Sarmatian Time Research Articles

Курганне поховання бронзового часу біля села Прогресівка на лівому березі Тилігульського лиману

У статті висвітлюються результати рятівних робіт на пошкодженій пам’ятці археології на території Ташинської сільської ради Березанського району Миколаївської області, на північ від села Прогресівка. Розкривається історія археологічних робіт на Березанщині. Дається коротка характеристика поховань та попередня ідентифікація. Розглянуті три поховання, одне з яких – парне. Два поховання відносяться до бабинської історико-культурної спільноти кінця першої – початку другої чверті ІІ тисячоліття до Р.Х. а одне, з великою вірогідністю, до рубежу ер (сарматський час).

Special Rituals, Rites and Customs of Treatment of Human Bodies (A Case Study of Sarmatian Cultures)

This article presents characteristics of special rituals, rites and customs identified in Sarmatian cultures of Eastern Europe. For example, a group of prone burials of the Late Sarmatian time was distinguished in the course of the research. As shown by the comparative historical analysis of the prone burials, this society differed from other synchronous groups of the population in the relatively mass nature of such burials. Analysing the details of the burial rite does not provide an unambiguous explanation of the motivation of prone burials. Most likely human sacrifices and ritual killing of the elderly and old people were possible there, and such burials could be associated with harmfulness of the dead. In addition to this rite, a group of burials with the observed post-mortem and antemortem rites in relation to the head / skull was distinguished. First, this is decapitation and performance of certain rites with the head / skull. After this the skull was either placed in the burial or kept with the people (burials of postcranial skeletons). Second, the skull could be placed in a separate grave (partial burials). Third, after separation the skull could be subject to trepanation, which was a ritual function. Intravital trepanation was carried out for medicinal purposes. The rare rite of scalping can be attributed to military customs. Since the frequency of occurrence of special rites in relation to the skull and head in Sarmatian cultures is small, they could be connected either with the antemortem status or with the circumstances surrounding the death of a person. The most common practice was the custom of deliberate deformation of the head, which performed both utilitarian and symbolic functions.

Mirrors of the Early Sarmatian Culture of the Lower Don Region

The article discusses the classification and chronology of mirrors of the Lower Don Early Sarmatian culture of the 2nd – 1st centuries BC. In the Early Sarmatian culture of the Lower Don region of the 2nd – 1st centuries BC, large mirrors with a roller along the edge of the disk and a wedge-shaped handle-pin (department 2) and small mirrors in the form of a flat disk without a handle (department 1, type 2) are prevailing. Large mirrors with a roller along the edge of the disk and a wedge-shaped handle-pin (44.7%) gravitate towards monuments of the early stage, most of which are located in the eastern regions of the left bank. Mirrors in the form of a small flat disk without a handle (41.5%) are already known in the complexes of the early horizon of the Lower Don Early Sarmatian culture, but they become widespread later. At the final stage of the Early Sarmatian culture and in the Middle Sarmatian time, such mirrors completely prevail over mirrors of other forms. Other varieties of mirrors are represented by a small number of copies. Many mirrors were accompanied by the remnants of cases, one mirror had a stand. Most of the mirrors are found in female burials, much less – in male ones; with child’s bones, fragments of mirrors were found only twice. Most often, the mirrors were located close to the body of the buried, most often near the skull, shoulders, chest of the buried, sometimes on the body or under it. Most of the finds are fragments of mirrors, whole specimens are relatively few (only about 20%). Large fragments could be used for their intended purpose; small fragments probably served as amulets. Many mirrors are damaged – chopped, bent, broken, have traces of shock. It is believed to be the traces of some actions of a ritual-magical nature in order to free the soul of a thing or render the harmless of the deceased. It should be noted that in the funeral rites of the early Sarmatians, not only mirrors but also other categories of equipment – swords, knives, boilers, vessels, were subjected to mass ritual damage.

