4th 3rd Centuries BC Research Articles

Scythian and Sarmatian Weapons in Shilovsky District Museum of Local History

During the early Iron Age, the Middle Oka Region was inhabited by Gorodets tribes. The collection of Scythian and Sarmatian weapons in Shilovsky District Museum of Local History is mainly comprised with accidental finds made by locals and materials discovered by exploration researches. Shilovsky District of Ryazan Region is situated at the border between mixed and broad-leaved forests. Back in the early Iron Age they were occupied by Gorodets tribes. The indigenous people were engaged in hunting, fishing and cattle breeding. The area is fringed with forest-steppe vegetation in the south. It provided access to steppe nomadic invaders. It is proven by finds of Scythian and Sarmatian weapon. Scythian iron arrowheads have three blades, narrow triangular proportions and a bushing longer than the fletching. Similar arrowheads are typical for Scythian antiquities found in the Middle Don River and dated 4th–3rd century BC. Iron tanged triple-bladed arrowheads have Sarmatian origins and date back to 3rd–1st century BC. Iron acinaci are severely damaged with corrosion, which prevents establishment of their typology and chronology. The original find is a combat knife with a ring pommel and a single-edged blade Single-edged bladed weapon was created under oriental influence. The early Scythian is the period an iron spearhead with a C-shaped bushing is dated. It is transition from bronze heads to iron ones. One of the rare finds is a bell-shaped copper helmet. It has signs of damage that obstruct its typological identification. Its closest equivalents are the Montefortino helmets and pilei. Having analysed the collection of artefacts it can be concluded that the Gorodets people and steppe nomads were actively interacting at war during the entire Scythian-Sarmatian epoch. The research fails to confirm that the steppe nomads were trade intermediaries between the Antique Black Sea area and the forest zone people

Раннобронзова керамична паница от колекцията на музея при Археологическия резерват „Тракийски и античен град Кабиле“

This publication is focused on the study of a single, but very interesting object – a ceramic bowl unearthed during the excavations at the “Thracian and Ancient City of Kabile” Archaeological Reserve. The characteristics of the vessel clearly distinguish it from the ceramic assemblage made by hand, and refer it to the time of the Hellenistic era of the 4th–3rdcenturies BC. The aim of the study is to clarify the chronology of the vessel, as well as to point out its parallels. The vessel presented in the study illustrates a detail of the interregional contacts between the Upper Thracе and Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age. In the last two decades, this tendency has been substantiated empirically through the recognition and inclusion in scientific circulation of imported objects or those that represent local imitations of objects of Anatolian and/or Aegean origin. Specifically for the Yambol/Kabile area, this is one of the few – and still isolated – artefacts with a marked Anatolian origin. It may fit in with observations of a two-way corridor transfer of objects, goods and populations (?) through some of the modern Aytos and Karnobat passes across the eastern divisions of the Balkan Mountains. Examples of this comprise both individual objects, and also burial structures situated along the presumed route connecting the territories located on both sides of the Balkan Mountains.

Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium (Durres) coins and hoard in the Mediterranean territories from 4th to 3rd centuries BC: A spatial distribution analysis

The study of the territorial distribution of Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium coins is a relevant topic in the context of the study of the history of Antiquity, because by studying the history of numismatics, a number of general historical conclusions can be made. The purpose of this article is to study and analyze the territorial distribution of Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium coins in the 4th-3rd centuries BC. In the course of conducting this research, a number of methods were used, in particular: analysis, synthesis, comparison, specification and generalization. As a result of the study, the history of the coinage of Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium was considered, and the characteristic features of the first coins were determined. All the finds of Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium coins were also framed and displayed on the map. It was determined that the coins of the 4th century BC were mostly spread on the coastal area of the Adriatic Sea, which is evidence of maritime trade, and also in Sicily, which is the result of military campaigns. In the 3rd century BC coins of Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium appear in the territory of modern Romania and Bulgaria, which indicates the development of overland trade routes. Many coins were also found in the territory of coastal cities, which indicates a stronger development of sea trade. This article is the first comprehensive study of the territorial distribution of Epidamnus/Dyrrahchium coins, and is useful for historians studying the economic and military aspects of Antiquity.

