Tagar Culture Research Articles

Раскопки тагарских курганов на площади могильников Сагайская протока 1, 2, 5 и 12

The publication presents materials from the excavations of 6 burial mounds belonging to four separate Early Iron Age burial grounds. The investigations were carried out in the Askizsky District of the Republic of Khakassia as part of rescue works in the construction site of the second railway track at the “Chartykovsky - Kamyshta” section. Most of the burials were looted in antiquity. Inlet burials related to Tesinskaya archaeological culture were made in the barrow of an isolated mound of Sagayskaya protoka 5. In the course of the railway construction in the mid-20th century, the earthen barrows and underground stone structures were destroyed (burial site Sagayskaya protoka 1). Nevertheless, some burials have survived intact. This made it possible to establish the details of the funeral rituals and to correlate the archaeological sites with the Podgorny and Saragash stages of the Tagar culture. The Podgorny burials (VII-VI centuries BC) are characterized by arrangement of individual graves. The dead people were placed in stone boxes set in ground pits, accompanied by meat food and grave goods. In the surviving graves, bronze knives, a handle metal stap, mirrors, awls, beads, pendants made of animal teeth and the claw of a bird ofprey were found. The vessels are standard in shape and ornament. Rare finds include miniature combs (less than 2 cm long) decorated with solar symbols. The Saragash stage is represented by grave 4 in the Sagayskaya protoka 5 barrow containing the burials of 9 adults. The burial is tentatively dated to the V-IV centuries BC.

Культурно-хронологические комплексы курганного могильника Сагайская протока-4 (Аскизский район Республики Хакасия)

In 2021, the team of Federal Research Center of the Institute of Coal and Coal Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences undertook rescue excavations on Sagaiskaya protoka-4 kurgan burial ground (the Askiz district, the Republic of Khakassia). The article presents the summarized results of cultural and chronological attribution of the researched burial assemblages of this burial ground. The early period of this necropolis is connected to the Chernovaya stage of the Okunev culture (22nd—20th centuries BC). The fence with diagonal lines of stones (kurgan 1) with six studied tombs in stone boxes is attributed to that period. The grave goods of Okunev burial grounds are objects made of bone, ceramic pots and miniature stone ball. The second stage of the burial ground is connected to the Late Bronze Age (kurgan 2). Lugavskiy assemblage (10th —9th centuries BC) related to the earliest stage of the kurgan construction is presented by the findings from the central ruined burial (bronze knife, ring) and untouched child’s tomb (ceramic pot, a set of small pieces of bronze jewelry). The Bainov assemblage of the burial complex (late 9th — early 8th centuries BC), found in the lateral annex fence contained a flat bottomed ceramic pot with a typical ornaments. The third period in the history of the burial ground is connected to the Bidzha population group of the early Tagar culture (late 8th — 6th centuries BC). At that time, the Bronze Age kurgans’ fences were rebuilt in order to make new tombs, and a separate Bidzha complex (kurgan 3) is erected nearby. All the burials of that period have grave inventory of the same type: jar-like vessels with narrow flutings, “glasses”, bone arrowheads, anklets, unknown purpose objects. The unusual feature of the studied part of Sagayskaya protoka-4 burial complex are numerous pits near all fences, in some cases containing archaeological material (animal bones, small fragments of ceramics, stone objects, sandstone slabs). These are the first objects of such a type found in the Tagar kurgans.

Культурный палимпсест в кургане № 5 могильника Уйтаг-3 (Республика Хакасия)

In 2021, as a part of rescue archaeological work in the Askiz district of the Republic of Khakassia a unique burial complex was studied. Kurgan No. 5 at the Uytag-3 burial ground was a cultural-chronological palimpsest. A mound of the Afanasyevo culture with two graves was located at the base of the site. Its territory was used by the Tagar people for the construction of their mound. A powerful fence with corner and paving stones, an earthen platform made of blocks of loam with sod, 4 burial vaults covered with larch logs, and passages were erected. During the Tesinsky stage, another burial vault with a dromos was built at the central part of the embankment. All the tombs functioned for a long time for the burial of new deceased. Despite the disturbance (and partial robbery) of the complexes in antiquity, many details of the funeral rituals characteristic of several chronological stages of the Tagar culture, from the Saragashenskiy (IV—III centuries BC) to the Tesinsky stage (II-I centuries BC), remained intact. Field research yielded abundant assemblage of burial goods including bronze daggers, battle hammer-axes, awls, mirrors; bronze and iron knives and belt plates with pendants; costume decorations in the form of hemispherical bronze plaques, beads, perforated clothing decorations and deer plaques. A variety of ceramics was found in each grave: from large jars to small vessels-incense burners. An interesting ceramic complex was also excavated from the Afanasyevo burials. The unique clay-plaster funerary masks portraying the deceased were cleaned up and secured at the Tesinsky vault. Almost all of the masks displayed Caucasian features. Samples of wood from burial structures were taken for analysis, and the anthropological collection was replenished. It is worth noting the Okunevo stele with a face carved on its side edge used in the fence of the Tagar mound.

