical epochs. The morphological features of ancient donkeys are also poorly studied. It is assumed that donkeys appear in the Middle East in the 4th millennium BC. Zooarchaeological data shows that the ancient population of Turkmenistan did not breed the donkey until the Late Bronze Age. Equid bones found at Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age sites belong to the onager (Equus hemionus). Donkey bones first appeared in the materials from the excavations of the sites of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC). One of the most famous site of BMAC is Gonur Depe, the administrative and ceremonial center of ancient Margiana. It is located in the ancient delta of the Murghab River. Gonur Depe dates from 2500 till 1500 BC. The protourban center includes two main sites — North and South Gonur. During the excavation at Gonur, 142 individual bones and 9 complete skeletons of the domestic donkey were found. Perhaps the isolated donkey bones fell into the trash layers during the destruction of the ritual objects. No traces of purposeful slaughter of these animals and consumption of their meat were found. The donkey skeletons were found inside the human burials or in associated structures, although there are independent burials of these animals as well. So, for example, at the area 8, the donkey, surrounded by ceramic vessels was placed in a tomb made of adobe bricks. In the burials 3200 and 3900, the skeletons of donkeys were found alongside the skeletons of double-humped camels and remains of four-wheeled wagons. In total, 4 burials with carts were found at Gonur, where the skeletons of camels are always present, whereas only in two of them — the skeletons of donkeys. It is possible that the bulls and camels were main draft animals of the Gonur people, while the donkeys mainly played the role of a pack and riding animals. The height at the withers of the Gonur donkeys, reconstructed on the basis of measurements of the complete skeletons, was 115–120 cms. These were animals of average size for their species.

Keyword: Bactria-Margiana archaeological culture, Turkmenistan, Bronze Age, equids, burials with animals.

 

Shorin A.F., Shorina A.A.

Historiography of the Neolithic Trans-Urals: the Kozlov and Poludenskaya Cultures

The paper concerns the analysis of the history of the study of the Kozlov and Poludenskaya Neolithic Cultures. The territory of distribution of these archaeological cultures from the end of the 7th to the third quarter of the 5th millennium BC encompassed the forest Trans-Urals and the southern taiga zone of Western Siberia, as well as the adjacent northern edge of the forest-steppe. The source base of the research is represented by a critical analysis of scientific publications touching upon the problems of the Neolithic period in the Trans-Urals, primarily those addressing the functioning of the Kozlov and Poludenskaya Cultures, since the appearance of the first scientific concepts to the present day. Three stages in the history of the study of the analyzed cultures have been identified. Although the first artifacts of the Neolithic era are known in the region since as early as the 1830s–1860s, the beginning of the development of first scientific concepts about the Neolithic period of the Trans-Urals (the first stage) is associated with publications of V.N. Chernetsov and O.N. Bader at the turn of the 1860s–1870s. These researchers contemplated the development of the Trans-Ural Neolithic period within the framework of a single East-Urals culture in three successive stages. V.N. Chernetsov introduced the concept of “the Kozlov phase” into scientific discourse as the early stage, followed by the Yuryinsko-Gorbunovskaya and Chestyyag phases. O.N. Bader retained the name of the early stage as the Kozlov stage, but replaced the designation of the other two with the terms “Poludenskaya” and “Sosnovoostrovskaya” stages. A milestone in the historiography of the Neolithic period in the Trans-Urals was the monograph by V.T. Kovaleva published in 1989. Therein is introduced a new, fundamentally different from its predecessors, concept of the development of the Neolithic in the region. The researcher abandoned the view of the cultural unity of the Neolithic period in the Trans-Urals and substantiated two lines of development that had emerged already at the early stage — the Koshkino and Kozlov groups of archaeological sites — and which continued in the Late Neolithic as the Boborykino and Poludenskaya Cultures. Since then, the main ideas of V.T. Kovaleva's concept have been developing, or have been fundamentally revised on the basis of new sources compiled by the scientists.

Keywords: Trans-Urals, Neolithic, Kozlov and Poludenskaya Cultures, history of study.