Comparative characteristics of ancient red pigments used to decorate Thracian sacred sites (4th–3rd centuries BC)

The mineral composition and geochemical features of red pigments from paints and plasters used in the color decoration of the Shushmanets, Dolno Lukovo, Maglizh tombs, the eschars from tumulus 21 and 31 from Sboryanovo National Reserve (Bulgaria) and the Documaci Tomb (Romania) are compared. The results show that red ochre pigment (mainly hematite) was applied in the decoration of all objects, and only in the Maglizh Tomb a red cinnabar pigment was used – separately or in a mixture with red ochre. Regardless of the territorial remoteness of the tombs Dolno Lukovo, Maglizh, Documaci and the eschars, the red ochres used in them contain As, Cu, Zn and inclusion of minerals jarosite, plumbojarosite and native gold. Such mineral and geochemical features are characteristic of the oxidation zones of Au-Pb-Zn deposits. The most likely source of the red ochre is the well-developed oxidation zone of Au-Pb-Zn deposits in the Eastern Rhodopes. A characteristic feature of the red ochre from the Shushmanets Tomb is the lack of heavy metals but the hematite of the ochre contains inclusions of magnetite. A probable source for mining of this pigment was non-economic magnetite-hematite ore deposits hosted in the in the neighborly exposed chlorite-sericite schists.

Наборы костяных пластин с орнаментом «плексис» из раннекочевнических погребений III в. до н. э. на Южном Урале

Sets of bone plates covered with braided ornaments (plexys) which were found in Bishungarovo and Zhaiyik-1 Burial Mounds in Southern Sub Urals belong to Greek-type caskets. Similar caskets were often found in Scythian burials of the Northern Black Sea region. But here the “plexys” ornaments are more widely spread than anywhere else in the early nomadic environment — in the decoration of weapons, vessels made of precious metals, on bone combs and details of spindles. In the décor of a Greek-made casket, a similar ornament was found only once — in the Chirikrabat Culture Balandi-1 in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya. Probably similar caskets came here from the state of Seleucids or Greco-Bactria in the end of the 4th—3rd century BC. Nomads of the Southern Sub Urals spent winters in the oases of the lower Syr Darya and took a few of such caskets north in the area of their summer nomadic camps where they were buried in their burials.

Склепы с уступчатыми перекрытиями некрополя у пос. Заозерное в Северо-Западном Крыму: конструктивные особенности, истоки традиции, семантика

Necropolis near the village Zaozernoye is located 1.5 km northwest of the Chaika settlement, in the vicinity of Evpatoria. Four stone crypts with stepped ceilings were discovered. The first group in two barrows — 30 and 16. The rectangular chambers were covered with blocks in the form of false vaults, with entrances and dromoi. The second group, in kurgans 25 and 11: crypts with ledge ceilings, without entrances and dromoi. Their dating is determined by the common date of the ancient part of the necropolis — the second half of the 4th—3rd centuries BC. Analogies to them are found in the Bosporus. But such crypts are also found in other regions of the Crimea. The main feature that unites them is not only the material realization, but the semantic meaning of the ledge structures. The stepped shape is a symbol of the ladder connecting the lower and the upper worlds. The problem of the origins of the tradition of arranging such crypts has been a subject of discussion for a long time. At present, its appearance in the Bosporus is associated with the Thracian tradition. The presence of such structures in the necropolis near the village. Zaozernoe seems to be the most correct to associate with the tradition of the Bosporus.

Меотские сероглиняные кружки IV–III вв. до н.э.

