Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
Dogs in Funerary Practices of Bronze Age Populations of the Ural-Kazakhstan Steppes: The Case of Sintashta
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.1.034-043
Abstract
This article presents the results of a study of grave goods and the composition of sacrificial animals in burials of the Sintashta culture in the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes. Two burial samples (one including dogs and the other without dogs) were examined in order to test the hypothesis that individuals interred with dogs held a high social status. Particular attention is paid to the results of a correspondence analysis conducted to compare the funerary assemblages from 46 burials. Three groups of burials were identified. The first group comprises pits in which taluses constitute the most numerous finds. The second group includes burials characterized predominantly by ceramic vessels. The third group consists of graves containing multi-component assemblages. It has been demonstrated that in each group, so-called prestige items occur exclusively in burials with dogs. These items include bronze spearheads, bone spatulas, stone mace-heads, a bronze adze-axe (chekan), bone and bronze harpoons, as well as grinders and pestles. Additional indicators of high social status in burials with dogs include their location in the central part of a kurgan and the presence of pits associated with various elements of wheeled vehicles. Taken together, these features constitute recurring patterns of status-related characteristics, one of which is the inclusion of a dog in the burial rite. It is concluded that within the funerary practices of the Sintashta culture, the dog sacrifice was associated with a socially distinct group, provisionally defined as elite. We propose that this group includes herders and individuals connected with metal production. For representatives of these two economic spheres, the symbolic status of the dog held particular significance. The evidence suggests that the image of the dog was embedded in funerary practices and functioned as a symbol of protection over resources and people.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The authors express deep gratitude to colleagues: V.V. Tkachev (Institute of Steppe, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Historical Steppe Studies) for assistance with archival materials relating to the Tanabergen II and Zhaman-Karagala I burial complexes; Nikolaus Boroffka (German Archaeological Institute, Eurasian Division) for assistance in selecting relevant publications; Kenneth Richards (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband) for support with the translation; and Fabian Frikke (Independent Researcher) for assistance with statistical data processing. This study was supported by program-targeted funding from the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2024– 2026, Project BRBR24992951 “Archaeological Heritage of Saryarka (from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages)”.
About the Authors
P. A. FrikkeGermany
Independent Researcher.
E. R. Usmanova
Buketov Karaganda National Research University; Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Researcher, Buketov Karaganda National Research University; Researcher, Margulan Institute of Archaeology.
Universitetskaya 28, Karaganda, 100024; pr. Dostyk 44, Almaty, 050000
P. A. Kosintsev
Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Senior Researcher, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; Researcher, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
8 Marta 202, Yekaterinburg, 620144; Al-Farabi Ave. 71, Almaty, 050040, Republic of Kazakhstan
References
1. Akymbek E.S., Shagirbaev M.S. 2022 Obryad pogrebeniya sobaki u drevnego i srednevekovogo naseleniya Kazakhstana (po materialam srednevekovogo gorodishcha Koskudyk). Turkic Studies Journal, vol. 4 (3): 17–43.
2. Bazaliiski V.I., Losey R.J., Pezhemsky D.V., Garvie-Lok S., Germonpre M., Leonard J.A. 2013 Kompleks epokhi mezolita s pogrebeniyem volka v Pribaikalye. Rossiyskaya arkheologiya, No. 3: 92–104.
3. Bergström A., Stanton D., Taron U.H., Frantz L., Sinding M.H., Ersmark E., Pfrengle S., Cassatt-Johnstone M., Lebrasseur O., Girdland-Flink L., Fernandes D.M., Ollivier M., Speidel L., Gopalakrishnan S., Westbury M.V., Ramos-Madriga J., Feuerborn T.R., Reiter E., Gretzinger J., Munzel S.C., Swali P., Conard N.J., Caroe C., Haile J., Linderholm A., Androsov S., Barnes I., Baumann C., Benecke N., Bocherens H., Brace S., Carden R.F., Drucker D.G., Fedorov S., Gasparik M., Germonpre M., Grigoriev S., Groves P., Hertwig S.T., Ivanova V.V., Janssens L., Jennings R.P., Kasparov A.K., Kirillova I.V., Kurmaniyazov I., Kuzmin Y.V., Kosintsev P.A., Lazničkova-Galetova M., Leduc C., Nikolskiy P., Nussbaumer M., O’Drisceoil C., Orlando L., Outram A., Pavlova E.Y., Perri A.R., Pilot M., Pitulko V.V., Plotnikov V.V., Protopopov A.V., Rehazek A., Sablin M., Seguin-Orlando A., Stora J., Verjux C., Zaibert V.F., Zazula G., Crombe P., Hansen A.J., Willerslev E., Leonard J.A., Gotherstrom A., Pinhasi R., Schuenemann V.J., Hofreiter M., Gilbert M.T., Shapiro B., Larson G., Krause J., Dalen L., Skoglund P. 2022 Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs. Nature, vol. 607: 313–320.
