New Evidence on the Early Saka Horse Harness from Eastern Kazakhstan
Abstract
Owing to its geographic position Eastern Kazakhstan has long been a cultural crossroads region. During the Scytho-Siberian Age, it was a place where cultures of southern Siberia, Sayan-Altai, Northern and Central Kazakhstan, Zhetysu, etc., interacted, as evidenced by the “Scythian triad”—weapons, horse harness, and animal style. Here we address one of its key elements, horse harness, specifi cally new fi nds from Gerasimovka in the Ulan District of Eastern Kazakhstan. They are relevant to certain aspects of the early nomadic material culture in the eastern fringes of the Saka-Siberian world. These items show signifi cant variation, sometimes within one and the same cemetery. Parallels to the Gerasimovka fi nd suggest that it is contemporaneous with the Arzhan stage of the early Scythian culture, and that during that time Eastern Kazakhstan played a major role in migratory processes. Recent fi ndings relating to early Scytho-Siberian cultures indicate the critical importance of chronology and cultural ties for reconstructing ethno-cultural processes in Early Iron Age Eurasia.
About the Authors
B. B. Besetayev
Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
E. M. Kariyev
A.K. Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Astana Division Pr. Respubliki 24, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
References
1. Adrianov A.V. 1916 K arkheologii Zapadnogo Altaya (iz poezdki v Semipalatinskuyu oblast v 1911 g. Petrograd: [s.l.]. (Izvestiya Arkheologicheskoi komissii; iss. 62).
2. Alekhin Y.P., Shulga P.I. 2003 Kurgan Kondratyevka XXI – novyi pamyatnik ranneskifskogo vremeni na Rudnom Altae. Drevnosti Altaya, iss. 10: 62–70.
3. Arslanova F.K. 1972 Novye materialy VII–VI vv. do n.e. iz Vostochnogo Kazakhstana. Sovetskaya arkheologiya, No. 1: 253–258.
4. Arslanova F.K. 1974 Pogrebalnyi kompleks VIII–VII vekov do nashei ery iz Vostochnogo Kazakhstana. In V glub vekov: Arkheologicheskiy sbornik. Alma-Ata: Nauka KazSSR, pp. 46–60.
5. Bokovenko N.A. 1979 Ranniye formy skifo-sibirskoi uzdy. In Problemy skifosibirskogo kulturno-istoricheskogo edinstva. Kemerovo: Kemerov. Gos. Univ., pp. 67–70.
6. Chlenova N.L. 1967 Proiskhozhdeniye i rannyaya istoriya plemen tagarskoi kultury. Moscow: Nauka.
7. Chugunov K.V. 2005 Uzdechnye komplekty aldy-belskoi kultury v kontekste razvitiya konskogo snaryazheniya. In Snaryazheniye kochevnikov Evrazii. Barnaul: Izd. Altai. Gos. Univ., pp. 103–109.
8. Čugunov K.V., Parzinger H., Nagler A. 2010 Der skythenzeitliche Fürstenkurgan Aržan 2 in Tuva. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. (Archäologie in Eurasien; No. 26). (Steppenvölker Eurasiens; No. 3).
9. Ermolayeva A.S. 2012 Pamyatniki predgornoi zony Kazakhskogo Altaya (epokha bronzy – ranneye zhelezo). Almaty: Izd. IA KN MON RK.
10. Evraziya v skifskuyu epokhu: Radiouglerodnaya i arkheologicheskaya khronologiya. 2005 A.Y. Alekseyev, N.A. Bokovenko, S.S. Vasiliev, V.A. Dergachev, G.I. Zaitseva, N.N. Kovalyukh, G. Kuk, J. van der Plicht, G. Possnert, A.A. Sementsov, E.M. Scott, K.V. Chugunov. St. Petersburg: Teza.
11. Gorbunova N.G. 2001 Konskaya upryazh rannikh sakov Tsentralnoi Azii (Srednyaya Aziya i Kazakhstan, krome Zapadnogo). In Drevniye tsivilizatsii Evrazii: Istoriya i kultura. Moscow: Vost. lit., pp. 179–200.
12. Gryaznov M.P. 1956 Severnyi Kazakhstan v epokhu rannikh kochevnikov. Kratkiye soobshcheniya Instituta materialnoi kultury, vol. 61: 8–16.
13. Gryaznov M.P. 1980 Arzhan: Tsarskiy kurgan ranneskifskogo vremeni. Leningrad: Nauka.
14. Kadyrbaev M.K. 1966 Pamyatniki tasmolinskoi kultury. In Drevnyaya kultura Tsentralnogo Kazakhstana. Alma-Ata: Nauka KazSSR, pp. 303–433.
15. Kadyrbaev M.K. 1968 Nekotorye itogi i perspektivy izucheniya arkheologii rannezheleznogo veka Kazakhstana. In Novoye v arkheologii Kazakhstana. Alma-Ata: Nauka KazSSR, pp. 21–36.
16. Promezhutochnyi otchet o nauchnoissledovatelskoi rabote v Vostochnom Kazakhstane za 2009 g. 2009 Arkhiv IA KN MON RK. F. 11, Inv. 2, D. 2285.
17. Samašev Z., Ongar A. 2013 Die Nomaden der kasachischen Steppe in der Früheisenzeit. In Unbekanntes Kasachstan – Archäologie im Herzen Asiens, Bd. 2. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, pp. 555–573.
18. Shao Hueitsyu. 2005 Studying of metal horse equipments in the Northern regions of China to a dynasty Qin. In Archaeological Researches of a Border-Zone. Beijing: Kesyuechubanshe, pp. 96–114. (In Chinese).
19. Shulga P.I. 2008 Snaryazheniye verkhovoi loshadi i voinskiye poyasa na Altae. Pt. 1: Ranneskifskoe vremya. Barnaul: Azbuka.
20. Shulga P.I. 2010 Sintszyan v VIII–III vv. do n.e. (pogrebalnye kompleksy, khronologiya i periodizatsiya). Barnaul: Izd. Altai. Gos. Tekhn. Univ.
21. Svod arkheologicheskikh pamyatnikov Vostochno-Kazakhstanskoi oblasti. 2006 Ust-Kamenogorsk: Izd. Gos. fonda podderzhki kultury i iskusstva.
22. Tkachev A.A., Tishkin A.A. 1999 Kurgany ranneskifskogo vremeni na mogilnike Gerasimovka v Vostochnom Kazakhstane. In Itogi izucheniya skifskoi epokhi Altaya i sopredelnykh territorii. Barnaul: Izd. Altai. Gos. Univ., pp. 194–198.
23. Tkachev A.A., Tkacheva N.A. 1999 Itogi issledovaniya arkheologicheskikh pamyatnikov Ust-Kamenogorskogo mikroraiona (1994–1998 gg.). Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografi i, No. 2: 136–145.
24. Vishnevskaya O.A. 1973 Kultura sakskikh plemen nizovyev Syrdaryi v VII–V vv. do n.e. (po materialam Uigaraka). Moscow: Nauka. (Trudy Khorezm. arkheol.-etnogr. ekspeditsii; vol. 8).
25. Vishnevskaya O.A., Itina M.A. 1971 Ranniye saki Priaralya. In Problemy skifskoi arkheologii. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 197–208. (MIA; No. 177).
For citation:
Besetayev B.B., Kariyev E.M. New Evidence on the Early Saka Horse Harness from Eastern Kazakhstan. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2016;44(3):72-78. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2016.44.3.072-078
Views: 258
Email this article 