The article is devoted to the typology and chronology of gray clay cups from the Maeotian burial grounds on the right bank of the Kuban river. Type 1 refers to biconical cups with a high, narrow neck widening upwards (30 items). A little over half of the studied vessels come from assemblages with a wide chronological range dating back to the 4th and early 3rd centuries BC, where they are accompanied by swords of the Sindian-Maeotian type or sets of pottery characteristic of this period. The remaining burials with cups can be dated more precisely by the finds of container amphorae from different centers (Heraclea, Thasos, Ikos, Mende, Sinope, etc.). The wide chronological framework of the existence of type 1 cups among the Maeotians can be determined within the first half of the 4th century BC, but their narrow chronology is limited to the second quarter of this century. Two versions of the origin of cups of this shape are put forward: the first one is from imported red clay vessels; the second one is from hand-made cups of the 6th–5th centuries BC. Type 2 is truncated conical cups widening upwards (13 items). There are not enough strong chronological references for a narrow dating of this type of cups. Furthermore, apart from the cups, imported vessels were found in the three assemblages including amphorae of Rhodes, a black glazed plate and a fish plate. As the analysis of the assemblages shows, type 2 cups existed among the Maeotians for a rather limited period from the late 3rd century BC up until the beginning of the next century.

Siberian Animal Style: Stylistic Features as Generic Indication

This paper is devoted to the problems of differentiation of stylistic variants in the common phenomenon of the so-called Scythian and Siberian animal styles, which is one of the main distinctive features of Eurasian nomadic art. The animal style is a concept of more scale than an artistic style proper which distinguishes with some formal characteristics and depends directly on generic traditions and ethnic and cultural roots of art. Together with the technical-technological methods these formal features could be evidential indications of the origin of works of art. The Siberian collection of Peter the Great includes some different groups of golden ornaments decorated in animal styles of different origins. The paper focuses on a compact group of items originating from various mostly unknown sites from different territories in Asia including the Oxus treasure, several items from the Siberian collection of Peter the Great from Southern Siberia, a few jewelry pieces from other collections of the world museums as well as items made of leather and felt coming from the First and the Second Pazyryk kurgans. A distinctive feature of this group of zoomorphic images are colored inlays that accentuate a hind-leg or a shoulder of the animal; such inlays have the form of an intricate figure made up of a circle and a curvilinear triangle abutting to it or elongated round brackets. Genetically, such an ornamental motif, which is not generally typical for Persian art, may be linked to a periphery area of the Iranian world and nomadic culture, while the group of sites can be dated back to the 4th–3rd centuries BC. The paper considers a bracelet from the Siberian collection of Peter the Great which is the only item in this category of jewelry type of bracelets. It represents a rare type of ornament with a multi-component structure. It consists of three open-work strips with zoomorphic compositions in an animal style similar to the above-mentioned stylistic group. All three parts of the bracelet are created in a unified style, but obviously in different individual manners. There is no doubt, that the zoomorphic images show three different authors’ hands, and were made by different artisans. So, there is evidence of collective work on the object when each artisan makes his own operation to create a unique jewel at a workshop. Some parts of the composition on the bracelet are similar in style to zoomorphic images from kurgan Issyk in Kazakhstan which perhaps were made in the same workshop. This fact confirms the assumption of the origin of some of Siberian jewelry.

Hiatus III в. до н.э. и incident 1963 г.

In 1963 K.F.Smirnov, V.G.Petrenko, and M.G.Moshkova published two collections of archaeological sources on the Sauromatian culture and the Early Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) culture. At the same time these researchers made a methodological error: using a single archaeological database (card index of monuments), they selected for their publications seventy archaeological complexes and finds, which were both as the latest Sauromatian monuments and as the earliest Sarmatian (Prokhorovka) monuments at the same time. Since the collections of sources were published by category of finds, and not by complexes, the allowed mistake was missed by the authors of the collections when they were preparing the books for publication. And this duplication of materials became a foundation for a system of evidence for the smooth transition of the Sauromatian culture to the Early Sarmatian. When the authors realized this after the books had been published, they decided not to focus on the error believing that the intensive growth of new archaeological material would quickly alleviate the error. However, all the decades after the 1963 incident never gathered sufficient the materi- als of the 3rd century BC. The thesis about the 2nd–1st centuries BC Sarmatian culture ‘growing’ out of the late Sauromatian monuments dated 4th–3rd centuries BC appeared to be rather a declarative statement without any evidence behind. Attempts to statistically analyze large sets of funeral rite signs at sites dated 6th–1st centuries BC in Asian Sarmatia did not give the expected result due to the methodological inconsistency of the study. In addition, the so-called ‘clamped dating method’ is methodologically questionable and anti-historical because the continuity of 6th–4th centuries BC culture and 2nd–1st centuries BC culture is not proven, even though the method was developed by V.M.Klepikov specifically for identifying monuments of the 3rd century BC. All the events considered in the article led Sarmatian archeology to a crisis and to ascertaining the presence of a hiatus in chronological columns for antiquities assigned to the Scythian-Sarmatian type in the Southern Urals and the Lower Volga region.

