scholarly journals Mapping and Damage Assessment of “Royal” Burial Mounds in the Siberian Valley of the Kings

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gino Caspari
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
River Terrace ◽  
Burial Site ◽  
Southern Siberia ◽  
Northern River ◽  
Preservation Conditions ◽  
Burial Mounds

The Valley of the Kings in Tuva Republic, southern Siberia, is arguably one of the most important archaeological landscapes in the eastern Eurasian steppes. Nonetheless, little information exists about the spatial characteristics and preservation conditions of this burial ground consisting of large “royal” mounds. We map the large monuments of the Uyuk Valley’s northern river terrace and assess their state of preservation based on high-resolution optical satellite data. The burial site consists of several hundred mounds, over 150 of them with diameters of more than 25 m, the largest monuments are bigger than 100 m in diameter. This makes the Valley of the Kings in Tuva Republic one of the largest Early Iron Age burial sites in the Eurasian steppes. Unfortunately, around 92% of the large monuments are in bad condition, mostly due to looting.

IRON AGE BURIAL MOUND UST-BELOKURIKHA-3: EMERGENCY EXCAVATIONS IN CONSTRUCTION ZONE OF BIYSK-BELOKURIKHA HIGHWAY IN 1990

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 200-205
Author(s):  
Kazakov A. ◽  
◽  
FROLOV Ya. ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
Construction Zone ◽  
Burial Mounds

The article publishes materials from the Ust-Belokurikha 3 burial ground. The site is located in the Smolensk District of the Altai Territory. The burial ground was destroyed during construction work. There were five burial mounds on the site. One burial mound was excavated. Its artificial hill had been built of stone. There was one burial in the center of the mound. The deceased in the grave was laid on his back and his head was oriented to the southwest. His legs were bent. The specifics of the funeral rite allow dating the site to the Early Iron Age. Preliminary dating of the necropolis can be attributed to the Bystryanskaya culture. The absence of visually prominent mounds at the site is characteristic of most mound necropolises of this kind in the northern foothills of Altai. Those sites were destroyed during the intensive anthropogenic use of the area. Continuing plowing of the land containing archaeological sites in the foothill zone creates an additional threat to the deteriorating condition of the ancient burial mounds. Keywords: burial mound, early Iron Age, Scythian-Saka time, northern foothills of Altai, Bystryanskaya culture

scholarly journals Burials with Weapons and Horse Bridle of Yuldashevsky Burial Ground in the South Ural Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-166
Author(s):  
Lyasovich Vsevolod I. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Relative Proximity ◽  
The Military ◽  
Archaeological Monument

The study of the peculiarities of the armament of the Pianobor tribes is an urgent direction of modern archaeological science. The purpose of this article is to isolate and then analyze the sets of weapons for the male burials of the Yuldashevsky burial ground of the Pyanobor archaeological culture of the Early Iron Age. The problem of the study is to reconstruct the nature of the military culture of one local group in the Pianobor society. The novelty of the work is the fact that the totality of weapons in the burial, the weapon set, is considered within the framework of one specific archaeological monument, and not as a whole in terms of culture.The Yuldashevsky burial ground belongs to one of the necropolises of the Pianobor culture, where an increased content of weapons is noted. The occurrence as well as the combination of a certain type of weapon in the burial inventory makes it possible to distinguish weapon sets, as well as to designate popular types of weapons among a specific group of the drunken population. Applying the comparative-historical method, including the method of statistics and chronology, it was possible to focus on the number of weapon sets, their filling with weapons, the time frame of some weapons, and its similarity with the Kara-Abyz set of weapons. As well as the Kara-Abyz, the Pianobor culture inherited a set of weapons characteristics of the Ananyin time. Its indispensable attributes are: a) polearms in the form of spears with small points; b) arrowheads made of different materials ‒ bronze, iron and bone, with the domination of the latter in quiver sets; c) long single-edged blades ‒ combat knives. Despite the relative proximity of the habitat of the Pianobor tribes to the Sarmatian world, the latter did not have a significant impact on the armament complex of the Pyanobor tribes. Moreover, in the drunken environment, its own standardized weapon set was formed, represented by various variations in the mutual occurrence of a bow, spear and a combat knife. Keywords: Pianobor archaeological culture, weapons, burial ground, military burials, early Iron Age, Yuldashevsky burial ground, southern Urals

scholarly journals Burial Mounds, Ard Marks, and Memory: A Case Study from the Early Iron Age at Bamble, Telemark, Norway

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-226
Author(s):  
Christian Løchsen Rødsrud
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Old Field ◽  
Field System ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Point Of Departure

The point of departure for this article is the excavation of two burial mounds and a trackway system in Bamble, Telemark, Norway. One of the mounds overlay ard marks, which led to speculation as to whether the site was ritually ploughed or whether it contained the remains of an old field system. Analysis of the archaeometric data indicated that the first mound was related to a field system, while the second was constructed 500–600 years later. The first mound was probably built to demonstrate the presence of a kin and its social norms, while these norms were renegotiated when the second mound was raised in the Viking Age. This article emphasizes that the ritual and profane aspects were closely related: mound building can be a ritualized practice intended to legitimize ownership and status by the reuse of domestic sites in the landscape. Further examples from Scandinavia indicate that this is a common, but somewhat overlooked, practice.

