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Shell of Tritia nitida Sea Snail from a Neolithic Burial at the Ust-Aleyka-5 Flat Burial Ground, Barnaul Stretch of the Ob
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.1.044-052
Abstract
We present the findings of a multidisciplinary study of burial 2 at Ust-Aleyka-5 on the Upper Ob. In 1982, an upright burial of a child with abundant funerary offerings (lithic artifacts, ornaments made of bones and teeth of mammals, shells of Unio bivalves) was unearthed. We focus on a find unique in the region—the shell of a sea snail Tritia nitida, a gastropod, which, at present, lives in the Mediterranean, Black, and Azov seas. The Raman spectroscopy analysis of a mineral pigment detected on the shell allowed us to identify it as red ocher. Similar traces were found on dropshaped pendants made of bone, antler or deer teeth, and on fossil shells of Unio aff. tumidus. On the basis of AMS analysis, burial 2 dates to the mid- or late 4th millennium BC. The T. nitida shell indicates ties (likely indirect ones) of the Barnaul stretch of the Ob to the Black Sea region.
Keywords
Neolithic,
child burial,
marine mollusk,
Tritia nitida shell,
Barnaul stretch of the Ob,
Raman spectroscopy
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 24-28-01030 “Neolithic-Chalcolithic Burial Complexes of the Barnaul Stretch of the Ob in the Circle of Contemporaneous Sites of Southern Siberia and Adjacent Territories”. The studies using the Raman spectroscopy method were carried out in the Laboratory of Digital Archaeology at the IAET SB RAS, Project No. FWZG-2025-0007 “Use of Digital Technologies in Analyzing Archaeological Sources and Reconstructing the History of Ancient Communities”; microscopic analysis of the pigment was carried out under IAET SB RAS R&D Project No. FWZG-2022-0003 “Northern Asia in the Stone Age: Cultural Dynamics and Environmental Context”.
About the Authors
V. B. Borodaev
Altai State Pedagogical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Borodaev V.B., Leading Specialist
Molodezhnaya 55, Barnaul, 656031
K. Y. Kiryushin
Altai State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kiryushin K.Y., Associate Professor
Pr. Lenina 61, Barnaul, 656049
D. V. Kuzmenkin
Tigirek State Natural Reserve
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kuzmenkin D.V., Senior Researcher
Nikitina 111, Barnaul, 656043
I. V. Tolpeko
Dostoevsky Omsk State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tolpeko I.V., Associate Professor
Pr. Mira 55a, Omsk, 644077
R. V. Davydov
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Davydov R.V., Junior Researcher
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
A. Y. Fedorchenko
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Fedorchenko A.Y., Researcher
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
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Review
For citations:
Borodaev V.B., Kiryushin K.Y., Kuzmenkin D.V., Tolpeko I.V., Davydov R.V., Fedorchenko A.Y. Shell of Tritia nitida Sea Snail from a Neolithic Burial at the Ust-Aleyka-5 Flat Burial Ground, Barnaul Stretch of the Ob. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2025;53(1):44-52. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.1.044-052
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