 

Enshin D.N.

Neolithic pottery from the settlement of Mergen 6 in the Lower Ishim (groups III and IV): characteristics and interpretation

In this paper, a ceramic complex (groups III and IV) of the early Neolithic settlement of Mergen 6 (Lower Ishim River region, Western Siberia, 7th millennium BC) is examined. The aim of the work is to analyze the materials through the prism of contacts, connections and mixing of different cultural traditions in the early Neolithic period of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. The research is based on the elements of the historical-cultural and formal-classification approaches. The source base comprises 284 vessels. As the result of the analysis carried out in several stages (morphology of the vessels, tools and techniques for applying ornamentation, structural components of the decor, the nature of the systematic organization of the ornamental components, and relationship between the image components and structure of the vessel’s shape), it was found that the products of group III correspond to the tradition of making vessels with relief bands of the taiga zone of Western Siberia and the Urals (Satyginsky, Mulymyinsky types, etc.), whereas those of group IV demonstrate a mixture of all pottery traditions identified within the complex. On this basis, the main directions of the sociocultural ties of the ancient population of the Lower Ishim region in the early Neolithic period have been determined — western (the Middle and Southern Trans-Urals), north-western (the taiga zone of Western Siberia and the southern Northern Trans-Urals), and, probably, southern (the steppes of modern Northern Kazakhstan). One of the most important factors of the variability of the early Neolithic pottery has been identified — the interaction and mixing of different communities. All this allows speaking about the settlement of Mergen 6 as a center (cultural, economic, sacred (?)) at the intersection of landscape and geographical zones (steppe — forest, Trans-Urals — Western Siberia) and ways of dispersal of various groups of the ancient population.

Keywords: Early Neolithic, Trans-Urals, Western Siberia, Lower Ishim River Region, Mergen 6, ceramic complex, vessels with relief bands, mixed cultural traditions.

 

Grigoriev S.A.

Development of metallurgy of copper and copper alloys in China in the 2nd millennium BC

The first rare metal finds in China are dated to the Neolithic period, but most of them belong to its final phase. For this period, pure copper is known, very rare arsenic alloys, probably smelted from ore with arsenic admixtures. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, in Gansu, the technology of smelting ore with the following alloying with arsenic, occasionally tin minerals were borrowed from an unknown source. This technology spread to the east, and is present in the Erlitou II layer. At the beginning of the Erlitou III phase (which corresponds to the beginning of the Shang dynasty), the tradition of the Seima-Turbino metallurgy and the technology of smelting copper sulfide ores and alloying with tin penetrated into the Yellow River basin from the north (through Shanxi) from southern Siberia. This tradition soon spread to southern China, as well as the western and northern periphery of Chinese civilization. The penetration of the Karasuk tradition of arsenic alloys is also observed in the west and north in the late Shang period, and the Shang and Karasuk metallurgical traditions coexisted there. A special situation formed in Xinjiang, where the Andronovo tradition of smelting sulfide ores and tin alloys penetrated, but this penetration was limited to the west of the region. It did not affect the development of Chinese metallurgy. In general, in China, there is the same correspondence between the types of used ores and alloys as in the rest of Eurasia: native copper and malachite — pure copper, oxidized ores and secondary sulfides with gangue — arsenic copper, occasionally tin bronze, copper-iron sulfides — tin bronze. But in China, this sequence was driven by two technological impulses at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC (from an unclear source) and at the end of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC from southern Siberia. In addition, during the late Shang period, the interaction of the Shang and Karasuk traditions occurred in the north and west.

Keywords: Bronze Age, metallurgy, China, alloys, smelting technologies.

 

Selin D.V., Chemyakin Yu.P.

