Ancient Horizons Research Articles

Burials with the ochre of Corded Ware culture in the Upper Dnister region

Burials with the ochre of the CWC on the territory of the Upper Dnister region, the higher concentration of which was recorded on the territory of the right bank of the Dnister river, within the Drohobych Upland, were considered. It has been established that now about 30 burials were found on this territory, in which this mineral substance was found, evidenced both inside the burials and at the level of the ancient horizon under the barrow mounds. It was observed that the body of the deceased was covered with ochre, or it was placed as separate lumps inside the burial. It is noted that the remains of wooden structures in the form of flooring and ceilings are often present in burials with ochre. It was defined that burials with the ochre of the CWC on the territory of Upper Dnister region date to the period of the first half of the 3rd millennium B. C. and are related to influences from the environment of Yamna culture.

ВОСТОЧНАЯ ГРУППА ОБЪЕКТОВ РАННЕСКИФСКОГО ВРЕМЕНИ КОМПЛЕКСА КАРБАН-I (СЕВЕРНЫЙ АЛТАЙ)

The article concerns the cultural and chronological interpretation of the two early Scythian period objects (mounds No. 4 and 24), investigated in the eastern part of the Karban-I complex. This site, located in the Chemal district of the Altai Republic, was studied by the expedition of the Barnaul State Pedagogical Institute in 1989-1990. The recorded characteristics of the burial rite (a stone mound with a crepe; a box of slabs set at the level of the ancient horizon; fragments of ceramics in the mound) make it possible to attribute mound No. 24 to the Biyke archaeological culture. Object No. 4 is a memorial structure erected in the southeastern sector of mound No. 24. The dating of these complexes, taking into account the absence of inventory items, can be established within the broad framework of the end of the 9th - the first half of the 6th centuries BC.

Jeffrey S. Krohn. Mormon Hermeneutics: Five Approaches to the Bible by the LDS Church

Jeffrey S. Krohn. <i>Mormon Hermeneutics: Five Approaches to the Bible by the LDS Church</i>

Погребение бийкенской культуры из Северного Алтая

The article presents the results of the study of one of the early Scythian burials of the Karban-I archaeological complex. This site is located on the left bank of the Katun river, 1.7 km northwest of the Kuyus village, in the Chemal district of the Altai Republic. The key characteristics of the published burial mound No. 22 are a stone tomb structure; a box of slabs set at the level of the ancient horizon; strongly crouched posture of a deceased person, laid on his left side; orientation of the deceased head to the north-western sector of the horizon. This object belongs to the Biyke archaeological culture of the early Scythian period. Due to the lack of accompanying inventory, the dating of the burial, taking into account the available results of radiocarbon dating, is determined within the broad framework of the 8th – first half of the 6th centuries BC.

BRONZE NOSE RINGS FROM THE BURIAL OF THE EARLY BRONZE AGE IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS

In 2017, in a single burial mound in the Novosrednenskoye-1 burial ground, located near the village of the same name in the Kirovsky district of the Stavropol Territory, a burial was examined on an ancient horizon, over which an earthen embankment was erected. The deceased was in a wooden box, on the ceiling of which were the skulls of two bulls with bronze nose rings. A small series of burial complexes found in burials on the territory of the North Caucasus, in which nose rings were found, are considered. They were used to control animals harnessed to a cart. A symbolic team of two bulls was used to travel the soul of the deceased into the world of their ancestors. In the Novosvobodnenskoe time, a fashion emerged for the use of wire oval pendants, which were fixed not in the puncture of the nasal septum, but in the punctures of the earlobes. Such pendants, made of bronze or silver wire, were popular in the Novotitarovskaya culture, which replaced the Novosvobodnaya culture.

RESEARCH OF THE CHORNOLISKA CULTURE KURGANS IN THE DNISTER REGION

Two barrows of the late stage of Chornoliska culture were explored near Bernashivka of Mohyliv-Podilskyi district of Vinnytsia region.&#x0D; Mound of kurgan 1 consisted of stones of the various sizes and was rifled. The largest of stones are on a peripheral position and actually restricted the mound on all sides, although the large plates were in the center where they compose something like platform. Some stones were on a periphery. Evidently the mound had a rounded shape.&#x0D; Under the stone mound two graves have been discovered. The primary grave was located in the southern part of the mound in a pit of 1 m deep covered with stone slabs. Dimensions of the pit are 1.9 Ч 1.5 m. According to some observations the pit was covered with tree and stones. The floor was paved with slabs which almost have not survived. The skeleton of adult man lied in a crouched position on his right side, near the body the iron knife with remains of wooden handle was found. A very interesting feature of the grave is the entrance from the north side looks like the round pit with a diameter of 1.25 m, deepened to the bottom of the grave.&#x0D; The second grave was inserted into the mound at the level of the ancient surface. In this grave the skeleton of an adult man with an additional skull was in this grave. The ceramic goblet, the piece of iron pin, two clay spindle whorls, a bowl and fragments of other vessels have been discovered near it.&#x0D; In the center of kurgan 2 the stone grave 1.95 Ч 1.2 m in size and 0.8 m deep from the level of ancient horizon was found. The skeletons of two adults man and woman lied on their right side in a crouched position. Two iron knives, iron fibula, a pin, clay spindle whorl, fragments of vessels were found. Another collective burial was discovered northwest outside the kurgan. Kurgans are dated to the late phase of Chornoliska сulture cf. 9th—8th centuries BC.