4. Berseneva N.A. 2013 O podkhodakh k izucheniyu militarizatsii sintashtinskogo obshchestva. KSIA, iss. 231: 36–43.
5. Brea M.B., Mazzieri P., Micheli R. 2010 People, dogs and wild game: Evidence of human-animal relations from Middle Neolithic burials and personal ornaments in northern Italy. Documenta Praehistorica, vol. 37: 125–145
6. Epimakhov A.B. 2005 Ranniye kompleksniye obshchestva severa Tsentralnoy Yevrazii (po materialam mogilnika Kamenniy Ambar-5), bk. 1. Chelyabinsk: Chelyab. dom pechati.
7. Evin A., Ameen C., Brassard C., Dennis S., Antipina E.E., Bonhomme V., Boudadi-Maligne M., Britton K., Gil Cano F., Carden R.F., Claude J., Colominas L., Curth S., Fedorov S.E., Frances J., Kalthoff D.C., Kitchener A.C., Knecht R., Kosintsev P., Linderholm A., Losey R., Merts I., Merts V., Mostadius M., Omura M., Onar V., Outram A.K., Peters J., Rehazek A., Rosengren E., Sablin M., Sciulli P., Seguí M., Tseng Z.J., Usmanova E., Varfolomeev V., Crockford S., Kuzmin Y., Frantz L., Dobney K., Larson G. 2025 The emergence and diversification of dog morphology. Science, vol. 390 (6774): 741–744.
8. Gening V.F., Zdanovich G.B., Gening V.V. 1992 Sintashta. Chelyabinsk: Yuzh.-Ural. kn. izd.
9. Hermes T.R., Frachetti M.D., Doumani Dupuy P.N., Mar’yashev A., Nebel A., Makarewicz C.A. 2019 Early integration of pastoralism and millet cultivation in Bronze Age Eurasia. Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. 286: 1–9.
10. Kalieva S.S., Logvin V.N. 2008 Mogilnik u poseleniya Bestamak (predvaritelnoye soobshcheniye). Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii, iss. 9: 32–58.
11. Kupriyanova E.V. 2016 Pogrebalniye pamyatniki epokhi bronzy Yuzhnogo Zauralya: Mogilnik Stepnoye-1 (raskopki 2008, 2010–2011, 2014). Chelyabinsk: Entsiklopediya.
12. Kuznetsov N.A. 1998 Pogrebeniya sobak na Srednem Yeniseye kak arkheologicheskiy istochnik: Cand. Sc. (History) Dissertation. Novosibirsk: Novosib. Gos. Univ.
13. Logvin A.V., Shevnina I.V. 2008 Elitnoye pogrebeniye sintashtinsko-petrovskogo vremeni mogilnika Bestamak. In VII Istoricheskiye chteniya pamyati Mikhaila Petrovicha Gryaznova. Omsk: Izd. Om. Gos. Univ., pp. 190–197.
14. Logvin A.V, Shevnina I.V. 2017 Bestamak, mogilnik. In Sakralnaya geografiya Kazakhstana. Reyestr obyektov prirody, arkheologii, etnografii i kultovoy arkhitektury, No. 1: 502–505.
15. Logvin A.V., Shevnina I.V, Kolbina A.V. 2017 Kurgan Khalvai 5 – kompleks sintashtinskoy kultury Severnogo Kazakhstana. Samarskiy nauchniy vestnik, No. 4: 131–138.
16. Lukina N.V. 1983 Formy pochitaniya sobak u narodov Severnoy Azii. In Arealniye issledovaniya v yazykoznanii i etnografii (yazyk i etnos), N.I. Tolstoi (ed.). Leningrad: Nauka, pp. 226–240.