Ethnogenetic Relations Between the Population of the Middle Sarmatian Time in the Eastern European Steppes

Introduction. The author of the article shows the problem of ethnogenetic relations between the population of the Middle Sarmatian time (1st – the first half of the 2nd c. AD) of the Lower Volga region and the Lower Don. Methods and materials. The author analyzes craniological series of more than 400 skulls for solving this problem. The author uses digital information on the synchronous population (53 male and 47 female craniological series) to identify the ancestor-descendant relationships. The paper shows the comparative analysis carried out with the help of discriminate analysis by the canonical method. The results of the analysis are processed by the multidimensional non-metric scaling and cluster analysis to visualize on the Mahalanobis proximity distance matrix. Analysis. The results of the comparative analysis allow revealing the significant morphological similarity of the Middle Sarmatian territorial groups of the Lower Volga and the Lower Don. This similarity can be primarily explained by the commonality of the Europeoid genetic substrate dating back to the population of the Early Sarmatian time in these regions. In addition to this component, various Eastern components participated in the formation of the anthropological type of the Middle Sarmatian population. In the process of migration and integration these components defined the population’s image of the 1st – the first half of the 2nd centuries BC as the morphological complex. Results. The results of the comparative analysis suggest at least two Eastern components. The first component has mixed Mongoloid-Caucasoid features and its origin is associated with the population of Kazakhstan of the 3rd – 1st centuries BC (presumably with kangyu population) and the Southern Siberia (Pazyryk and Kamenskaya cultures). The second one also has the South Siberian origin (Tagar-tesinsk), but its racial type is defined as a type of long-headed Europeoids.

Continuity and Innovations in the Middle Sarmatian and Late Sarmatian Cultures (Based on the Materials of Staritsa Burial Mound)

This article considers the issues of continuity and innovations in the middle and late Sarmatian cultures on the materials of Staritsa burial mound. The burial mound was dug out in the 60s of the 20th century by archaeological expedition under the leadership of V.P. Shilov. To solve this problem the main features of burial complexes and anthropological materials of the 1st – 3rd centuries A.D. were analyzed. The source base of the research includes materials of 30 burial complexes and cranial measurements of 22 skulls. To highlight transition periods the authors used the method of determining sign’s weight during its allocation to the antecedent or subsequent culture, as well as its chronological range. Digital information on anthropological series obtained in the process of measuring skulls was processed by the simple and multivariate statistics methods to identify the population continuity, similarities and differences. As a result of the study, the authors have identified and substantiated partial continuity of the two cultural traditions at the stage of their interaction, which apparently began near the middle of the 2nd century AD, when late Sarmatian culture representatives appeared in the Lower Volga region. The transformation of such middle Sarmatian culture signs as diagonal burials and the appearance of late Sarmatian culture signs such as northern orientation of a buried, cubic incense burners, skulls with traces of artificial deformation may indicate the influence of a new culture on traditions of local people, who continued to dwell in this area and use the burial mound. As for the anthropological material, it shows that in this region the population of the middle and late Sarmatian time partially retains the appearance of its predecessors, the population of the early Sarmatian time. New components, such as long-headed Caucasoid and mixed Caucasoid-Mongoloid, identified on the basis of intragroup analysis, allow to reveal the type of migrants.

The Dynamics of Anthropological Types of the Sarmatian Population That Left Staritsa Burial Mound

The paper presents the intergroup analysis made by the canonical method aimed at determining variability of anthropological types in chronological groups of the Sarmatian population that left Staritsa burial mound. For this purpose, digital information on 44 male and 30 female series including all three stages of Sarmatian culture from the burial mounds of the Lower Volga region was studied. The results of the analysis reveal smaller massiveness of the Sauromatian and Sarmatian population in comparison with the Bronze Age samples. The main anthropological type, whose carriers were the early Sarmatian groups of Staritsa burial mound, is the type of ancient Eastern Caucasians, and they are not separated from the synchronous population of other burial mounds. Characteristic features of this type include meso-brachycrania, weakened horizontal profiling at the upper facial level and a quite Caucasoid structure of the nose and nasal bones. There is the influx of the long-headed Caucasoid population in the middle Sarmatian epoch, which increases due time, and the late Sarmatian population acquires dolicho-mesocrane features. In the early epoch, the middle– late 2nd century A.D., some cultural and morphological features are blurred, as the material from burial 2 of barrow 8, burial 1 of barrow 54 and burial 1 of barrow 11 shows. In the late Sarmatian time, the inflow of not only long-headed groups, but also individuals with the mixed anthropological Caucasoid-Mongoloid type was possible. Like the early Sarmatian group from Staritsa burial mound, the late Sarmatian group is more similar to the synchronous population from other Lower Volga burials.

