scholarly journals THEORY AND PRACTICE OF RESEARCH ANCIENT CERAMICS: TRADITIONAL AND THE LATEST METHODS

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav Ivanovich Molodin ◽  
Ludmila Nikolaevna Mylnikova

Presents traditional and new methods of studying ancient pottery. Stressed that in the world literature there is practically no standard (or at least consistent) approach to the study of ancient ceramics samples using the methods of the natural sciences. Was marked severities and shortcomings and the main is: lack of access for archaeologists to use physical and chemical methods; unsystematic and randomness of the results; the inability to compare results. Lack of specialists among archaeologists and weak interest natural scientists led to the fact that have not yet been generalized instructional techniques of individual tests. The methods used for the study of ceramics, do not become the subject of training in higher educational institutions. That's why many archaeologists who study the technology of ancient pottery do not accept these methods because of considering them formal. Noted that the instrumental analysis using the methods of the natural sciences is aimed primarily at identifying those features that allow you to identify the technical and technological traditions and techniques of ancient pottery: raw materials strategy formulation and molding compounds. We propose a set of analytical methods that can be used for the reconstruction of pottery technology. On the example of the ceramic collections of the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia, the transition time from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age shows the possibility of some of the methods of the natural sciences: petrography, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and thermal analysis. It is concluded that the use of physical and chemical methods for the study of ancient ceramics can significantly enhance the ability of research material compared to traditional methods and increase the level of evidence and the objectivity for the historical and cultural situation.

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-385
Author(s):  
V. I. Molodin ◽  
L. N. Mylnikova

The article publishes the results of studying the molding masses and the quality of firing ceramic vessels of the Linevo 1 site (transition time from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age). The research was carried out using the methods of natural sciences: petrographic, X-ray phase and thermal. Five groups of ceramics were identified in the ceramic complex of the site. The second — Late Irmenskaya culture is a continuation development of the autochthonous — Irmenskaya. Three others: Molchanovskaya, Samodelkinskaya and with features of the early Iron Age — are imported. Within the framework of one site Linevo 1, there were recorded the existence of two traditions of making molding masses: chamotte and granitoid. The second tradition has been singled out both for the Molchanovskaya ceramic group and for the Samodelkino group but they differ in the composition of rock fragments. It was calculated that most of the collection is made up of «transitional» forms, «forms of imitation». There are no identical or closely related products in terms of morphological features in the collection. Syncretism of the complex under consideration is evidence of the complex ethno-cultural composition of the inhabitants of the ancient settlement. It can be clearly traced as a local autochthonous component that grows on the Irmenskaya culture basis and the northern taiga, coming to the forest-steppe most likely from the southern taiga of the Ob River. Obviously the fifth group of ceramics is foreign. As for the Linevo settlement complex it generally confirms the tendency of the joint existence of various ceramic traditions of the forest-steppe, steppe and taiga circle of cultures already noted for the cultures of the transitional time of the West Siberian forest-steppe with the predominance of the Irmenskaya culture — Late Irmenskaya culture component. All the results obtained are objective in nature, since they are based not on visual definitions, but on petrographic, X-ray phase, thermal methods and mathematical miscalculations.


Author(s):  
M.S. Kishkurno ◽  
A.V. Sleptsova

The article covers the results of a study on the odontological series from the Kamenny Mys burial ground (3rd–2nd centuries BC). In this work, we set out to study the genesis of the Kulay population of the Early Iron Age in the Novosibirsk Ob area. The main relations of the population with the groups of adjacent territories, as well as the nature of their interaction with the local groups, were determined. The odontological series from the Kamenny Mys burial ground includes the teeth of 24 individuals: 12 males, 6 females and 10 adult individuals whose gender could not be determined. The anthropological materials were examined according to a standard procedure, which involves the description of the tooth crown morphology considering the archaic features of the dental morphology. Also, an intergroup comparative analysis was performed via the method of the principal component analysis using the program STATISTICA version 10.0. It was established that the dental characteristics exhibited by the Kulayka population reveal signs of mixed European-Mongoloid formation with a significant predominance of the Eastern component. We compared the morphological characteristics of the sample with data obtained for the populations of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The intergroup comparison revealed the closest connection between the Bolshaya Rechka culture and the Kulayka group. The studied material provides anthropological confirmation of the interaction between Kulayka (taiga) and Bolshaya Rechka traditions (steppe), drawing on the data about the burial rite and ceramic complexes. The comparison of the Kulayka series with Bronze Age samples suggests that the forest-steppe populations occupying the territories of the Novosibirsk and Tomsk Ob and the Ob-Irtysh areas had no effect on the genesis of the Kulayka population. We suppose that the origins of the Kulayka population in the Novosibirsk Ob area should be traced to the populations from the West Siberian taiga of the Bronze Age, which is significantly complicated by the lack of sufficiently complete and representative series dating back to the specified period from the territory of the Middle Ob area. Further accumulation of anthropological material from the Middle Ob area will provide the opportunity to trace the genesis of taiga populations of the Early Iron Age.