Що таке санскрит? / Переклад з російської, вступна стаття та примітки Д. В. Бурби

The essay What is Sanskrit was published in 1911 as a preface to P. Ritter’s Sanskrit textbook. It is an updated version of the trial lecture, given by him in the fall of 1899 at Kharkiv University (Ukraine). There he was teaching Sanskrit from the autumn of 1900 at the Department of Comparative Linguistics and headed this Department later. The author debunks popular myths about Sanskrit, describes its place among Indian languages emphasizing temporal and geographical differences between Sanskrit and Vedic language, distinguishes epic and classical Sanskrit, lists the prominent works of Sanskrit literature, and pays tribute to the Indian grammatical tradition. He mentions such prominent works of ancient Indian Sanskritology as the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (4th–3rd centuries BC), Nirukta of Yāska (4th century BC), Vārttika of Кātyāyana (3rd–2nd centuries BC), Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali (2nd century BC). Ritter’s account of the history of the discovery and study of Sanskrit in the West is interesting, as is the characterization of Sanskrit scholars (his predecessors and contemporaries), some of whom he knew personally. Ritter’s students testified that he was fluent in Ukrainian which he apparently knew from childhood but the lecture was given by him and then published in Russian as a result of two hundred years of systematic extirpation of the Ukrainian language in the Russian Empire. All notes except two marked are written by the translator. The notes provide philological, historical, and biographical information. The introductory article tells about the origin of P. Ritter, his studies, his work as a scientist, translator, compiler of the Ukrainian-language Anthology of Ancient Indian Literature, lecturer, and organizer of science, as well as about his hobby and his tragic death due to repressions of NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs).

Archaemineralogical study of plasters and paints from the Thracian tomb Maglizh (4th–3rd century BC), Bulgaria

Fragments of plasters and paints from the decoration of the chamber and the grave of the Thracian tomb Muglizh (4th–3rd century BC) were studied. It was established that the plasters are two or three-layered and consist of coarse plaster, pink colored plaster and white putty (stucco). The binder in all three layers is a lime prepared from organogenic limestone. Crushed materials from rocks and minerals were used as fillers in the coarse and pink plasters, and only white-colored minerals such as quartz, calcite, albite were used in the stucco. A mixture of red earth ocher and cinnabar was used as pigment in the red paint and pink plaster. For the black paint, a mixture of crushed charcoal and Egyptian blue was used. The binder in the red and black paints is lime. In pink paint, the binding material is gypsum, and the pigment is cinnabar.

Ancient restorations: computer-based structural approach for the identification and reinterpretation of the Medracen’s constructive sequence

This paper addresses the importance of a structural approach for identifying and interpreting building chronology, as well as for the establishment of historical stratigraphy. Through structural analyses, carried out on the oldest extant royal mausoleum in North Africa, the Medracen (4th-3rd century BC), located in eastern Algeria, it has been possible to identify building sequences and structural characteristics; a reinterpretation of its constructive sequence within a specific historical context was also suggested. A static linear Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis was performed on a simplified 3D model conceived with solid elements to assess the structural behaviour of the structure under the effect of its self-weight and to identify, consequently, its construction sequence. The equilibrium approach was effective in identifying the structure’s geometry. Results show that Medracen’s ancient restoration was a strengthening intervention strategy and had a symbolic aim related to the function of the funerary building. Restoration works, consisting of repairing specific parts of the building and adding an external cladding, as a whole architectural entity, contributed to reducing the effect of tensile stress, therefore, stabilizing the inner core. Besides, this same action was a means for the Numidian elite to transform an ancient monumental burial (sepulchrum) into a monument (monumentum) with cultural significance likely to convey socio-political messages relating to power and sovereignty. Therefore, we can speak of an “evolutionary restoration” that reflects the ambitions of the Numidian elite to become part of the Mediterranean orbit.