Меч раннего железного века с территории Среднего Енисея

Purpose. The article is devoted to the characteristics of a double-edged iron sword, which can be attributed to the unique phenomena of the early Iron Age of the Minusinsk Basin. Results. According to its morphological characteristics, the sword is an increased technological modification of the traditional Tagar dagger. The total length of the sword is 59.5 cm; the width of the lenticular blade in cross-section is about 7 cm. The handle with a volute-like pommel is separated from the blade by a narrow butterfly-shaped crosshair. The length of the hilt is 8 cm, which corresponds to the size of the hilts of most Scythian swords. This is a very small size, since in men the average palm width is about 12 cm. Probably, the rounded outlines of the pommel and narrow crosshairs allow, due to their shape, to hold the short handle of a heavy sword more tightly. Conclusion. According to the classification of O. I. Kura, Scythian swords with a narrow butterfly-shaped crosshair and volute-like pommel are included in Group III, Type II A2 dating from the end of the 5th – 4th centuries BC, which corresponds to the boundary between the Podgorny and Saragashen stages of the Tagar culture. The earliest form of sword hilts with typologically similar forms of crosshairs (kidney-shaped, heart-shaped, butterfly-shaped) with bar-shaped pommels appeared in the North Caucasus in the first half of the 7th century BC. On the territory of the Minusinsk Basin, most morphologically similar daggers are usually dated to the 6th – 4th centuries BC. Before the discovery of the Krasnoyarsk sword, long-bladed iron weapons were not known there. At the same time, swords of the Scythian time were found in the nearest regions of Altai and Kazakhstan. The later appearance of the technology for processing iron in the Minusinsk Basin makes it possible to consider the Krasnoyarsk sword an import item. According to another hypothesis, it belongs to the period of the late 3rd – 2nd centuries BC, when local craftsmen mastered the processing of iron and began to make massive quantities of weapons and tools from low-carbon steel. In doing so, they copied traditional archaic forms.

Археологические материалы таштыкской эпохи на стоянке Казановка-14 в Аскизском районе Республики Хакасия

General information on archaeological excavations at the Kazanovka-14 site in 2021 is presented. The site is located on the right bank of the Askiz river on a small elevation above the floodplain at the foothills of the Abakansky mountain range. In 2020, mounds of the Late Bronze Age and Tagar culture of the Kazanovka-12 burial ground in the immediate vicinity of the camp were investigated. The site consists of a cultural layer deposited on a dealluvialplume at a relatively shallow depth from the present day surface. The cultural layer includes both scattered artifacts and bone material as well as the remains of a burnt construction with a series of pottery vessels. The archaeological material is unevenly deposited, with isolated concentration spots of animal bones, including processed bones. The archeological assemblage includes various ceramics (vessels of the different sizes, (mainly of the opened form, with a recessed and rounded rim, ornamentation of the top part in the form of dangling triangles, semicircular and triangular indentations), weaponry (arrowheads made of bone, as a rule, elongated-rhombic, and metal, tiered; fragment of an armor plate), fragments of clothing (belt cover plates). Among the finds, sandstone tiles with carved images stand out. On the basis of the finds complex, the site dates to the later stages of the Tashtyk epoch (middle of the 1st millenium A.D.). The surviving outskirts of the settlement, with preserved evidence of active bone carving and possibly ceramic production were excavated and examined. Given the small number of investigated settlement sites in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin, Kazanovka-14 represents unique opportunities to characterize the economic life of the Tashtyk population and correlate the household and funerary object complexes known from the crypts.

