About some discussion issues on steppe typology and florocenotypes related to them in vegetation of South Siberia

The phytogeographic ecotonicity of Southern Siberia (SS) is reflected in the features of its flora and vegetation, in particular the steppes. The recognition of only a floristic criterion in the typology of vegetation impoverishestheir real cenotic diversity. It is necessary to accept the florocenogenetic concept with fractional landscape-biomorphological types – florocoenotypes in the spirit of P. N. Ovchinnikov. By the genesis, the most ancient are the zonal sod grass(feather grass) steppes. However, the initial should be considered the Achnatherums and, in general, the communities ofshort-awned great-feather grass (Tsvelev, 1977), which formed steppe groups in the Tertiary savannoid complexes. Theformation of mountain cereal steppes – with fescue, oat, bluegrass, etc. took place synchronously with cryoxerophytization, starting from the Oligocene. The originality of the SS steppes is given by some rare steppe communities, which arecoenogenetically close to the tragacanth, friganoid, shiblyak and ephemeral steppes of mountainous Central Asia. Theseare distinctive relict steppes in the belt of the Altai, Sayan and Transbaikal mountains, which include communities of viviparous grassland steppes in the foothills of Western Altai, tragacanth-oxytropis steppes of southeastern Altai, and communities of the Tuvan and Daurian shiblyak, as well as groups of Altai friganoids with Ziziphora clinopodioides, Thymusaltaicus and Allium pallasii.

THE RECTANGULAR IRON-SMELTING FURNACES OF GORNY ALTAI: THE PROBLEM OF ORIGIN AND CHRONOLOGY

The article raises the questions related to the appearance of unique rectangular box-shape furnaces in the Altai mountains. These furnaces were the largest iron-smelting construction in Siberia and Central Asia. Archaeological field work carried out in 2018-2020 coupled with the series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to establish that furnaces of this type appeared in the Southeastern Altai not in the era of the Turkic Khaganates, as it was previously thought, but in a previous time within the 3rd-5th centuries AD. The article discusses the design and productivity of the box-shape furnaces. It is hypothesized that the similar in shape Xiongnu pottery kilns type could have been a prototype of large rectangular structures of the box-shape linear furnaces. Radiocarbon analyzes have proven the synchronicity of the Xiongnu pottery kilns and the rectangular furnaces. The sudden disappearance of the box-shape furnaces in the Altai Mountains in the 7th-8th centuries AD and the same sudden appearance of the similar furnaces in Japan in the same period is explained by the possible migration of smelters in the era of the Second East Turkic Khaganate. Keywords: archaeometallurgy, iron-smelting furnaces, Gorny Altai, Xiongnu-Xianbei time

OLD TURKIC STONE ENCLOSURES AT KYZYL-SHIN, SOUTHEASTERN ALTAI

This study outlines the results of excavations of fi ve Old Turkic stone enclosures (No. 1, 6, 9, 12, and 18) at a funerary and memorial complex Kyzyl-Shin, in the Kosh-Agachsky District of the Altai Republic. Due to soil conditions and to the presence of air in some offering chambers, unique artifacts were discovered––a wooden box, wooden dishes, armor plates, etc. These fi nds extend our knowledge of Old Turkic offerings and the Turkic ritualism in general. They enable us to reconstruct the stages in the construction of enclosures and of their separate elements. The presence of nonfunctional (votive) artifacts highlights a key feature of the Old Turkic funerary ritualism, supporting the idea that enclosures were ritual models of dwellings––abodes of the deceased persons’ spirits/ souls. Well-preserved larch trunks, dug into the ground in their centers, offered a possibility to cross-check the results of radiocarbon and dendrochronological analyses, suggesting that the enclosures date to late 6th and 7th century AD. Although the Kyzyl-Shin enclosures belong to the Yakonur type, they are contemporaneous with adjacent enclosures of the Kudyrge type, suggesting that the typology of archaeological structures does not always mirror their chronological and evolutionary relationship. Differences in the construction and arrangement of enclosures could be determined by other factors such as family or social structure.

NEW DATA ON IRON-SMELTING SITES IN THE KUEKTANAR AND TURGUN VALLEYS, SOUTHEASTERN ALTAI

This paper presents the fi ndings relating to iron-smelting furnaces in the Kuektanar and Turgun valleys, which were part of the Chuya–Kurai metallurgical province in the Russian Altai, and are undergoing rapid erosion. On the Chuya, downstream of the Kuektanar mouth, hitherto unknown and completely eroded remains of furnaces were discovered. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal fragments from bloomeries at Kuektanar-1 and 2 and Turgun-1, using scintillation and AMS techniques, suggests the use of trees that grew in 5th–10th centuries AD as a fuel for metallurgical production. Dates of charcoal relating to the same iron-smelting event differ by over 300 years, probably because various parts of adult larches (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) were used. Samples of uncharred bark in bloomery 2 at Kuektanar-1 suggest that the last smelting occurred in AD 655–765. The totality of radiocarbon dates makes it possible to conclude that the bloomeries functioned during the Old Turkic period. The proximity of iron ore sources and the abundance of forest vegetation account for the wide use of iron-smelting by the nomads in the region. The erosion of the river bank where the furnaces are located allowed us to assess the erosion rate since their construction—ca 0.5 cm per year.