ПРЕДВАРИТЕЛЬНЫЕ РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ РАСКОПОК НА КУРГАННОМ МОГИЛЬНИКЕ ШЕЛОМОК-I

The article considers the result of the Shelomok I Burial mound excavations conducted in 2017-2019. Initially, the burial ground was considered to be a kurgan, however, in the western periphery of the burial ground, eight ground burials were investigated, made according to the rite of inhumation, stretched out on the back. The orientation of the buried has a stable direction to the southwest and west. Despite the fact that most of the burials were robbed, a significant number of finds were found, including a large amount of paleofaunal material. According to the totality of artifacts found, including ceramics, weapons, bone items, bronze items made in the Scythian-Siberian animal style and horse harness items, the burial mound Shelomok-I is tentatively dated to the turn of the 5th / 4th-3rd centuries BC.

Реконструкция женского головного убора из кургана пазырыкской культуры могильника Чинета II (Алтай)

The article presents a reconstruction of a female headdress-wig, which was discovered during the study of mound №34 of the Chineta II burial ground, located in the Krasnoshchekovsky district of the Altai Territory. The peculiarities of the funeral rite and inventory from mound №34 of the Chineta-II burial ground have numerous analogies among the artifacts found during the study of the mounds of the Pazyryk culture. The barrow is dated to the second half of the 4th–3rd centuries BC. The presence of socially diagnosing items of accompanying inventory (a headdress-wig, a bronze hryvnia lined with gold foil), as well as the features of the funeral rite (the accompanying burial of a horse), emphasize the higher social status of the woman buried in mound № 34 of the Chineta II burial ground. The closest analogy to the headdress from barrow № 34 of the Chineta II burial ground is women’s headdresses from barrow № 15 of the Khankarinsky burial ground and barrow № 1 of the Ak-Alakha-3 burial ground.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ РАСКОПОК КУРГАНОВ РАННЕГО ЖЕЛЕЗНОГО ВЕКА В СЕВЕРНОЙ ЧАСТИ МОГИЛЬНИКА ХАНКАРИНСКИЙ ДОЛ

The article presents the results of a study of burial mounds No. 35 and 39 at the Khankarinsky Dol burial ground, located in the Krasnoshchekovsky district ofthe Altai Territory. Mound No. 35 contained the burial of a man over 65 years old, laid in a crouched position on his right side and oriented with his head to the east. Along the northern wall of the grave pit, an accompanying burial of a horse was found: laid on top and also oriented with its head to the east. The features of the funeral rite and inventory from mound No. 35 have certain analogies in the previously studied objects of the Pazyryk culture, both in the necropolises of the Chinetinsky archaeological microdistrict of Khankarinsky Dol, and on the sites excavated in Central and South-Eastern Altai. Mound No. 35 is tentatively dated to the second half of the 4th-3rd centuries BC. Mound No. 39 turned out to be heavily plundered in antiquity and did not contain inventory, therefore, according to the signs of the funeral rite, it was tentatively attributed to the early Iron Age.

