The burial ground on Tankovoye Lake (Iturup Island): brief history and results of researches

The burial ground located on a bank of Tankovoye Lake (Kuibyshevskoye) is one of the key sites in the archaeology of the Kuril Islands. This is due not only to the fact that huge archaeological collections reflecting all stages of peopling of the region have been collected here over many years of excavations but also to the fact that this burial ground still remains the only object of this kind throughout the entire islands chain. Moreover, apart of the burials themselves, the stone burial structures, which have not yet been recorded on other sites of the Kuril Islands, but have analogies in the Jōmon culture, were also revealed at the site. Interest in this site is also enhanced by recent genetic studies, which unexpectedly demonstrated a high level of genetic similarity of a person buried here with modern Koryaks and Itelmens. At the same time, despite the site’s uniqueness, it is heavily underrepresented in available scientific publications. Information about it can be found only in the field reports and in few the hard-to-reach regional publications. Therefore, this article provides a brief overview of all data gathered at this site. It is based on the field reports, data from the private archive of Y. Knorozov, museum collections of the Sakhalin Regional Museum, and on the results of the author’s own research as well. Summing up the outcomes of long-term researches, we have to state that the site’s unique objects remain almost unexplored. For many years, studies here were limited to visual examination, cleaning up of the dune opening, and surface artifact gathering. Therefore, the nature of the burial objects found at the site might be recognized only in the most general terms. Their cultural affiliation also remains questionable. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the early Epi-Jōmon epoch is most powerfully represented near the lake, while the bulk of the ceramics collected here belongs to the later stage of this epoch (in accordance with archaeological data from Hokkaido). In addition, artifacts of Middle and Final Jōmon, Okhotsk culture, Satsumon-Tobinitai culture, and Ainu are presented here as well. Presumably, people could bury their dead here during the epochs of Final Jōmon, Epi-Jōmon and, possibly, the Okhotsk culture.

Coins from the “Orient” Excavation Site of the Olbian Necropolis

Research on the “Orient” excavation site of the Olbian necropolis has been conducting for eleven years. During this time, 100 coins were found here in 47 different contexts, and 97 of them were clearly identified. The relatively small number of numismatic finds and archaeological contexts allowed a detailed analysis of the relationship between them. The following conclusions were obtained. On this territory, coins were used in funeral and memorial rites throughout the entire existence of the necropolis here (the middle of the 6th century BC — the end of the 2nd century AD). The composition of the coins by the dates of issue basically corresponds to the main stages of the Olbian coinage. An earlier type of coin (casted dolphin-shaped) and a later type (round minted) are fixated in approximately the same number in different layers of the excavation. The main layers of the excavation were formed mainly in a natural way. This situation makes it possible to assume a fairly active usage of the coin precisely in memorial rites. Coins in situ have been found in only four types of burial structures. The time of construction of the burial objects in which the coins were found in situ is clearly divided into two periods: the middle of the 5th — beginning of the 3rd centuries BC and the second half of the 1st—2nd centuries AD. In each period, coins were placed in the grave regardless of the date of burial, the type of burial structure, age and gender of the deceased. 4. The location of the coins within the boundaries of the burial object is not unified. Often found, but not predominantly, their position in the hand (it does not matter, right or left). All other cases are individual. In funeral and memorial rites, it was allowed using a coin that was no longer in active circulation. Some coins, close in date of issue to the date of burial, even during the life of the deceased served him as «amulets».

Study on the techniques of wallpaper (“Biaohu”) in the Palace Museum: Case on Lodge of Bamboo Fragrance(Zhu Xiangguan)

"Biao Hu" was one of the eight famous traditional crafts in the late Qing dynasty.Its function was decorating the interior of ancient buildings and making burial objects, including ceilings, walls and windows. It was popular in the buildings of northern China in the early Qing dynasty. There were white and patterned wallpaper in the Forbidden City, the latter included traditional and rare patterns in the Palace. Take the wallpaper in Lodge of Bamboo Fragrance( Zhuxiang Guan ) as an example, in this article, its structure and composition are studied by morphological observation and spectral analysis. Combined with the analysis of the patterned wallpaper in other buildings of the Forbidden City, the traditional technology is studied .

OSTEOLOGICAL REMAINS OF HORSES DETECTED IN ALTAI DURING EXCAVATIONS FROM THE PAZYRYK BARROWS AT THE KATANDA-II AND ARAGOL SITES (BASED ON MATERIALS FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES)

This article continues the publication of information about the osteological remains of the Pazyryk horses, which are stored in the funds of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). Among the available collections, materials from the burial mounds of such Altai sites as Katanda-II and Aragol were identified. The first archaeological complex in the 1920s was studied by S.I. Rudenko. It is located in a section of a valley near the confluence of the Katanda River with the Katun River. There, nearby in 1865 V. V. Radlov conducted his work. In 1925, two ancient burial mounds with the burials of ordinary nomads, who were accompanied by ritual burials ofhorses, were excavated. The second complex was discovered and studied in 1924-1925 on the territory of Eastern Altai, not far from the well-known group of “royal” burial mounds in the Pazyryk tract. In 1929, a detachment of V.S. Adrianov during the planned work researched three burial objects of the Scythian-Saka time with the skeletons of horses in two burials. In total, in these mounds, the osteological remains of seven horses were recorded. Incomplete skeletons of these animals were found in the storage. The recorded materials formed the basis for archaeozoological determinations. Keywords: altai, archaeological excavations, Pazyryk culture, horses, osteological collection, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, archaeozoology