Author(s):  
Zhanna Matviishyna

Nowadays, cultural monuments deserve increasing attention. A comprehensive study of archeological complexes enables us to more accurately reproduce the conditions of formation and evolution of ancient society. In recent decades, archaeological sites have been investigated using archeology and paleogeography methods to reconstruct the character of landscape changes in the study area. Among such historical and archeological complexes is the famous city of Baturin, which holds a special place for deep and comprehensive study. Less than half a century later, having traveled from a small outpost on the northeastern border of the Commonwealth to the hetman's capital, Baturin died in the flames of the Northern War in the same short period of time. Tragedy of 1708 made Baturin not only a national shrine, but also a reference archaeological monument of the Cossack era, a cultural layer whose level of saturation and informativeness is unmatched. The inter-river basin of the Desna and the Seimas, which is geographically included in the Baturin Family, is one of the most important watersheds of the Dnieper North Left Bank, and the Seim River itself is a kind of natural border between the forest-steppe and forest zones. The territory where Baturin originated had a number of significant advantages. Baturin is located on the edge of the high terrace of the Diet. It is the only such elevated area of the left bank terrace of the Diet in its lower stream, which allowed to control virtually all of its basin. ancient times, which, combined with the wide floodplain of the Seimas with its opportunities for the development of livestock, fishing, hunting, created optimal conditions for economic activity of the population. During paleopedological research it was established that in the territory of the study in the catenary of soils with artifacts of the Bronze Age developed soils of meadow and forest-meadow genesis with well-formed humus horizons close to meadow-sod and alluvial-sod zones of temperate, but temperate climate. In the clearing of the shaft, the findings of the early Iron Age are confined to the surface of the humus horizon of the sod of slightly podzolic soils, formed in the conditions of meadow-steppe landscapes of temperate climate, less humid than the modern (background) soil. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. In the Polissya conditions, meadow-forest landscapes became widespread. In the soils on the high grass meadows there were conditions for the accumulation of organic matter, which made it possible to form well-defined humus horizons and the processes of sod genesis were quite pronounced. Turf-slightly podzolic ash-sandy sandy loamy and sandy soils of the XVII-XVIII centuries had well-defined humus horizons, and often were deeply humus, which provided for their agricultural use with ease of machining. The proximity of a fairly powerful river, as well as the spread of forests (as timber for business purposes), increased the possibility of comfortable living conditions in this area. In the XVIII-XX centuries. Opportunities for cultivation of soils with fertilizers have emerged and soils of clearing № 5,7,8 are characterized by high and deep (almost all over the profile) humus. They are an example of human influence on the cultivation of land and landscapes. In the floodplains, alluvial-marsh silt soils, enriched with the content of Fe and Mn hydroxides, often formed the basis for the development of iron-smelting production in the territories close to Baturin. In the low and high floodplains of the Diet, the formation of sediments was associated with alluvial processes (floods, alluvial sands) and aerial ones (sands, dunes). Among modern Baturin soils (background), typical sod-medium- and highly podzolic, as opposed to the predominance of slightly podzolic sod, aszed alluvial-meadow and alluvial-sod soils are identified. The terraces are characterized by the development of sod, sod-alluvial and sod-swamp soils (the latter on floodplains).