Pottery of the population of the Kulayka Culture (Surgut variant) in the settlement of Barsova Gora III/2: technology and traditions

Barsova Gora is a unique complex of archaeological sites of the Neolithic — Late Middle Ages. The representative body of the collected sources requires systematic analysis, primarily, of the pottery collections. This paper presents the results of technical and technological analysis of 50 vessels of the Kulayka Culture (Surgut variant) from different dwellings of the settlement of Barsova Gora III/2. The study of the technological markers was carried out with the aid of binocular microscopy of the surfaces and fractures of the ceramics, followed by the comparison with an experimental collection of technological markers. It has been determined that ferruginous lowsand clays were used as the raw ductile material. The main artificial admixture is represented by broken stone, while chamotte and organic substance are found in the clay paste only alongside the broken stone. It has been found that the principal recipe of the clay paste is clay + broken stone (64 %). The second most common recipe of the clay paste is clay + broken stone + chamotte (28 %). It is possible that the raw materials for the grus were imported from areas with stone outcrops, and/or unknown sources of stone from Barsova Gora and the surrounding area were used. The bottom and hollow body of the vessels were formed from laterally overlapping bands. External and internal surface treatments vary, and include 29 different combinations. A comparison of the pottery technology of the ceramics from the settlement of Barsova Gora III/2 with the pottery from the fortress of Barsov Gorodok III/6 showed their similarity. Differences appear in particular adaptive skills of the potters. These differences can be explained by active two-way contacts of the population of Barsova Gora III/2 with the representatives of other archaeological cultures who lived in this territory, and by the started processes of mingling of the pottery technology.

Keywords: Surgut Ob region, Barsova Gora, Early Iron Age, Kulayka Culture, ceramics, technical and technological analysis

 

Zinyakov N.M., Tret'iakov E.A.

Technological characteristics of objects made of iron and iron-carbon alloys associated with the Yudino Culture (according to the metallographic data)

Towards the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE, the population of Western Siberia had achieved significant progress in the production and processing of ferrous metals. This is especially well demonstrated by the complexes of the 10th–13th centuries in the Lower Irtysh River area (Western Siberia) and Lower Ob River area (Western Siberia) (archaeological sites of the Ust-Ishim and Nizhneobskaya Cultures), whose materials allowed tracing a unified tradition of metalworking among the representatives of these cultures. At the time, the adjacent territory of the Tobol River (Western Siberia) was occupied by population of the Yudino Culture, whose sites yielded many different-type products from ferrous metals. At the same time, the remains of metal production sites, which confirm the presence of this craft in the economy of the population of the Tobol River area in the 9th–13th centuries, were found on the settlements. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the objects made of ferrous metals aiming at reconstruction of the technology of metal production among the representatives of the Yudino Culture. To solve this problem, we analyzed by means of structural metallography a selection of 26 items from the settlements of Papskoye, Krasnogorskoye, Barsuchye, Rafailovskoye, and Vak-Kur burial ground. The results of the analysis showed that the raw material base was represented by raw steel and bloomery iron, which was most likely produced by local metallurgists. The most common technology of metal processing was open forging of hot metal, during which the object was given a future shape. Most of the objects contain microstructures of sorbite and martensite, which may indicate the use of heat treatment techniques by the blacksmiths, particularly, of soft and hard quenching. In some cases, the masters used the stacked billet method to increase the weight of the product. Nevertheless, the materials show more complex technological schemes, for example, carburization and three-layer welding. Objects made using this approach are characteristic of the territory of Northern Rus and can be considered as imports in the Tobol territory (Western Siberia). Cast iron products can also be regarded as imported, since the production of cast iron appeared in Western Siberia after the 16th century. Thus, the blacksmiths of the Yudino Culture mastered a wide range of metalworking techniques. However, there are technology-enabled objects typical of the urban centers of Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the medieval archaeological sites of the Trans-Urals.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Tobol basin, Еarly Middle Ages, Yudino Culture, ferrous metal, metallographic analysis, production technology.

 

Zakh V.A., Rafikova T.N.