Three Sarmatian Daggers from the Foot of Toratau Mount

Three Sarmatian daggers found during plowing a field at the foot of Toratau Mount in the Southern Urals are published. Their detailed description is given. It is stated that two daggers bear the signs of the early Sarmatian type of bladed weapons. They date back to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, their discovery confirms the fact of active resettlement by the Sarmatians of the right bank of the Belaya River at this time. The third dagger bears a number of archaic features, has close analogies among random finds in the Prokhorov cemetery and on the left bank of the Belaya River. It dates back to the 4th–3rd centuries BC. It is noted that the left bank of the Belaya River is the main territory of settlement of early nomads in the Southern Urals. The description of the topography of the daggers found in the site is given. It is shown that according to its physical and geographical characteristics, this territory is a closed valley, bounded on all sides by the river, the Turatau and Kushtau Mountains, and gentle ridges running along the Belaya River. It is concluded that in this case, the “valley” version of the settlement of early nomads was implemented, as well as that the settlement of the right bank of the Belaya River occurred, apparently, from its left bank. This territory was a natural periphery of the settlement of nomads in the Southern Urals in the second half-end of the 1st millennium BC.

NEW FINDS OF THE MIRRORS OF SCYTHIAN AND SARMATIAN AGES FROM TRANS-KUBAN REGION

In recent years, on the territory of rural areas adjacent to the city of Armavir (Russian Federation), historically representing the Zakubanye (Trans-Kuban) region (i. e., the area of the left bank of the Kuban River), the number of bronze mirrors of Scythian and Sarmatian Ages have been found by chance. They entered the museums and museum corners of some cities and villages or were recorded in the private collections with subsequent fixation by local historians. The purpose of this paper is to publish the finds of this category which form a small but quite interesting and expressive series. The earliest of the presented specimens are finds from the village Uspenskоe. The first mirror from the Uspenskoe village (fig. 1: 1, 2) can be attributed to section I, type I, option 1 (mirrors with a central handle, round flat disc with a rim and segment loop) after T. M. Kuznetsova, and can be dated to the 7th—6th centuries BC. The second mirror from the village Uspenskoe (fig. 1: 3, 4) belongs to the 3rd variant of the indicated type, with a trapezoid loop. According to T. M. Kuznetsova, most of these mirrors are dated to the 6th century BC. Mirror 1 (fig. 2: 3, 4) from stanitsa Chamlykskaya can be considered to belong to type II, option 2 (according to I. I. Marchenko), which attributes the mirrors of this option to the 3rd—2nd centuries BC. The findings of modern Russian archaeologists make it possible to confirm the total dating of mirrors with scallops, similar to the published sample 2 from stanitsa Chamlykskaya (fig. 2: 1, 2) as 3rd—1st centuries BC.
 Mirrors 1, 3, 4 (fig. 2: 5, 6; 3: 3—6) from stanitsa Voznesenskaya and mirror 3 from the village Uspenskoe (fig. 1: 5, 6), in our opinion, can be included to the number of copies of type III, version 1 by I. I. Marchenko. The date of the mirrors of this version, according to this author, is the second half of the 4th—3rd centuries BC. Mirror 2 from stanitsa Voznesenskaya (fig. 3: 1, 2) belongs to type I, option 2 according to I. I. Marchenko. The archaeologist dates the finds of type I option 2 to the second half of the 4th — 2nd centuries BC. The mirrors presented in the publication complement the geography and characteristics of the early Iron Age mirrors found in the eastern part of the Trans-Kuban region.