17. Novikov A.V. 2001 Dogs in the worldview and ritual practice of prehistoric population of the forest-steppe and southern taiga zones of Western Siberia. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 1: 72–84. (In Russian and English).
18. Rassadnikov A.Y., Kupriyanova E.V. 2023 Zhertvoprinosheniya zhivotnykh sintashtinskoy kultury bronzovogo veka Yuzhnogo Urala: Arkheozoologicheskiye issledovaniya kurgana 33 mogilnika Stepnoye-1. Arkheologiya Kazakhstana, No. 4 (22): 243–264.
19. Scott A., Reinhold S., Hermes T., Kalmykov A., Belinskiy A., Buzhilova A., Berezina N., Kantorovich A.R., Maslov V.E., Guliyev F., Lyonnet B., Gasimov P., Jalilov B., Eminli J., Iskandarov E., Hammer E., Nugent S.E., Hagan R., Majander K., Onkamo P., Nordqvist K., Shishlina N., Kaverzneva E., Korolev A.I., Khokhlov A.A., Smolyaninov R.V., Sharapova S.V., Krause R., Karapetian M., Stolarczyk E., Krause J., Hansen S., Haak W., Warinner C. 2022 Emergence and intensification of dairying in the Caucasus and Eurasian steppes. Nature Ecology and Evolution, No. 6: 813–822.
20. Shevnina I.V., Logvin A.V. 2015 Mogilnik epokhi bronzy Khalvai III v Severnom Kazakhstane. Astana: E.K. Margulan atyn.
21. Tkachev V.V. 2007 Stepi Yuzhnogo Priuralya i Zapadnogo Kazakhstana na rubezhe epokh sredney i pozdney bronzy. Aktobe: Aktyub. obl. tsentr istorii, etnografii i arkheologii.
22. Tkachev V.V. 2020 Vozmozhnosti landshaftnoy arkheologii v izuchenii lokalnoy mobilnosti stepnykh skotovodcheskikh kultur epokhi paleometalla. Uralskiy istoricheskiy vestnik: Mobilnost v bronzovom veke, No. 4: 32–41.
23. Usmanova E.R. 2005 Mogilnik Lisakovskiy I: Fakty i paralleli. Karaganda: Karagand. Gos. Univ. im. E.A. Buketova, Lisakovsk: Lisak. muzey istorii i kultury Verkh. Pritobolya.
24. Ventresca Miller A.V., Usmanova E., Logvin V., Kalieva S., Shevnina I., Logvin A., Kolbina A., Suslov A., Privat K., Haas K., Rosenmeier M. 2014 Subsistence and social change in Central Eurasia: Stable isotope analysis of population spanning the Bronze Age transition. Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 42: 525–538.
25. Vinogradov N.B. 2003 Mogilnik bronzovogo veka Krivoye Ozero v Yuzhnom Zauralye. Chelyabinsk: Yuzh.-Ural. kn. izd.
26. Zdanovich D.G. 2002 Arkaim: Nekropol (po materialam kurgana 25 Bolshekaraganskogo mogilnika), bk. 1. Chelyabinsk: Yuzh.-Ural. kn. izd.
27. Zdanovich G.B., Malyutina T.S., Zdanovich D.G. 2020 Arkaim. Arkheologiya ukreplennykh poseleniy: Zhilishcha i zhiloye prostranstvo, bk. 1. Chelyabinsk: Izd. Chelyab. Gos. Univ.
28. Zdanovich G.B., Malyutina T.S., Zdanovich D.G. 2022 Arkaim. Arkheologiya ukreplennykh poseleniy: Fortifikatsii i obshchestvennoye prostranstvo, bk. 2. Chelyabinsk: Izd. Chelyab. Gos. Univ.
29. Zhelvis V.I. 1984 Chelovek i sobaka (vospriyatiye sobaki v raznykh etnokulturnykh traditsiyakh). Sovetskaya etnografiya, No. 3: 135–143.
Review
For citations:
Frikke P.A., Usmanova E.R., Kosintsev P.A. Dogs in Funerary Practices of Bronze Age Populations of the Ural-Kazakhstan Steppes: The Case of Sintashta. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2026;54(1):34-43. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.1.034-043
Views:
407
JATS XML
Email this article 