On the relative and absolute chronology of early burials at the Firsovo-XI burial ground (Barnaul Ob River region)

Abstract

The present work addresses the issues of the absolute and relative chronology of early burials at the Firsovo-XI burial ground on the right bank of the Upper Ob River. Description of four burials of the site and results of their AMS 14C dating are reported, alongside with the cultural and chronological analogies among the contem-poraneous monuments of Altai. Eight burial places were discovered at Firsovo-XI, including five single graves, two double graves and one collective burial. The burials were arranged in two rows in the direction from northwest to southeast. The deceased were oriented with their heads to the north and northeast. The research concluded that the burials which form the cultural “core” of the Firsovo-XI burial place (burial grounds nos. 14, 15 and 42) belong to the Early Neolithic period, and their radiocarbon age is determined by the middle of the 5th millennium BC, while their calendar age fits into a very narrow interval of several decades or several centuries (a one-sigma interval of 5710–5460 cal BC and a two-sigma interval of 5740–5360 cal BC). The Neolithic burials of Firsovo-XI constitute a single chronological group with burials nos.1 and 13 of the Bolshoi Mys burial ground. It stands to reason that this group may grow in size over time, as the work on AMS 14C dating of early necropolises and single burials of the Upper Ob region expands. At this stage of research, the problem of identifying cultural and chrono-logical markers for the selected group of burials remains urgent. Within the framework of this study, it has been suggested that the ornaments made from the teeth of a bear and a horse (?), or an onager (?), take the role of such markers. It cannot be ruled out that with the appearance of new data such markers may include the orna-ments made from wolf teeth and double-sided polished knives with a concave blade. As a working hypothesis, it has been suggested that the date obtained for the cemetery no. 18 of Firsovo-XI (GV-02889 9106±80 BP) was not accidental and that this burial actually belongs to the final Mesolithic or early Neolithic period. The chronologi-cal and ritual specifics of this burial are also emphasized by the craniological specificity of the buried male, and by the large total size of the skull, which distinguishes him from the rest of those buried at the burial ground.