The ceramic complex of the ancient settlement of Ust-Vasyegan 1

This paper presents the results of the study of the ceramics collection from two periods — Eneolithic and Medie-val, assembled during the fieldwork at the ancient settlement of Ust-Vasyegan 1 in the Northern Priobye (Western Sibe-ria). The Eneolithic ware is represented by fragments of 30 vessels decorated with alveolate, rhombic, nail-imprints, and corner patterns. There are fragments of a boat-shaped vessel and vessels with handles. The complex has analogies in the materials of the settlement of Gorny Samotnel-1 and is dated to the end of the 4th–3rd centuries BC. The Medieval ceramics are represented by 296 vessels. On the basis of typological analysis, two groups of vessels have been identi-fied: group 1 ware with sparing ornamentation comprising 1–4 lines of the ornament; and group 2 ware with an orna-ment comprising 5–8 and more lines. A characteristic feature of the group 2 vessels is the use of a cord and various shaped stamps. In the cultural layer of the settlement, ceramics of both groups was deposited side by side, which sug-gests their contemporaneity. In order to determine the degree of similarity/difference of the derived groups of vessels, a technical-technological analysis was carried out on 20 items. It appeared that potters who manufactured the group 1 vessels routinely used blend compositions of grus and grus with wool. Organic mortars were rarely used. The smoo-thing of the vessels was performed mainly with a wood splinter, knife, or spatula. The craftsmen who manufactured the vessels of group 2 used medium to heavily oversanded clays along with slightly oversanded material. While making the molding compositions, a blend of grus and organic mortar was used more often. Wool was rarely utilised. The vessels were smoothed with soft materials and a knife or spatula, the outer surfaces were subjected to hand tamping. The noted differences suggest, that in the Middle Ages two groups of potters, who had distinctive pottery-making skills, were living at the settlement. Vessels of the group 1 have similarities with materials of the “Bichevnik” type from the Pechersky Trans-Urals, whereas vessels of the group 2 in the materials of the Yarsalinsky, Ust’-Poluisky, and Yudinsky Cultures of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages of the Middle and Lower Priobye and Lower Tobol River region. Obtained radiocarbon dates and some artefacts (a bronze signet ring and an iron dagger), which have analogies in the Middle Trans-Urals, define the time span of the activity for the ancient settlement of Ust-Vasyegan 1 within the 7th–13th centuries.

Healthcare of South Korea

South Korea is one of the most developed Asian states, located in the northeastern part of the Asian continent. This country has a powerful economy and highly developed industry, being one of the world's major suppliers of computer technology. Korean statehood traces its history from the 4th-3rd centuries BC, when the country was under the control of the Japanese Empire. As a result of the Second World War, Korea was divided into the northern part, controlled by the USSR, and the southern part, under US patronage. The Republic of Korea was founded on August 15, 1948, after which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (better known as North Korea) was proclaimed on the territory of the Soviet zone on September 9. The subsequent Korean War, which lasted for three years (1950-1953), only consolidated the division of the country. Over the 70 years of its existence, South Korea has achieved tremendous economic progress, and the changes could not but affect the health sector. Despite the fact that compared to other highly developed countries, South Korea spends not so much on the development of medicine — about 7.6 % of GDP, this figure is slowly but steadily growing. More than half of the capital that goes to meet the needs of the healthcare system is of private origin. In addition to compulsory medical insurance, which covers 96 % of the country's population, non-state sources of funding include the system of voluntary medical insurance, payment for treatment received, as well as funds from charitable foundations. On average, each Korean spends about 5 % of their income on healthcare annually.

К изучению элементов культуры пазырыкцев Казахского Алтая по данным междисциплинарных исследований

The article presents the outcomes of the multidisciplinary research on the Berel kurgan no. 11 (4th—3rd centuries BC). Thanks to the permafrost lens, horse remains and organic objects were kept in the mound in perfect condition, which enabled the researchers to carry out a number of specific studies, including the palynological study of the contents of digestive tracts of 7 horses. General results of the implemented paleozoological studies of horse remains are described in the paper as well as decoration of the animals. The palynological analysis of the horse digestive tracts led to identification of 2 types of palynocomplexes: 1 — characterized by high pollen content of ligneous and early flowering herbaceous plants, sporadic fern and ground-pines; 2 — has a rich pollen composition made of herbaceous plants, common for steppe piedmonts of the Altay. These palynocomplex features might pertain to differences in the mountain pastures conditioned by the vertical zonality. Comparison of flowering dates of pollen-defined plants allowed suggesting the burial’s probable season. In the course of the burial, the horse bodies were covered with birch bark and branches of prairieweed, which could serve the purpose of sealing and embalming the objects and, hence, indicate the fact that ancient nomads were familiar with the aseptic and tanning properties of the plants. In general, horses were selected according to certain criteria for the accompanying burial, which is consistent with obtained results of the present palynological and palaeozoological studies.