On the reliability of radiocarbon dating of burial sites of the Tagar culture

Abstract

The results of radiocarbon dating of the Scythian period Tagar culture burial grounds excavated in the Minusinsk basin in several cases do not match to archaeological chronology and change conventional ideas on the succession of certain periods of its evolution. The verification of the reliability of the results of radiocarbon dating made on base of stratigraphic data, the sequence of changes in burial complexes (structures, rituals, implements), archaeological dating of some artifacts which takes into account the results of chemical analysis of bronze, earthenware and glass items demonstrated that the dates lying beyond the so-called the Hallstatt plateau (800-400 BC) are most consistent with archaeological concepts. Within this period radiocarbon dates either lay a wide range, which does not allow determining the specific time of the construction of the site, or, if a narrow time span for the complex existence is supposed, they turn out to be erroneous, as it is in case with the early Saragash mounds. Another problem point is disagreement between the results of radiocarbon dating and archaeological data which reveal the existence of clear parallels between archaeological characteristics of the Bidzhin-type mounds of the Tagar culture identified in the MinusinskBasin with those of the burial complexes of the Aldy-Bel culture of Tuva. Obviously radiocarbon dates obtained for the elite complex of Arzhan-2 fully disagree with these observations leaving cultural parallels unexplainable.