The Sites of the Early Nomads on the North-East Periphery of the Sarmatian World

The paper publishes new materials of the early Sarmatian time from the North-East periphery of the Sarmatian World – the Southern forest-steppe and steppe zones of the Trans-Ural region within the bounds of the modern Chelyabinsk region. The territory of the Southern forest-steppe is represented by the materials of the ruined burial, which is situated on the shore of the lake Smolino within the bounds of Chelyabinsk. It is dated by the early 4th century BC. There are three accidental finds from this region: iron daggers as well. The daggers with curved bar-shaped pommels and arcuate cross-guards are classified as daggers of “transitional type” and are dated by the 4th century BC. The third dagger with a semicircular pommel and a straight cross-guard is included in the group of classical Prokhorovka daggers and is dated the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC. This paper presents the materials of two peculiar burial complexes from the steppe zone of the Southern Trans-Urals. The burial near Mogutovka village is the only one burial (without a barrow) of the early Sarmatian time, which was investigated in the Southern Trans-Ural region. It is situated on the first terrace above the floodplain of the Kamysty-Ayat river. The localization of the burial is not typical for the sites of the early Trans-Ural nomads of the 1st millennium BC. The early Sarmatian burial of the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC was excavated in Druzhinskiy burial site. It was made in the burial pit, which combines signs of a catacomb and an alcove. A child buried here was dressed in a shirt, whose collar and sleeves were decorated with beading. Publishing materials will help to expand the point of view on burial rites and material culture of the early Trans-Ural nomads of the early Sarmatian time, which exists in scientific literature.

ABOUT NEW FINDS OF THE HORSE HARNESS OF SCYTHIAN-SARMATIAN AGE FROM ZAKUBANYE

The article introduces into the scientific circulation the objects of the horse harness of the Scythian and Sarmatian time, found at different times by local residents and local historians of the village of Voznesenskaya, Labinsky district, Krasnodar region of the Russian Federation, and located in the local children’s library-museum. A notable feature of some of the published iron loopy bridle bits are the large sizes of their links (up to 30 cm). This probably indicates a dilution in the second half of the 1st millennium BC in Zakubanye of a large-breed horse breed, which was the forerunner of the famous Kabardian breed of these animals. Its origins, the eminent archeologist-кavkazologyst, E. I. Krupnov traced to the beginning of the early Iron Age. The subject of consideration of the authors of the article are also the features of the cross-shaped nozzles with spikes, which are available on a number of published looped rods, or on their individual links. Most of the presented «cross-shaped nozzles» on the bits (Fig. 1: 2, 4—5; 2: 2) may be ultimately described, following I. I. Marchenko, as a psalm in the form of a small cross with flattened sharp curved spikes. Functionally, «strict» cheek-pieces and nozzles performed the same role. As shown by E. I. Savchenko, they were located at the outer rings of the rods and when the reins were tensioned, they pressed on the toothless edges of the horse’s jaw. Three separate types of specimens can be distinguished from those who are separately from the angled duplicates: 1. bipods (Fig. 3: 4, 5); 2. rod short straight two types — a specimen tapering towards the ends (Fig. 3: 6) and a sample with cylindrical grooved processes extending from the holes (Fig. 3: 7); 3. S-visible with knobs on the ends (Fig. 3: 1—3).
 The published bits and cheek-pieces belong to the types common in the Northern Black Sea Region and the Northern Caucasus dating back to the 5th—1st cc. BC. At the same time, most of them may have a narrower dating. For the bits with one broken off outer ring (Fig. 2: 1), the date should be marked — the end of IV—III c. BC. For bits in Fig. 2: 2, as well as links of samples like them depicted in Fig. 1: 2, 4, 5, one can accept the date of I. I. Marchenko — IV — first half of the 3rd century BC. Link fished with a hat may be attributed to the IV BC, as having a parallel in the Melitopol mound. Date of duplicated cheek-pieces with two lobes (Fig. 3: 4) — III — first half of I c. BC. Rod duplicated cheek-pieces (Fig. 3: 6, 7) may date to the 4th—3rd centuries BC, S-visible, most likely, the early period of this time period.
 The items presented in the article characterize the occupation of the local Meotian population by horse breeding, which since Pre-Scythian time has been one of the most important economic branches of the autochthons of Zakubanye.

Sarmatian Burials of the Kovalevka Burial Mound: Strangers Among Friends?