Grave Structures and Altars: Archaeological Traces of Bronze Age Eschatological Conceptions

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Kaliff
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Site ◽  
Mortuary Practice ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Different Types ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Mortuary practice can be interpreted as a system of rituals based on people's perceptions of life and death. There is a great deal to suggest the prehistoric find sites we usually call cemeteries also had an important function as ritual sites. Several types of structure occurring at cemeteries from the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age in southern Scandinavia favour a broader interpretation of these sites. This article is based on the results of the excavated ritual and burial site at Ringeby in Kvillinge parish, Östergötland, an excavation which was undertaken with the express purpose of studying the archaeology of religion. The article also includes a general discussion of the concept of ‘grave’ and different types of structure which can be interpreted as places for cults.

scholarly journals The Early Iron age Burial Ground Kaspan-6 in Jetusy

2017 ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Beisenov A. ◽  
Kreshioli L. ◽  
Jumabekova G. ◽  
Bazarbayeva G. ◽  
Barinova E.
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground

scholarly journals NEW DATA ON THE DENTAL CHARACTERISTICS EXHIBITED BY THE POPULATION OF THE KULAYKA CULTURE IN THE NOVOSIBIRSK OB AREA

2019 ◽  
pp. 140-151
Author(s):  
M.S. Kishkurno ◽  
A.V. Sleptsova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Intergroup Comparison ◽  
The Bronze Age

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.

scholarly journals Finds of ornitomorphic images of the End of the Early Iron Age in the Lower Angara region

2021 ◽  
pp. 77-84
Author(s):  
P.O. Senotrusova ◽  
A.A. Ekkerdt ◽  
P.V. Mandryka
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Birds Of Prey ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Front Side ◽  
The Third ◽  
En Face ◽  
Realistic Images ◽  
Middle Siberia

The paper concerns the ornithomorphic images found at the Pinchuga VI burial ground. The site is located in the lower course of the river Angara (Middle Siberia). The chronological boundaries of the study span the second quarter of the 1st millennium AD (end of the Early Iron Age). All burials at the burial ground were performed ac-cording to the rite of cremation outside the cemetery. Two intact objects and fragments of the third image of a bird were found at the necropolis. Figures were found in different contexts. One of them was found in the filling of a grave pit, the second item within an assemblage of various articles in the inter-grave space. The third item was broken and lost as the result of illegal excavations. All articles share similar characteristics. These are realistic images of diurnal birds of prey “frozen” in a diving flight; the images are shown en face, with a high-relief head, with the tucked wings and feet pulled up with talons. A geometric decor conveys their feather, and a stylized mask is present on the chest of one item. The images are slightly convex, their front side is polished. The closest analogies to the Angara images of birds are known in Western Siberia, including the Tomsk burial ground, the Kholmogory treasure, the Ishim collection, and materials from the Parabel cult place. All this makes it possible to attribute the analyzed items to the Kholmogory stylistic group of the Kulai cult casting. Products of this group be-came widespread in Western Siberia in the second quarter of the 1st millennium AD. The ornithomorphic images found at the Pinchuga VI cemetery extend the geographical range of the items of this style to the territory of Mid-dle Siberia. Apart from the figurines of birds, the necropolis also yields other items of the Western Siberian cult casting, including disks with concentric ornaments, a hollow image of a fish head, and a bird-head belt applique. Bronze items were imported, and in the course of exchange they were spreading over considerable distances. This proves the existence of established cultural ties between the populations of the Lower Angara region and Western Siberia at the End of the Early Iron Age.

scholarly journals On the Study of Scythian Mobility Based on Paleoanthropological Materials

2020 ◽  
pp. 275-287
Author(s):  
Maria Dobrovolskaya ◽  
Semen Volodin
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Bone Tissue ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Geochemical Parameters ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
The Individual

Introduction. The paper is about the study of the human skeletal remains isotopic composition from Middle Don burial mounds of the Scythian time to characterize the population mobility. Methods and materials. The materials from the monuments of Kolbino 1, Ternovoe 1, Gorki I, Devitsa V, Durovka are considered. Data on the isotopic composition of strontium enamel in teeth and bone tissue is used to estimate the mobility of the population. Information on the isotopic composition of bone carbon collagen and nitrogen is also used to reconstruct food models that reflect cultural traditions as well as environmental patterns. Analysis. Values of 87/86 Sr of bone and tooth enamel are considered as markers of an individuals stay at different ages in a territory similar or different by geochemical parameters to regional Middle Don. Data on the isotopic composition of nitrogen and carbon in bone tissue from the burial mounds are considered with broad comparative data of the steppe Eurasian population of the Early Iron Age. Results. The authors discuss carbon delta values marking the use of C4 type photosynthesis plants. Millet is this cultural plant in Eurasian history of the Early Iron Age. This plant is widely spread in all steppe and nomadic cultures. The individual variability of carbon delta of Middle Don population is increased compared to all others. There are individuals who differ from the majority in lower carbon deltas corresponding to the C3 type of photosynthesis. This feature is proposed to consider as an evidence of contacts with the territories with the antique agriculture traditions.

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