2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-910
Author(s):  
E. V. Podzuban

The article introduces prehistoric artifacts from the sites of Karasor-5, Karasor-6, and Karasor-7 obtained in 1998. The archaeological site of Karasor is located in the Upper Tobol region, near the town of Lisakovsk. Stone tools, pottery fragments, a ceramic item, and a bronze arrow head were collected from a sand blowout, which had destroyed the cultural layer. The paper gives a detailed description of the pottery. The stone tools were examined using the technical and typological analysis, which featured the primary splitting, the morphological parameters and size of plates, the ratio of blanks, plates, flakes, and finished tools, the secondary processing methods, and the typological composition of the tools. The nature of the raw materials was counted as an independent indicator. The pottery fragments, the bronze arrow head, and the ceramic item belonged to the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The stone industry of the Karasor archeological cluster proved to be a Mesolithic monument of the Turgai Trough. The technical and typological analysis revealed a close similarity with the Mesolithic sites of the Southern and Middle Trans-Urals, as well as the forest-steppe part of the Tobol-Irtysh interfluve. The stone artifacts were dated from the Mesolithic to the Early Iron Age.


2022 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
A. P. Borodovsky

Handles of Early Iron Age bronze cauldrons from southwestern Siberia are described with reference to their ritual meaning. Typological features, such as knobs, arcuate, or square shape, are relevant for dating. Two chronological groups are established: the Tagar (second half of the 1st millennium BC) and Xiongnu-Xianbei (late 1st millennium BC to early 1st millennium AD). The interpretation of handles depends on the context. At settlements (Turunovka-4) and in certain hoards (First Dzhirim) of the Late Bronze Age, they can belong to foundry scrap. However, handles occur in long-term ritual sites such as Aidashenskaya Cave, suggesting a different interpretation. Indeed, at Eastern European forest-steppe sites of the Xiongnu era, handles of cauldrons had been intentionally buried, most often near water sources, where the summer camps of nomadic herders were situated. A similar situation is observed in southwestern Siberia, from the Baraba forest-steppe to the Middle Yenisei valley.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
Zimina O. ◽  
◽  
Anoshko O. ◽  

The article is devoted to the generalization and systematization of archaeological materials obtained during the excavations of sites of the late Bronze and early Early Iron Ages on the territory of the Trans-Urals. Comparative characteristics of the main life-supporting elements (settlement system, settlement planning, house-building, economy, ceramic production) of the carriers of the Mezhovka, Barkhatovo, Gamayun, Itkul (Iset) and Baitovo cultures made it possible for the authors to present one of the options for the development of the cultural-historical situation in the Trans-Urals forest-steppe and subtaiga zones at the turn of the Bronze and Iron epochs. Qualitative and quantitative data indicate dynamic transformation processes during this period, confirm the synchronicity of the Mezhovka and Barkhatovo cultures, the alien character of the Gamayun and Itkul (Iset) groups at the end of the Bronze Age and the continuity of the Barkhatovo-Baitovo antiquities. At the initial stage of the early Iron Age, representatives of the Itkul culture shared the space of the forest-steppe — subtaiga with the Baitovo communities. The alien traditions are becoming obsolete and there is a complete replacement of the local “standard” — Baitovo before the spread of the Sargat-Gorokhov influence. Keywords: Trans-Urals, complexes with cross ornamentation pottery, Barkhatovo Culture, Gamayun Culture, Itkul Culture, Baitovo Culture


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Berlina S. ◽  
◽  
Tsembalyuk S. ◽  

By the beginning of the Early Iron Age, under the influence of climatic and socio-political factors, the population of the forest-steppe had several traditions of housing construction. First of all, they were expressed in the variety of types of dwellings and techniques of their construction. During the Transition period from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the population of the Itkul culture had small above-ground framed buildings. The Baitovo population that replaced them at the beginning of the Early Iron Age has already recorded two types of buildings — above-ground framed buildings and and dwellings with cribbed walls. In the Gorokhovo-Sargat time, an unprecedented flourishing of house construction is marked. The Gorokhovo population has buildings with the ‘zaplot’ walls (i.e., built using vertical wooden posts with a lengthwise recess in which timber logs or panels are inserted), and dwellings with cribbed walls, frame-and-pillar structure are widely distributed. The presence of certain standards and traditions in architecture can be traced. The population of the Sargat culture built at least five types of dwellings: insulated and light cone-shaped, those built in the frame-and-pillar technique, dwellings with ‘zaplot’ walls, and cribbed dwellings. A feature that has clearly manifested itself in Sargat housing construction is the articulation of several chambers, different in structure and functions, into one household complex. Keywords: Western Siberia; Early Iron Age; dwelling; Itkul Culture; Baitovo Culture; Gorokhovo Culture


