Archaeological lacquer objects from the Orgoyton burial ground

Исследованные лаковые артефакты были обнаружены при раскопках княжеского кургана хунну на могильнике Оргойтон в Забайкалье, который датируется I веком до н. э. – I веком нашей эры. Хотя захоронение было разграблено в древности, в нем были обнаружены детали колес китайской колесницы, покрытые черным лаком, а также мелкие фрагменты, возможно, осколки лаковой посуды. Технологические особенности этих разнообразных объектов были изучены путем исследования стратиграфии шлифов с помощью методов поляризационной микроскопии (ПМ) и сканирующей (растровой) электронной микроскопии в сочетании с энергодисперсионным рентгеновским микроанализом (РЭМ/ЭРМ). Состав органических материалов был изучен с помощью метода пиролитической хромато-масс-спектрометрии. В результате исследования было показано, что при создании всех предметов был использован китайский лак уруси. Поскольку лаковые деревья, сок которых служит для изготовления такого рода изделий, не произрастают в этом регионе, полученный результат дополняет имеющуюся информацию о существовании этнических контактов между Китаем и народами, проживающими в Забайкалье. После исследования археологических объектов была проведена их консервация. The studied lacquer artifacts were discovered during the excavations of the princely Hunnu burial mound at the Orgoyton burial ground in Transbaikalia, which dates back to the I century BC – I century AD and which is associated with the Asian Huns (Hunnu), in the Orgoyton burial ground on the territory of Transbaikalia. Although the burial was looted in ancient times, parts of the wheels of a Chinese chariot were found in it, covered with black lacquer, as well as small fragments, possibly fragments of lacquer ware. The technological features of these various objects were studied by studying the stratigraphy of the sections using the methods of polarization microscopy (PM) and scanning (scanning) electron microscopy in combination with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM/ERM). The composition of organic materials was studied using pyrolytic chromatomass spectrometry. As a result of the study, it was shown that when creating all the items, Chinese urushi varnish was used. Since the lacquer trees whose sap serves for the manufacture of such products do not grow in this region, the result obtained complements the available information about the existence of ethnic contacts between China and the peoples living in Transbaikalia. After the study of archaeological sites, their conservation was carried out.

Early Medieval Kyrgyz burial from the Upper Irtysh region

In Central Asia in the second half of the 1st millennium A.D., there were development and rapid change of large polyethnic state formations of allied congeneric groups of the Turkic people, Uigurs, Kyrgyz, Kimaks, and Kipchaks. The material goods of most of the tribal unions are unidentified and cannot be associated with the names of specific ethnic groups known from the written sources. Continuance and cultural affinity of the succes-sive nomadic communities are based upon identity of the subsistence systems in similar natural and climatic con-ditions. The Kyrgyz (Khakass) Khaganate, which emerged in the Upper Yenisei region, was one of the Early Me-dieval states. In the second half of the 9th century, the authority of the Kyrgyz khagans spread onto the vast terri-tories of Central Asia. The main culture-forming attribute of the Kyrgyz ethnos is cremation burials. The study of the cremation burials found beyond the ancestral homeland of the Kyrgyz allows tracing the intertribal contacts and directions of military campaigns of the Kyrgyz during the period of their “greatpowerness”. In this paper, mate-rials of the burial mound of Menovnoe VIII, situated in the territory of the Upper Irtysh 2.1 km south-east from the village of Menovnoe, Tavrichesky district, East-Kazakhstan Region, are analysed. Under the mound of the kurgan, there was a fence with an outbuilding. The central grave contained a cremation burial, and the outbuilding — an adolescent burial and a sacrificial pit with a horse carcass split into halves. The grave goods are represented by a bronze waistbelt clasp and a fragment of an iron object. Alongside the horse, there was a quiver with three arrow-heads and a rasp-file, as well as part of a bridle (a snaffle bit fixed to a wooden cheekpiece and a bronze buckle tip). The specifics of the burial rite and analysis of the material obtained during the study of the funeral complex allows attribution of the Menovnoe-VIII kurgan 8 graves to representatives of the Kyrgyz-Khakass antiquities, who were in contact with the rulers of the Kimak Khaganate during the second half of the 8th — 10th century.