Introduction. The Nomads of early Sarmatian time is a complex conglomerate of constantly growing groups of new population in the Volga-Don interfluve area. Determining their location is becoming a relevant problem in the current research. The early Sarmatian burials of the Kovalevka burial mound are significantly different from the synchronous array of similar monuments. It makes possible to clarify the historical situation in the final stage of the early Sarmatian culture in the studied region. Methods. The method of cross-dating and comparative-typological analysis of 12 burials of 8 barrows of the Kovalevka burial mound, located in the southern part of the Volga-Don interfluve area, allow clarifying the chronology of materials and identify the specifics of the funeral rite. Analysis. The ceramic complex as a part of the North Caucasian antiquities of the 3rd - 1st centuries BC, can be identified through the presence of iron stemmed arrowheads, common for the period 2nd - 1st centuries BC. The tradition of the ancestral mounds-cemeteries with multiple burials under one mound dominated during this time period. However, the analyzed complexes represented a new tradition of individual burial places, more common in the latter period. Besides, the horse bones, iron bits and a few iron spearheads were found in the burial mound. This is a rarity in the funeral rite of the early Sarmatian culture. All of these innovations are known in the controversial Sarmatian complexes of the turn of eras when the change from early Sarmatian culture to middle Sarmatian culture took place. Another common feature of all the burials under study is a ritual robbery of buried people. The burials were destroyed, mostly for the purpose of their desecration. The bones of the buried were found at the bottom of the grave, and the remaining parts of the skeleton were thrown out of the pit. Results. It can be assumed that at the end of the 1st century BC a group of well-armed nomads entered the territory uder study and was not accepted by the local population. The attempt to settle in the place led migrants to founding their own cemetery in the floodplain of the Esaulovsky Aksai river (local Sarmatians chose watersheds for this). However, this action caused discontent of natives, which led to the desecration of strangers’ graves by the local population.

К антропологическому типу сарматской элиты (по материалам погребений среднесарматского времени Нижнего Поволжья)

К антропологическому типу сарматской элиты (по материалам погребений среднесарматского времени Нижнего Поволжья)

Знахідки І тис. н. е. у Полтавському Поворсклі: за матеріалами робіт 2016 р.

The article deals with the finds of the second and third quarters of 1st millennium CE, which were found and transferred by local residents from the villages Velyka Rublivka, Drany, Ustimenki and Opishnia. The finds are fibulae, mirrors, a detail of the chest lock and fragments of pottery. The upper shield plate of the Eastern European emaciated enamel fibula (fig. 1, 1; 2, 1) — re-folded / a crossbar, type II according to G.F. Korzukhina, or T-shaped type with triangular or cruciform legs, the developed phase, seria 2, type II, according to E.L. Gorokhovskyi, in the vicinity of Velyka Rublivka village was discovered. The three-fingered fibula from the village Drany (fig. 1, 2; 2, 2) refer to the transitional type from the lamellar to the palatine types. The fragments of two mirrors (fig. 1, 4, 5; 2, 4, 5) from Ustimenky belong to the Sarmatian time and find the wide analogies among the Sarmatian burials of the Northern Black Sea Coast and the Crimea. Also, the detail of the chest lock or the clamp of the provincial-Roman type (fig. 1, 3; 2, 3), although there are similar finds on the Cherniakhiv culture sites. The Penkivka culture settlement near the Rag doll museum in Opishnia was also discovered.

Трепанация черепа из захоронения среднесарматского времени с территории Волгоградской области

Трепанация черепа из захоронения среднесарматского времени с территории Волгоградской области

Кургани доби бронзи поблизу с. Володимирівка на Херсонщині.

This article deals with materials of excavation of three barrows near Volodymyrivka village, Skadovsk district of Kherson oblast which are published for the first time. These barrows were investigated by the Krasnoznamensk archaeological expedition of the IA NASU in 1986 and 1989 under the direction of G.L. Evdokimov. 47 burials were revealed in three barrows. In the result of the analysis of a funeral ceremony and inventory, seven cultural-chronological groups are distinguished. These groups reflect consecutive stages of settling the territory between the Lower Dniepr (in its eastern bank) and coast of the Black sea during the Bronze and Early Iron Age. Burials of the Bronze Age (from the turn of the Early-Middle Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age) are the most numerous and represent five groups: the Yamnaya culture of its late period, Catacomb culture of its early and late period (Ingul Culture), Dnieper-Dniester variant of the Dnieper-Prut Babyne culture, Berezhno-Maevka Srubna culture of the Late Bronze Age. Two burials represent the Chernogorovka culture of the turn of the Bronze Age to Early Iron Age. The latest burial belongs to the Sarmatian time. Against the general tendencies in the development of steppe Black Sea area cultures, some special traits of a funeral ceremony and ceramic complex of the Early Bronze Age to the turn to Middle Bronze Age are identified. The unity of a funeral ceremony for each of the cultural-chronological groups of burials of the Bronze Age allows the assumption that these are the burial grounds of family-patrimonial collectives.

