A Bronze Age Shaft-Hole Axe from the Northwestern Baraba Forest-Steppe

Abstract

This study introduces a crested shaft-hole axe found on the southern shore of Lake Maidan, Vengerovsky District, Novosibirsk Region. Such random finds are regarded as markers of Bronze Age landscape zones and transportation routes in southwestern Siberia. Shaft-hole axes with slight crests occurred on this territory from the mid to late 2nd millennium BC. In addition to such axes, several casting molds made of clay, stone or metal have been found, possibly suggesting that axes were not only imported but also manufactured locally. These random finds of shaft hole axes can be considered markers of the complex, mirroring not only Middle and Late Bronze Age distribution areas, but also a considerable northward shift of landscape borders during an episode of climatic change, as well as indicating key routes for the migration of people associated with various traditions and objects. The mapping of various subtypes of shaft-hole axes from the Baraba forest-steppe revealed one such route, leading northward from southwestern Siberia to the Vasyugan Swamp. Apart from the series of axes from Baraba, certain cemeteries, such as Stary Tartas-4, yielded miniature replicas used as personal adornments. This feature links the north of the western part of the axes’ distribution area (the forest-steppe zone of the Ob-Irtysh watershed) with its eastern part – the Minusinsk Basin.