Burials with Signs of the Muslim Rite Among the Nomads of the Golden Horde

The article presents the typological characteristics of the nomadic burials of the Golden Horde, interpreted as Muslim. The burial grounds located in the depths of the Steppe at a distance from the urban centers of the Golden Horde were taken as a source base. This approach allows the authors to consider the genesis and evolution of the Islamic funeral rite among nomads without taking into account the influence of urban Islam on this process or through the prism of its minimal impact. On the example of the Linevsky burial mound in the Southern Cis-Urals, it is shown that the signs of the Islamic rite, characteristic of urban and suburban burial grounds, are present among the nomads, but mainly in the form of separate reminiscences.

Who’s been using my burial mound? Radiocarbon dating and isotopic tracing of human diet and mobility at the collective burial site, Le Tumulus des Sables, southwest France

The burial mound of Le Tumulus des Sables, southwest France, contains archaeological artefacts spanning from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Human remains have been found throughout the burial mound, however their highly fragmented state complicates the association between the burial mound structure and the archaeological material. Radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses of human teeth have been used to investigate the chronology, diet and mobility of the occupants. Radiocarbon dating shows that the site was used for burials from the Neolithic to Iron Age, consistent with the range of archaeological artefacts recovered. δ13C and δ15N values (from dentine collagen) suggest a predominately terrestrial diet for the population, unchanging through time. 87Sr/86Sr (on enamel and dentine) and δ18O (on enamel) values are consistent with occupation of the surrounding region, with one individual having a δ18O value consistent with a childhood spent elsewhere, in a colder climate region. These results showcase the complex reuse of this burial mound by a mostly local population over a period of about 2000 years.

Once More on the Dating of the “Royal” Five Brothers’ Burial Mound No. 8

Burial-mound No. 8 in the necropolis of the Elizavetovskoye fortified settlement. The dates assigned to 14 amphorae found in the dromos are constantly argued over by scholars. When traditional methods of chronology are used, it emerges that some of the amphorae should be assigned to the 350s BC, and others to the 330s–320s BC. Recently N.F. Fedoseev attempted to explain this difference in dating of various stamps by stating that the two burials had been laid out in the burial-mound at different times and that, as a result, the amphorae had also been placed in the dromos at different times. Analysis of the assemblage of amphorae against a background of new sources has made it possible to assume with confidence that both burials in the burial-chamber of the Five Brothers’ Burial-mound No. 8 had been of the same date and that this spectacular monument should be dated to the second half of the 350s BC or to the 350/340s BC.

«THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN». THE SKYTHIAN GRAVE IN THE BARROW NEAR KUSTORIVKA VILLAGE

In 2013 near Kustorivka village of Krasnokutsky district, Kharkov region the Scythian burial mound (5th—4th centuries BC.) was excavated. The inserted burial of a beheaded man has been discovered there. Fragments of horse bones, horse harness, numerous arrowheads, the spearhead and knife were unearthed in the grave. Funeral inventory dates the burial to the 2nd half or the end of 5th — the early 4th century BC. The grave goods allowed us to suggest that the man was a horseman and possessed a bow with arrows, javelin or lance. These assumptions have been confirmed by anthropological studies of the development of muscles relief, injuries and specific skeletal markers. The skeleton showed clear signs of a horseman’ and archer’ osteological complexes. The man died at the age of 20—25. The skull, first and second cervical vertebrae were absent in the undisturbed burial. The upper part of the left intervertebral condyle of the 3rd vertebra was cut off by the hit from left behind and below. These signs are evidence of decapitation. In addition, numerous cut marks made with a sharp blade were found on the anterior and lateral surfaces of the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae, as well as on the left femur above the knee. Thus could be the signs of the body cleaning of waste tissue for its transportation or in course of the preparation for the burial. Studies of the horse’s remains showed that it has deceased at the age of 10—12 years. The horse was decapitated as well by the hit directed between first and second cervical vertebra. The head was also cut in half and only one part of it was present in the burial. There were also some bones of the animal’s skeleton, which do not belong to the edible parts of the body. The severed head of the horse was located above the place where the man’s head was supposed to be, thus the horse harness was situated on the level of the human skeleton. Traces of the possible preparation of the human body for burial and the location of the remains of a horse over a lost human head along with other changes in the skeleton indicate a certain funeral rite, direct analogies of which have not yet been found in the North Pontic region.