Tarkhansky Ostrog of the 17th−18th centuries: a study based on the materials of geophysical and archaeological research of 2020−2021

The paper is aimed to introduce into scientific discourse materials of the research of 2020–2021 which confirm the earlier conjecture on the location of the Tarkhansky Ostrog as on the butte at the confluence of the Tobol and Tap Rivers. The results of the geophysical surveys and excavations on the area of 168 sqm provided conclusive evidence towards the correctness of the preliminary argument on the location of the Ostrog and attribution of the materials of the early modern period to one of the first fortresses of the end of the 16th — beginning of the 17th centuries in the Lower Tobol River area. Uncovered remains of a palisade ditch and a wall, alongside the geomagnetic data and written sources, allow estimation of the shape and size of the burgh. Apparently, it had a subrectangular area of 1400 to 2000 sqm. The discovery of the palisade ditch provided the opportunity to render the location of the outpost and position of the turrets (“the fortress with a wooden palisade and two turrets”) at the western wall of the burgh which defended the less sloped, thus underprotected, as compared to the opposite, edge of the butte. The cutting by the palisade ditch of the remains of a thermal engineering structure with Russian ware in the filling and a series of bronze decorations shows that the chronology of the butte occupations and its stratigraphy, even within the Russian period, were significantly more complex than it appeared on the basis of only the written sources. A series of posts, probably belonging to the fence (wall?), with some of the associated pits disturbed by the palisade ditch and thermal engineering structure, belong to an object of an earlier period. It is not implausible that the remains of the fence-wall belong to the Tatar’s settlement of Tarkhan-Kala, whose location was associated by G.F. Miller with the Russian burgh positioned not far from the estuary of the Tura River, on the south-eastern side of the Tobol River. A representative pottery complex, comprising the fragments of at least 156 vessels, likely of the local produce, alongside the shards of Chinese porcelain ware, was unearthed in the excavation ditch of 2021. Some shards of glassware were found. Among the iron tools, noteworthy are a spadeiron, broken knives, a key, an arrowhead, hinges, a bracer, fishhooks, stab awls, sewing needles, and nails of various sizes. Of the bronze items, notable are a chest handle, an onlay, bronze decorations, lead bullets, and coins. Clay fishing weights and honing stones, alongside the aforementioned items, shed light on the occupations of the burgh residents. The complex of the obtained data allows conclusion on the viability of further investigation of the outpost: its layout and lifestyle, and material culture of its inhabitants during the period from the 17th to the middle of the 18th century.

Key words: Western Siberia, the Lower Tobol region, the confluence of the Tobol and Tap, the Tarkhansky Ostrog of the 17th — the middle of the 18th century, written sources, geophysical and archaeological research, artifact complex.

 

Panin A.V., Sorokin A.N., Bricheva S.S., Matasov V.M., Morozov V.V., Smirnov A.L., Solodkov N.N., Uspenskaia O.N.

Landscape development history of the Zabolotsky peat bog in the context of initial settlement of the Dubna River lowland (Upper Volga basin)

Zabolotsky peat bog is a unique biospheric and cultural-historical archive located in the north of the Moscow Region on the territory of the Dubna River lowland. Despite the advances in studying the Zabolotsky region, the question of reconstruction of the primitive population habitat remains unresolved. Until recently, it has been believed that in the Late Valdai period, the Dubna River lowland was covered by the waters of an extensive glacierdammed Tver paleolake, drained only at the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene. It was assumed that the lake's existence prevented the settlement of the territory, whereas after its drainage, the shallow residual water pools were actively exploited in the economic activities of the primitive population. However, paleogeographic and archaeological materials have been accumulated during the last two decades that questioned the existence of large dammed lakes in the Upper Volga basin in the Late Valdai time. This paper presents the results of three years (2018–2020) of research, allowing revision of the ideas about the Quaternary geology and development of the geomorphic conditions of this area. A program of research, comprising topographic and geodetic surveys, drilling using a portable boring rig, lithologic description of the core, radiocarbon (AMS) dating, paleo-soil studies, biological analysis of organic macrofossils, and ground-penetrating radar, has been carried out aimed at reconstruction of the paleogeographic setting and landscape development. Drilling data were used to build the profile across the left bank of the Dubna River floodplain with extension to the low terrace. The lithofacial analysis of samples and AMS dating allowed identifying three generations of ancient riverbeds, the deepest of which (with the bottom at 12 m below the water edge) is more than 30 thousand years old. The biological residues from the dark-coloured loams directly below the peat bottom belong almost exclusively to higher plants, both arboraceous and wetland, which may have been brought in by the floodwaters. The ground-penetrating radar profiles clearly show the boundaries of three electromagnetically homogeneous sedimental layers — the peat, silted peat, and loam. The paleogeographic data, in conjunction with the geophysical profiling data, indicate the existence of a copious waterway in the lowland (the ancient Dubna River) no later than 15,000–16,000 years ago which formed a floodplain with large features of fluvial paleorelief available for settlement. These data agree well with the new serial AMS-dates for the resin from the grooves of the bone and horn artifacts, which permit extension of the time of the initial development of the Zabolotsky peat bog by the bearers of the Resseta Culture to 15,500 years ago. The conclusions drawn have major significance for the development of an evidence-based chronology of the events and dynamics of the settlement strategy of the population during the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. The new data not only are consistent with the system of global paleoecologic events and history of the development of the outwash plain zone in Eastern Europe, but also provide the basis for refinement, and, possibly, revision of a range of current concepts.

