Bronze seal from the Duryony settlement and the elite Xiongnu complex of the Tsaram burial ground

Abstract

The changes triggered by the emergence of the Xiongnu state, which occupied a dominant position in Central Asia at the end of the 1st millennium BC, radically influenced the fate of the nomadic and settled agricultural world. By this time, the process of transformation of traditional institutions of Xiongnu society had been basically completed and a rather complex management system with an extensive hierarchical structure had been formed. The seals were one of the symbols of the new system. Being a confirmation of social status seals were in circulation by the Xiongnu society up to its complete degradation. More than forty years ago, a bronze seal of the Xiongnu was found during the archaeological excavations of the Duryony settlement in Trans-Baikal region. This find still remains unique. In the publications focused on it, the main attention was paid to the style and composition of the carved image, as well as issues related to the appearance of seals among the Xiongnu and the role assigned to them in public life. In this study, the seal from the Duryony settlement is considered in the context of the results of large-scale archaeological studies of the complexes of the Xiongnu elite, carried out in Mongolia and Trans-Baikal area in the early 2000s. The observations made allow us to argue that the seal could belong to one of the representatives of the clan nobility buried in the Tsaramskaya valley, who ruled remote territories on the northern borders of the Xiongnu state, or someone from their entourage.