Some Preliminary Soundings

This chapter presents a series of “soundings” of short hexametrical genres. The aim is to investigate the following: (i) how the Homeric poet, in Hector’s description of the burial mound of his antagonist, plays with his audiences’ expectations of the generic and preexisting form of the hexametrical epitaph and how both he and the Hesiodic poet use the hypothêkê, a traditionally hexametrical form of avuncular advice in the Homeric speeches of elders like Peleus or in the Hesiodic address to Perses; (ii) how a mimetic poem composed by Theocritus helps us to imagine the performance context of some fragments of Sappho’s “wedding poems” as epithalamia in hexameters composed in ten-line stanzas and chanted before the door of newlyweds; and (iii) how the short poems embedded in the Pseudo-Herodotean Life of Homer reflect the rich array of short hexametrical performances.

Sarmatian burials of the kurgan semetеry

The discussed materials originate from burials No. 2 and 5 of mound 1 of the Nezlobnensky-6 burial mound, investigated in 2006 by the expedition of the NASLEDIE (Stavropol). The documentation stored in the archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as diary entries and field photography of the author were used in the publication. Results. The funeral rite of the burials and gravegoods are described in detail and analyzed in the main part of the publication. The finds were dated, their place among the archaeological cultures of the peoples who inhabited the Central Pre-Caucasus in the Early Iron Age was determined. A circle of analogies is given among synchronous archaeological sites, both in the central Pre-Caucasus and in adjacent territories. Conclusion. Burial 2 dates from the III-I centuries BC and is associated with the culture of the pre-Caucasian Sarmatians, presumably the Sirak tribal union. This type of graves was identified by archaeologists in the middle of the XX century and since then their number has been steadily increasing. Burial 5 is also dated to Sarmatian period, but earlier than burial 2. It belongs to the IV century BC and is a rather rare form of burial, a collective military grave. It is likely that all the people buried there died at the same time, as a result of a military conflict.

Integrating Airborne Laser Scanning and 3D Ground-Penetrating Radar for the Investigation of Protohistoric Structures in Croatian Istria

We present the investigation of two rather ephemeral archaeological sites located in the municipality of Oprtalj/Portole (Croatian Istria) by means of integrated archaeological, geophysical and remote sensing techniques. The results obtained confirm the first interpretation of these contexts; a protohistoric burial mound and a small hillfort, respectively. We further obtained detailed information about both deposits through 2D and 3D remote sensing and geophysical studies that produced maps, volumes, profiles and cross-sections. At the first site, the volume reconstruction of both the inner stone core and the superimposed earth of the putative stone mound also allowed us to estimate the labour necessary to erect the structure. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that the integrated approach can be valuable not only to acquire novel data about the archaeological deposits but also to calibrate future investigations and to plan effective measures for heritage management, monitoring and valorization.

New scientific data of materials from the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground and its place in the chronology of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture

The paper is devoted to the introduction of a new radiocarbon date into scientific circulation and the analysis of the results of determining the metal composition of the items of the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The overwhelming majority of the burial grounds decorations are made of pure copper. One pendant ornament is made of silver; in two other items the content of silver and arsenic was noted in small quantities. Products made of pure copper are usually associated with the Volga-Ural sources of metal, traditional for the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The appearance of silver and arsenic in the metal composition of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture is associated with the South Ural ore sources and their development by the Volga-Ural Abashevites. Within the framework of traditional relative chronology, this corresponds to the time of the end of the developed stage of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The preservation of organic materials, which is rare for the sites of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture, makes it possible to compare the results obtained only with the materials of the Pepkino burial mound. Speaking of metal composition, both sites belong to a single stage of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture. The radiocarbon dates of the two burial grounds obtained at the Oxford Laboratory are close and indicate a somewhat later age of the burials of the Starshy Nikitinsky burial ground relative to the burials of the Pepkino kurgan.