Генетический состав носителей тагарской культуры: современное состояние и перспективы исследований

Despite the high degree of archaeological and anthropological research of the Tagar culture and its carriers, many directions of study of this Sothern Siberian Iron Age population remain relevant. This work is devoted to the consideration of the data on the genetic composition of the Tagar culture population, obtained to date by paleogenetic methods. The study of representative mtDNA sample series from chronologically different groups of the Tagar population (N = 79), carried out by the authors of this work, allow us to obtain the first objective view on the composition of its mitochondrial gene pool. The obtained results illustrate well the significance of analysis of representative sample series when performing paleogenetic reconstructions. The general Tagar population is characterized by the presence in the gene pool of both Western Eurasian (H, HV6, HV*, I, K, T, U2e, U4, U5a, and U*) and Eastern Eurasian (A*, A8, C*, C5, D, G2a, F1b) mtDNA haplogroups. Unlike other populations of southern Siberia of the Scythian time, Western Eurasian variants dominate in the Tagar gene pool. Among the previous populations, the Tagar population demonstrates affinity with the populations of the Minusinsk Basin of the Middle Bronze Age. When compared with the groups of early nomads of Eurasia, the Tagar population shows a similarity in terms of the mtDNA variability with the carriers of other cultures of the Scythian circle, occupying an intermediate position between the geographically distant Scythians of the Northern Black Sea region and the population of the south Siberian cultures, Pazyryk and Aldy-Bel. During the transition from the Podgorny to the Saragashen stages, the Tagar population converges with other groups of early nomads of southern Siberia. In the Tagar gene pool of the Y chromosome, the dominance of variants of the R1a1a haplogroup was revealed. This genetic cluster was first introduced into the Minusinsk Basin by the carriers of the Andronovo (Fedorovo) culture. However, additional in-depth analysis of the Tagar Y chromosome lineages is required to clarify their origin. The paper presents the most promising directions for further research of the Tagar populations using paleogenetic methods.

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

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.

Ключевые аспекты экономики населения тагарской культуры: основные концепции и проблемы изучения скотоводства

Ключевые аспекты экономики населения тагарской культуры: основные концепции и проблемы изучения скотоводства

Tagar Artifacts at the Stavropol State Museum Reserve (G.N. Prozritelev’s Collection)

This article introduces 16 bronze weapons and horse harness items representing the Tagar culture (a dagger, ten knives, bits, a cheekpiece, an axe, a celt, and a mirror) from the Minusinsk Region, collected by G.N. Prozritelev in the early 1900s. The objective of this study is to describe them and to assess their chronology. The dagger and the three knives exemplify the animal style of500-300 BC. The cross-guard of the dagger is shaped like two oppositely facing bird heads separated by a spiral scroll. The pommels of the knives are decorated with figurines of a standing ram, a standing donkey, a ring, a roll, a drop-shaped slit, etc. The handles of two knives are decorated with a band consisting of oblique hatches, two rows of triangles, and a hoof sign. Based on the data, certain artifacts (the dagger, the knives, the cheekpiece, and the mirror) date to 600-300 BC. The axe, the celt, the bits, and possibly a massive knife with a bird’s head at the junction of the handle and blade may date to 700-500 (possibly even 800-500) BC. A considerable scatter of dates suggests that the artifacts come from different sites. They may have been part of a single hoard whose separate items span a chronological range between 700 or even 800 to 400 BC.

Traceological study of trepanations on crania from vaults at Beliy Yar-VI, Stepnovka-II, and Bolshoe Ruslo (Tes stage of the Tagar culture)

Traceological study of trepanations on crania from vaults at Beliy Yar-VI, Stepnovka-II, and Bolshoe Ruslo (Tes stage of the Tagar culture)