Особенности формирования курганных могильников сарматского времени в бассейне реки Есауловский Аксай

Особенности формирования курганных могильников сарматского времени в бассейне реки Есауловский Аксай

Детские и подростковые палеоантропологические материалы позднесарматского времени из могильников Нижнего Поволжья (палеопатологический аспект)

Детские и подростковые палеоантропологические материалы позднесарматского времени из могильников Нижнего Поволжья (палеопатологический аспект)

Морфология детских захоронений ранних кочевников Нижнего Поволжья (по материалам могильников раннесарматского времени)

Морфология детских захоронений ранних кочевников Нижнего Поволжья (по материалам могильников раннесарматского времени)

Железный меч скифо-сарматского времени из степного Алтая

Железный меч скифо-сарматского времени из степного Алтая

Otoliths in situ from Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) fishes of the Paratethys. Part III: tales from the cradle of the Ponto-Caspian gobies

Articulated fossil fish skeletons with otoliths in situ provide a unique opportunity to link these two, otherwise independent data sets of skeletons and otoliths. They provide calibration points for otoliths also adding important information for the evolutionary interpretation of fishes. Here, we review nine articulated skeletons of gobies from the early Sarmatian of Dolje, Croatia, and Belgrade, Serbia, which were previously regarded as members of a single gobiid and a callionymid species. We found them to represent five different gobiid species belonging to five different genera, four of which are related to extant endemic Ponto-Caspian gobiid lineages. The species are: Aphia macrophthalma n.sp., Proneogobius n.gen. pullus (the only previously recognized species), Protobenthophilus n.gen. squamatus n.sp., Economidichthys triangularis (a species first described based on otoliths) and Hesperichthys n.gen. reductus n.sp. Five specimens contained otoliths in situ and a sixth shows imprints of otoliths which unfortunately must have been lost in the past, probably during preparation of the fossil. Together, they represent all five species recognized by skeletons, and three are linked to otolith-based species. Isolated otoliths have been reviewed from a variety of collections from Sarmatian strata in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Romania and Slovakia resulting in the description of five new otolith-based species: Benthophilus? ovisulcus n.sp., Benthophilus styriacus n.sp., Protobenthophilus strashimirovi n.sp., Economidichthys altidorsalis n.sp. and Knipowitschia bulgarica n.sp. Our review demonstrates that all major endemic Ponto-Caspian gobiid lineages were already present during Sarmatian times, thereby pushing back their origin by approximately 5–10 myr in comparison to previously published dates for dichotomies. In our assessment, the origination of these lineages is linked to the early stage of separation of the Paratethys from the world oceans and the ecological changes that occurred during that time. These geological events parallel a dramatic increase in gobiid radiation and speciation, giving rise to many lineages, not all of which have persisted until today.

Две катакомбы позднесарматского времени из Пашковского могильника № 2

Две катакомбы позднесарматского времени из Пашковского могильника № 2

Coeval Lower Miocene subsidence of the Eisenstadt Basin and relative updoming of its Austroalpine frame: implications from high-resolution geophysics at the Oslip section (Northern Burgenland, Austria)

A fault system southeast of Eisenstadt was investigated with high-resolution geophysics using electric resistivity tomography, seismics and gravimetry. The St. Margarethen Fault separates the Neogene succession of the Eisenstadt Basin from the north south-trending Rust Range, which belongs to the Austroalpine frame. The interpretation of profiles down to a depth of 350 m derived from reflection and refraction seismics combined with the density model along the Oslip road section clearly reveals a listric fault, which dips westward towards the Eisenstadt Basin. Bed thickness of growth-strata regularly increases from west to east, and normal fault drags visible in the seismic profile west of the St. Margarethen Fault allow for interpreting this structure as a hanging-wall syncline. Thickness distribution of Neogene deposits reveals that the Eisenstadt Basin can be interpreted as a half-graben bounded by the listric St. Margarethen normal fault, which developed at the western flank of Rust Range. The subsidence of the Eisenstadt Basin during Lower to Middle Sarmatian times was accompanied by concurrent updoming of the Rust Range of at least 70 m. For the mechanism of the updoming of the Rust Range footwall uplift during hanging wall subsidence is inferred.