Author(s):  
A.V. Sleptsova

The results of the study of the dental anthropology complexes of the population of the Sargatka, Gorokhovo and Kashino cultures of the Early Iron Age in Western Siberia are presented. The source base of the study is 490 individuals from burials located in the Tobol, Ishim, Irtysh River regions, as well as on the territory of the Baraba forest-steppe zone. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the origin and processes of the formation of the anthropological composition of the population of the Sargatka, Gorokhovo and Kashino cultures on the basis of new dental anthropological data. Trigonometrically transformed dental trait frequencies were subjected to the principal component analysis. Be-sides Sargatka, Gorokhovo and Kashino cultures samples, 17 Bronze Age and 27 Early Iron Age dental samples from different region of Eurasia were used for statistical comparison. The results of the statistical comparison may possible to make a several conclusions. The anthropological composition of the Gorokhov population and Sargat groups from the Tobol, Ishim and Irtysh River regions was significantly influenced by diachronic contacts with the descendants of the Andronovo tribes of the Southern Urals, and synchronous relation with the Savromats and Sarmatians of the Southern Urals. The population of the Sargatka culture and the Gorokhovo groups, simultane-ously living on the territory of the Tobol River region in the 5th–3rd centuries BC significantly different from each other. However, the subsequent close population relation between the Sargatka and Gorokhovo groups and their contacts with the Sarmatians contributed to the convergence of their anthropological composition. In the formation of the anthropological composition of the Sargatka population of Baraba forest-steppe zone the main role belongs to the local Late Bronze groups — the Fedorovo Bronze Age population of Western Siberia and their descen-dants, people of the Irmen culture. The most specific is the anthropological composition of the Kashino popula-tion. The specificity of the small group of the Abatsky 3 burial of Kashino culture from the Ishim River region lies in the sharp predominance of the features of the “eastern” dental non-metric complex, which distinguishes this popu-lation from the groups of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age of Western Siberia and adjacent territories.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-133
Author(s):  
V. I. Molodin

The article is dedicated to anniversary of a brilliant scientist, an outstanding scythologist S. A. Skoryy. I suppose this essay, devoted to the Early Scythian period in the south of West Siberian Plain, will be interesting for our hero of the day. The atricle present the reconstruction of migration flows during the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition in the south of West Siberian plane based on archaeological data from Chicha 1 and Bolshoy Log settlements. The main vectors of migration flows, revealed and described in this article, indicate a strong penetration of different archaeological cultures to the Ob-Irtysh forest steppe. The bearers of Suzgun, Atlym, Berlik and other cultures that occupied nearby territories for more than two centuries have adapted to aboriginal late Irmen population. The Ob-Irtysh area was an attractive place for living. The abundant pastures with a stable herbage yields and the wealth of fish and game equally attracted both herdsmen and fishermen-hunters. Apparently, during this time the migration flows changed their directions and didn’t get in each other’s way. The mosaic of cultural formations peacefully shared Ob-Irtysh area was developed in the south of West Siberian plane during Bronze to Iron Age transition. This has been possible because of the different orientation of paleoeconomy of these societies. Besides, it must be noted that the bearers of aboriginal late Irmen culture were quite tolerant. They involved newcomers in their influence arena and even lived with them on the one living space area, e. g. on settlements. This evidence of this behavior was discovered on Chicha 1 and Bolshoy Log sites for instance.


Author(s):  
Andrey Evgen’ev

The article considers the activity on studying archaeological sites of the Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age and the era of the Middle Ages in the east of Orenburg region performed by M.G. Moshkova in the 1950th – 1960th. The group of the Southern Ural archaeological expedition under the leadership of M.G. Moshkova investigated Novo-Kumakskiy and Alandskoe I-III burial grounds. Studying the monuments of the east area of Sauromatian culture allowed to specify borders of their distribution and to reveal manifestations of fire cult in the funeral ceremony. The article introduces the idea of formation of the South Ural early Sarmatian culture on the basis of Sauromatian culture with participation of tribes of the forest-steppe Trans-Ural region and the Aral region in this process. Also M.G. Moshkova revealed and investigated burial and settlement sites of Alakul culture that allowed to make adjustments in the periodization of Andronovo cultural and historical community. Studying the burials of medieval nomads in Novo-Kumakskiy burial ground led to specification of the periodization of South Ural history in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. Thus, works of M.G. Moshkova in the east of Orenburg region promoted the solution of key problems of the Southern Cis-Ural and Trans-Ural history in the 2nd millennium BC – the 2nd millennium AD.


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