RANDOM FINDS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE ALTAI KRAI AND THE REPUBLIC OF ALTAI

In the course of exploration and other special work, geologists often have to study large areas, and inspect natural and anthropogenic destruction. Over the years of work on the territory of the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic, one of the authors of the article had to repeatedly research various archaeological sites and ancient products. Information about this was transferred to the Department of Archaeology, Ethnography and Museology of Altai State University and will be reflected in the prepared publication. These materials reflect the connection with ancient burial objects of different cultures, record production sites where iron was smelted, and demonstrate an important single find. The article describes the circumstances of their discovery, makes the cultural-chronological attribution of the subject complex and presents the results of the analyzes. The illustrations complement the content of the interpretations carried out. The listed finds will be transferred to the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of Altai ASU, and the indicated locations require additional research and possible excavations. Keywords: Altai Territory, republic of Altai, accidental find, knife, burial, ceramic vessel, Bystryanskaya culture, Pazyryk culture, x-ray fluorescence analysis, melting furnace

The Neolithic Burial of a Child from the Krasnoyarsk Region

The article analyzes the findings on the Neolithic burial discovered at the Udachny-14 burial site in the city of Krasnoyarsk. The skeleton of a child of 9–10 years old was located head to the south-west parallel to the river (upstream). Over the grave there is a hearth in which the red deer calcaneal bone is found. Between the skull and the pelvis bones, two beaver incisors lying parallel to each other, could relate to clothing or to decoration. A piece of ochre was found near the left instep bones. Almost all the bones of the legs of the buried individual were in anatomical order and were elongated along the long burial axis. The corpus bones, shoulder girdle and head were greatly displaced. Such order of the bones suggests that the grave was disturbed a short time after the funeral. Odontologic examination of the remains shows a combination in the dentition structure of the “eastern” and “western” signs with a predominance of the first ones. The greatest odontologic similarity of the buried individual is related to a few Neolithic series from the Northern Angara region, which partially correlates with the archaeological data. Based on the 14C date and the stratigraphic position, the burial is dated to the late Neolithic (the end of the 4th millennium BC). Among the few sites in the region, it finds analogies in the necropolises of “Bor” urotshistshe at the mouth of the Bazaikha river, near the summer children’s camps of the GorONO and in the Gremyachiy Ruchei burial ground. They are characterized by the soil burials, the grave pits located mainly along the river, postmortal manipulations with the dead body, over- or near grave fire, use of jewellery made of teeth and animal bones as accompanying burial objects

A study on the Neolithic turquoises in China

The turquoise objects of the Neolithic Age in China are mainly unearthed in the seven regions: the Central Plains, the Haidai cultural zone, the Gansu-Qinghai-Ningxia region, the Northern Frontier Zone, the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the lower reach of the Yangtze River and the South China. Their main functions are ornaments and burial objects, and their distribution was expanding constantly from the early to the late Neolithic Age: in the early period, they were only seen in the Central Plains and the Northern Frontier Zone; down to the late period, they were found in all of the seven regions. The forms and types of the turquoise objects were changing from simple to complex and from single object to parts and adornments inlayed or attached to other objects. At the beginning, the manufacturing techniques were relatively simple, but the engraving skill appeared. The turquoise objects were mainly unearthed from burials; when they just emerged, they were not the symbols of the statuses, positions and the wealth as well as genders and ages of the tomb occupants. However, during the Longshan Age, in some regions the turquoise was attached to some exquisite utensils or implements which might be used as ritual instruments, and began to become symbols of statuses and ranks, which was the most obvious in the Haidai area. As for the resources of the turquoise, it is still to be explored that they were imported from the peripheral area of present-day China or obtained locally.

Han Mural Tombs: Reflection of Correlative Cosmology through Mural Paintings

The main research materials of this study were tombs with murals from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.). The article deals with the issue of the reflection of ancient Chinesecosmologic concepts in the iconographic design of Han mural paintings. A thorough analysis of the iconographic design of murals shows that they possessed not only a decorative function, but together with the architectural structure and other burial objects reflected the entire cosmic image. The analysis of tomb paintings reveals a developed correlative cosmology yin-yang wuxing which manifests its concrete image in symbolic codes of individual iconographic motifs. The article first displays a general review of tombs with murals, and then focuses on depictions in Han tomb murals, discussing representation of the images of celestial bodies, the symbolic polarity of the cosmical forces yin and yang, the symbolism of the four directions and the four seasons and the symbolic circling of the five xings.