VASYNSKYI BARROW OF THE MIDDLE SKYTHIAN AGE

The article presents the results of a study from the excavation of the barrow of middle Scythian time in Vasyne (Znamensky district, Kirovograd region). Barrow was located in the upper reaches of the river Beshka, the right tributary of the Ingulets in its upstream. The main Scythian burial was committed on the surface of the ancient horizon. A complex wooden burial structure constructed of oak was partially burnt, but well preserved. In the center of the entire burial facility was a ground-based square ten-column wooden tomb (5.5 Ч 5.5 m) with a flat ceiling, around which a «pyramid» was built of horizontal layers of raw tree trunks, logs and logs, preserved to a height of 0.9—1,4 m. «Pyramid» at the level of the ancient horizon was surrounded by thin (5—7 cm) wooden flooring. The overall diameter of the wooden structure reached 19 m.&#x0D; The southern sector of the «pyramid» was covered with a layer of clay. The nature of the firing of the wooden masonry, the good preservation of the wood, some structural details of the «pyramid» itself, the presence of a clay pavement with products indicate the use of burning technology without access to air. The mound enclosed the annular ditch with two bridges in the western and eastern sectors.&#x0D; The burial was accompanied by numerous remnants of the treasure in the form of fragments of ancient amphoras, including plump-throated Chios, thin-walled antique black-figureed kilik, fragments of stucco vessels, and animal bones. In the filling of the tomb, remains of funeral gifts that fell after the destruction of the floor were found: fragments of wooden trays or stretchers, fastened with iron and bronze brackets with sacrificial food; the ruined bones of the horse, next to which was found a handful of mummified millet grains.&#x0D; The burial itself was completely robbed. The skeleton of the buried and funeral inventory were absent. At the bottom of the tomb, only the skeleton of a servant with a bone piercing and a bronze tip of a basic type arrow lost by robbers were found.&#x0D; Undoubtedly, the most interesting find was a stone anthropomorphic stele of gray granite, 2.65 m high, which depicts a standing warrior with a set of weapons, a rhyton and two hryvnia.&#x0D; According to the totality of finds in the mound and images on the stele, it is possible to attribute the time of its construction to the turn of the 6th—5th centuries. BC. The scale of the wooden burial structure, the ditch around the mound, the find of a granite stele, the remains of a treyne and sacrifices indicate that a representative of the Scythian military aristocracy was buried here.

ON THE PROBLEM OF WOMEN STATUS IN THE CULTURE OF KAZAKHSTAN POPULATION OF THE SAKA AGE (According to Materials from East Aral Sea Region)

Materials from the Early Iron Age cemeteries of the Southern Tagisken (VII—V centuries BC) and Uygarak (VI—VI centuries BC), studied by the Khorezm archaeological and ethnographic expedition under the direction of S. P. Tolstov in the early 1960s, are a source for the analysis.&#x0D; Materials of the sixteen mounds of South Tagisken and twenty-two of Uygarak are analyzed in the article. More than half of the mounds of South Tagisken and Uygarak have a diameter of up to 20 m. The head of the deceased is predominantly oriented to the west. Dromos was recorded only in two South Tagisken mounds and not recorded in Uygarak. Burials at the level of the ancient horizon in South Tagisken were recorded once, while in Uygarak they were recorded four times. A very small number of sacrificial animal parts in the graves of South Tagisken and Uygarak draws attention.&#x0D; An analysis of the South Tagisken and Uygarak subject complex shows that the women graves had products made of metal, bone, and stone. Among such products are: elements of horse equipment, knives, mirrors, altars, jewelry, mirrors, distaff. Weapons are rarely found in women burials of South Tagisken and Uygarak.&#x0D; Probably the functions of the woman were only restricted to housekeeping in the culture of the population that left the South Tagisken and Uygarak cemeteries. Women also served as servants of the cults, which is reflected in the presence of traces of red paint found on pestles, altars, pistils, as well as on tools and devices made of bone.

