OLD TURKIC STONE ENCLOSURES AT KYZYL-SHIN, SOUTHEASTERN ALTAI
Abstract
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.
About the Author
G. V. Kubarev
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
References
1. Elin V.N., Zinyakov N.M. 1977 Razvedochniye raboty v Gornom Altaye. In AO 1976 goda. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 202–203.
2. Evtyukhova L.A., Kiselev S.V. 1941 Otchet o rabote Sayano-Altaiskoy arkheologicheskoy ekspeditsii v 1935 g. Trudy GIM, iss. XVI: 75–117.
3. Gavrilova A.A. 1965 Mogilnik Kudyrge kak istochnik po istorii altaiskikh plemen. Moscow, Leningrad: Nauka.
4. Kiselev S.V. 1951 Drevnyaya istoriya Yuzhnoy Sibiri. Moscow: Izd. AN SSSR.
5. Kubarev G.V. 2005 Kultura drevnikh tyurok Altaya (po materialam pogrebalnykh pamyatnikov). Novosibirsk: Izd. IAE SO RAN.
6. Kubarev G.V. 2007 Noviye danniye o drevnetyurkskikh ogradkakh Altaya. In Srednevekovaya arkheologiya yevraziyskikh stepey: Materialy Uchredit. syezda Mezhdunar. kongr., vol. I. Kazan: Inst. istorii AN RT, pp. 50–59.
7. Kubarev G.V. 2012 Drevnetyurkskaya ogradka No. 5 v mestnosti KyzylShin (Yugo-Vostochniy Altay). Vestnik Novosibirskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser.: Istoriya, filologiya, vol. 11 (7): Arkheologiya i etnografi ya: 143–152.
8. Kubarev V.D. 1979 Noviye svedeniya o drevnetyurkskikh ogradkakh Vostochnogo Altaya. In Novoye v arkheologii Sibiri i Dalnego Vostoka. Novosibirsk: Nauka, pp. 135–160.
9. Kubarev V.D. 1984 Drevnetyurkskiye izvayaniya Altaya. Novosibirsk: Nauka.
10. Kyzlasov L.R. 1979 Drevnyaya Tuva (ot paleolita do IX v.). Moscow: Izd. Mosk. Gos. Univ.
11. Molodin V.I., Borodovsky A.P. 1994 Kamenniye ruchniye zhernova v drevney pogrebalnoy obryadnosti Zapadnoy Sibiri. Altaica, No. 4: 72–79.
12. Nagler A. 2000 Grindstones in Eurasian steppe burials. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 2 (2): 107–111.
13. Soenov V.I., Trifanova S.V., Konstantinov N.A., Shtanakova E.A. 2009 Raskopki srednevekovykh obyektov na mogilnike Bike III. In Drevnosti Sibiri i Tsentralnoy Azii, No. 1/2. Gorno-Altaysk: pp. 74–95.
14. Unbekanntes Kasachstan: Archäologie im Herzen Asiens: Katalog der Ausstellung des Deutschen Bergbau-Museums Bochum vom 26. Januar bis zum 30. Juni 2013. 2013 Bd. II. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum.
15. Voytov V.E. 1996 Drevnetyurkskiy panteon i model mirozdaniya v kultovopominalnykh pamyatnikakh Mongolii VI–VIII vv. Moscow: Gos. muzei Vostoka.
16. Weinstein S.I., Dyakonova V.P. 1966 Pamyatniki v mogilnike Kokel kontsa I tysyacheletiya do nashey ery–pervykh vekov nashey ery. In Trudy Tuvinskoy kompleksnoy arkheologo-etnograficheskoy ekspeditsii. Vol. II: Materialy po etnografi i i arkheologii rayonov basseina r. Khemchika i Yuzhnykh otrogov Tannu-Ola. Moscow, Leningrad: Nauka, pp. 185–291.
For citation:
Kubarev G.V. OLD TURKIC STONE ENCLOSURES AT KYZYL-SHIN, SOUTHEASTERN ALTAI. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2018;46(2):79-89. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.079-089
Views: 202
Email this article 