Keywords: geoarchaeology, palaeohydrology, alluvial accumulation, paleochannels, groundpenetratingradar, GPR, AMS dating, Tver Glacial Lake, Zabolotje geoarchaeological polygon (GAP).

 

Sergusheva E.А.

The use of plants by the population of Primorye in the Early Paleometal period (according to the archaeobotanical and archeological data)

The Early Paleometal period (second half of the 2nd millennium BC — end of the 1st millennium BC) is one of the least studied periods in the archeology of Primorye. There are not many studied and documented complexes. Their cultural chronology is still insufficiently developed. The identification of the archaeological cultures has not been completed and their subsistence systems have not become objects of research. The author makes an attempt to reconstruct the usage of plants by the populations of Primorye during this period. The research was based on the archaeobotanical analysis of plant seeds from the sites of this period, supplemented with the data on the finds of artifacts associated with agriculture. The data from 15 sites belonging to different cultures or groups of the Early Paleometal period were taken into account and analyzed. From 10 of them, the seeds were obtained with water flotation technique, which was not always carried out to a sufficient extent. In 5 sites, seeds were found on visual inspection (seeds accumulations, imprints on ceramics). Seeds of cultivated plants were found in all 15 sites. They were recovered from all flotation materials, even from small samples, which indicates the abundance of these remains in the sites’ deposits. The species composition of the seeds demonstrates the ubiquitous presence and, therefore, cultivation of two species of millet (Panicum miliaceum, Setaria italica). This is a typical set of cultigens for Primorye, where both species are consistently present on archaeological sites, starting from the Late Neolithic and in the following periods. Materials of Novoselische-4 and Anuchino-14 sites, where only P. miliaceum was found, look atypical. After the middle of the 1st millennium BC, naked barley was also found on some sites. The paucity of the data does not allow reliable reconstruction of the role of agriculture in the economy of the Early Paleometal population of Primorye. However, the presence of the cultivated plants on all the sites where the water flotation was used demonstrates their ubiquity, including the coastal settlements whose population’s economy was mainly based on marine resources. This clearly indicates an increase of a role of agriculture in this period. The lack of special studies of the functions of such artifacts as hoes, grinding slabs and grindstones, traditionally referred to as agricultural, makes us consider with reserve their interpretation as exclusively agricultural. Obviously, they represent tools with complex functions. Specialized agricultural tools are represented by reaping knives. In Primorye, they appear in the Early Paleometal period. Their presence on the sites is regarded as evidence of the existence of agriculture. However, their absence does not imply the opposite. The archaeobotanical data from the sites of the Early Paleometal period confirmed the existence of wild plants gathering amongst the population engaged in agriculture. The remains of 8 plant species, which were found on all the sites where the water floatation was employed, have been identified.

Keywords: Primorye, Early Paleometal period, archaeobotany, archeology, agriculture, broomcorn and foxtail millets, naked barley, plants gathering.