THE ARTICLE DEDICATED TO THE RESEARCH OF THE MEDIEVAL MOUND NEAR THE VILLAGE TEPENYTSIA (to the Question of the Mounds with Stone Constructions at the Middle Dnieper Region)

In the summer of 2015, Zhytomyr expedition conducted archaeological research at the burial mounds at the tract of Long Niva near the village Tepenitsa Olevsky district of Zhytomyr region. As a result, the burial with a stone construction under the embankment was explored and studied. The stone cover was discovered right after the turf layer and completely covered the embankment as if it was an armor. The construction consisted of granite fragments and pieces of quartzite and sandstone. At the bottom of the embankment were stone boulders of large size that became smaller at the top of burial. At the level of the mainland around the embankment placed small ditch that had a form of two arcuate sections. Remains of a skeleton or gravel pit in the burial mound was not discovered (cenotaph). Two large fragments of the potter’s pot was found on the sand pit in the central part of the embankment at the level of the ancient horizon. The practical absence of inventory does not allow date the archaeological complex clearly. A fragment of the pot can be attributed to two chronological periods: the end of IX — the first half of the X century or the second half of the XIII — XIV centuries.&#x0D; The stone constructions in the burial mounds are not inherent for Old Russian time in Ukraine. Stone fixt only in slightly more than 1 % of all investigated burial mounds. The discovery of such rare complex forced the authors refer to the history of research of this type of monuments on the territory of Ukraine. In the Middle Dnieper area, burial mounds with stone structures are located in two regions: on the territory of Zhytomyr Polissya (Ubort river basin, Slovechansko-Ovruch ridge) and in Porossya.&#x0D; The burial groups in Zhytomyr region were explored by the excavations of Ya. V. Yarotsky (1902), O. A. Fotinsky (1904), M. B. Shchukin (1976), B. A. Zvizdetsky (1988, 1996—1999), the exploration of V. O. Misiats (1961, 1978), A. P. Tomashevsky and S. V. Pavlenko (1996, 2006, 2013). There are 18 gravediggers with stone burial mounds on this territory currently. 42 burial mounds were excavated (more than 300 known). At the 29 burial complexes were fixed stones fragments. These sights don’t occupy a separate compact area and located next to burial mounds consisting exclusively of mounds with simple earthen embankments. Only at the 7 necropolises majority burial mounds contains stones. On other monuments such burial mounds was few. Different methods of using stones have been recorded in investigated burial mounds. Often different variants of stone designs are fixed in one monument. Different kinds of stone were used for constructions: sandstone, granite, quartzite. In burial mounds with stone structures under the embankment are fixed various types of burial ceremony (cremation on the site, cremation on the side, inhumation on the horizon, inhumation in undermount pits, cenotaph). The ritual is accompanied by typical Slavic equipment. The earliest complexes are dated by the X century, the most recent are the second half of the XIII century.&#x0D; Stone barrows Porossya are known since the middle of the nineteenth century (about 500 individual complexes was fixet). They were discovered by V. B. Antonovych (70s of XIX century), T. M. Movchanivsky (1928), V. Ye. Kozlovskaya (30s of the XX century), R. S. Orlov and P. M. Pokas (1986, 1988). 9 burial mounds with stone constructs under the embankment are known on the territory of Porossya. 78 monuments have been investigated at 5 a monuments, 37 of them — with stone crepes (the structure was mostly fixed in the of circle form of boulders, which engird the embankment). The burial ceremony and accompanying equipment are typical for Slavic monuments.&#x0D; There are two main hypotheses about the origin of this type of monuments. According to the first, the stone structures in the mounds are a purely practical tradition of local people, which arose in the territories characterized by significant presence of the stone (O. A. Fotinsky, V. B. Antonovych, A. V. Petrauskas). According to the second hypotheses, use of a stone is a tradition of the Slavic alien population. Ya. V. Yarotsky considered that this is a memorial of the Dregovichi burial mounds of Zhytomyr Polissya, Western Balts (Yotvingians) — I. P. Rusanova, B. A. Zvizdetsky, A. P. Tomashevsky, mixed Baltic-Dregoviches population — V. V. Sedov and A. P. Motsia. The tradition of using stones in the burial mounds of Porosyya was explained by the borrowing of the elements of the burial ceremony of the nomads S. V. Shamray, I. P. Rusanovа and O. P. Motsia. Influenced by the coming population from the western and northern territories of Old Rus — L. I. Ivanchenko. Some researchers have ruled out both hypotheses.

WOODEN VAULTS OF THE EARLYSCYTHIAN TIMES IN THE MOUNDS OF THE MIDDLE DNISTROVIA

The study of the early-Scythian burial mounds in the Middle Dniester region began at the end of the nineteenth century many researchers. The results of their work were summed up in the monograph of T. Sulimirsky, published in 1936. Over the next decades, this work was continued by G. Melyukova, G. Smirnova, L. Krushelnytska, J. Maleev, M. Bandrivsky, A. Gutsal. The burial mounds were explored in the villages of Lenkivtsi, Dolinyan, Perebykivtsi, Vrublivka, Zozulintsi, Kolodiyaka, Kotsiubynchy, Loevtsi, Malinovka, Minkivtsi, Myshkivtsi, Sokilets, Spasivka, Tarasivka, Teklka, Shvaykivtsi, Shutnivtsi and others. The number of mounds studied for the whole period of excavation now exceeds 125. There was an opportunity to more fully understand the peculiarities of the burial rite of the local population of that time, in particular, to assimilate the nature of such burial structures in the mound as a pillar wooden vault. As calculations show, about 38 % of burial mounds contained such buildings. Their construction consisted of wooden piles sunken in the ground, the number of which varied from 4 to 35, and wooden logs or wheels, which were walls and roof, and which were supported by pillars. Such a crypt could be built on the level of the ancient horizon, could be slightly entwined in the ground (up to 0.5 m), or lowered into a pit at 1—1.2 m. Most of the crypts after the completion of all the ritual ceremonies over the burial, burned. The peculiarity of the Transnistrian mounds was that there were stones in all the embankments, which strengthened the mound and was a constructive part of the crypt.

La colonización fenicia inicial en el Mediterráneo Central: nuevas excavaciones arqueológicas en Utica (Túnez)

This paper presents the first results of the Tunisian- Spanish research project in Utica (Tunisia), in particular the finds recovered from a well (possibly closed ritually) linked to a partially excavated building. The well’s interior is a deposit composed of bones of consumed animals and Phoenician, Geometric Greek, Sardinian, Lybian, Villanovaan and Tartessian pottery, principally formed by drinking cups and plates, as well as amphorae. The finds bear witness to early Phoenician networks of exchange in the Central and Western Mediterranean and to a very ancient Phoenician settlement. The dates of C14 obtained from seeds from the well’s fill indicate a chronology around 925-900 cal BC. These dates are identical to those of early Phoenician foundations in the Iberian Peninsula at Huelva, Carambolo and La Rebanadilla. As a whole they define the most ancient horizon of the Phoenician colonization in Central and Western Mediterranean.

Earliest mammal with transversely expanded upper molar from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Tiki Formation, South Rewa Gondwana Basin, India

ABSTRACT A mammalian upper molariform tooth recovered from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Tiki Formation of the South Rewa Gondwana Basin, India, is described as a new taxon, Tikitherium copei, gen. et sp. nov. Coming from such an ancient horizon, the tooth is remarkable in having on its crown, which is supported by three roots, three buccally placed cusps forming an obtuse triangle, another prominent cusp with two associated shearing crests in the posterolingual corner, and a talon-like depression anterior to the latter. The molar with its several derived features, though showing partial similarity with those of some seemingly allied early mammalian dentitions, stands apart as a distinctly different entity in detailed comparison. Through close examination of the Tikitherium upper molar, its probable occlusal relationship with the unknown lower dentition is suggested. The posterolingual cusp with its two shearing crests and basin, appearing as a significant apomorphy, probably indicates the development of a better mode of mastication by grinding. The molar of Tikitherium copei, may thus be regarded as the earliest representative of several independent evolutionary developments of the grinding mechanism found in later mammalian groups such as the boreosphenidans, australosphenidans, shuotheriids, and docodonts.

Use of different methods for discovery of ice-entrapped microorganisms in ancient layers of the Antarctic glacier

Investigations throughout the thickness of the ice sheet above Lake Vostok show the presence of microorganisms belonging to different well-known taxonomic groups, even in the very ancient horizons near close to floor of the glacier. Different methods were used to search for microorganisms that are rarely found in the deep ancient layers of an ice sheet. Primary investigations tried the usual methods of sowing samples onto different nutrient media, and the result was that only a few microorganisms grew on the media used. Further investigations of the very ancient layers of the ice sheet by radioisotopic, luminescence, and scanning electron microscopy methods at different modifications, revealed the quantity and morphological diversity of the cells of microorganisms that were distributed on the different horizons. Microbiological investigations in the very ancient strata of the Antarctic ice cover, nearest to the bedrock, support the effectiveness of using a combination of different methods to search for signs of life in ancient icy formations, which might play a role in the long-term preservation and transportation of microbial life throughout the Universe.