СВЯТИЛИЩЕ «ХРАМ ВРЕМЕНИ» В СЕВЕРНОЙ ХАКАСИИ: МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ СВЕТОТЕНЕВОЙ КАРТИНЫ

The results of the study of the archaeological monument of Tagar culture (VIII-III centuries BC) "Temple of time", located in Northern Khakassia, are described. The main purpose of the study was to obtain natural scientific evidence of the monument calendar significance, as well as that its construction was performed in accordance with the light-and-dark picture during the sunrise and sunset at the equinoxes and winter solstice. To modeling the annual illumination of the monument by the Sun, azimuth orientation, geodesic measurements, and astronomical calculations were performed. In addition, in order to clarify the details, the simulation of a solar beam with a total station laser beam was applied. The modeling results were confirmed by direct observations during the autumnal equinox and winter solstice, when photographs were taken with recording of the shooting moments for subsequent astronomical calculations. As a result, the importance of astronomical research methods and direct observations on astronomically significant days of the year in the study of such archaeological objects is justified. Using astronomical calculations, it is proved that the light-and-shadow picture observed on the monument in modern times is almost identical to the light-and-shadow picture in the Tagar epoch. Suggestions have been made for using laser scanning to model a light-and-shadow picture. The monument "Temple of Time" is a unique object, it is a complex spatial structure in accordance with the illumination on astronomically significant days of the year. The direction of the main axis of the monument to the rising Sun at the winter solstice is made with an error of no more than 10, which indicates that the ancient organizers of the monument knew astronomical dates well and solved a direct problem by direct observations of the Sun. Measurements, calculations, modeling and field observations confirmed the assumptions about its calendar significance of the monument's discoverer, doctor of historical Sciences V. E. Larichev.

Об абсолютных датах Большого Салбыкского кургана и салбыкского этапа тагарской культуры (ответ на статью Н. Ю. Кузьмина)

This paper is a response to the critical notes in the article by N. Yu. Kuz'min “New dat- ing of the Great Salbyk barrow and the chronology of Tagar sites”. For N. Yu. Kuz'min, in his article of 2020, it remained “unclear” what is the basis of absolute dating of archaeological sites of the Tagar culture — Sal- byk, Kobyak, Bidzha, Large Poltakovsky and Novomikhaylovsky barrows. The absolute dates of the Salbyk stage of the Tagar culture are based not on radiocarbon analysis but on a cross-comparison of diverse simi- lar, in terms of the forms and types, archaeological objects with reference to well-dated sites of Southern Siberia of the 8th–7th century BC.

К вопросу о границах распространения тагарских памятников в Минусинских котловинах

This paper describes the dynamics of the evolution of the Tagar culture at the early and advanced stages of its existence in the area of the Minusinsk Depressions. Opinions of a number of researchers concerning the expansion of the zone of settlement of Tagar tribes as well as the transformation of their burial tradition are analysed in detail. The main vector of the Tagar infiltration was directed to the forest-steppe zone of the Sayan region, while the initial oc- cupation of this territory by the Tagar people began not earlier than the 6th century BC. Here the stages and peculiarities of settlement of the northernmost depression, i. e. the Nazarovo one, by the Tagarians are considered.

The Search Possibilities of the Ancient Ore Mining Sites in the North of the Kuznetsky Alatau

The foothills of the North-Western Kuznetsky Alatau are considered as the copper-ore base of the Tagar archaeological culture. The paper introduced some published data on copper deposits on the banks of the river Kia and the bordering area of the Kuznetsky Alatau. Map-marking revealed the geographical the connection between the Koghuh tectonic area, the Central-Martaiga structure-formaton area, and the Tagar archaeological sites. The research registered the known settlements on the Kemerovo region territory with signs of the bronze industry (copper-bronze artifacts, tools for ore crushing, slag) related to Tagar and transitional Tagar-Tashtik Epoch. The peculiarities of such sites demonstrated the localization of the bronze industry process in the some fortified and stable settlements. The comparison of geochemical admixtures revealed the differences of copper-ore origin at the developed stage of Tagar culture and the transitional Tagar-Tashtik stage. This can be explained by the difference in geography of the sites as related to the copper deposits of North-Western, Northern, and North-Eastern Kuznetsky Alatau foothills. The authors believe that the banks of the Kia and its left tributaries, the Koghuh and the Kundat, can reveal some ancient copper mining archaeological sites in the future.

Zooarchaeological Collection from Bolshepichuginsky Kurgan Burial Mound (According to the Excavations in 2013–2016)*

Numerous animal remains are part of burial practice in Tagar culture, therefore researches conducted to determine anatomic, specific, and age structure of zooarchaeological assemblages in certain tombs and whole cemeteries, their peculiarities and comparative analysis. The paper features an analysis of the faunistic collections from the kurgan burial mound of Tagar culture Bolshepichugino I (VI century – C.E.). In total, 75 samples from kurgan 13 were described and 2192 – from kurgan 16 have. The zooarchaeological assemblages consist of remains of a horse, cattle, and sheep, fox, doe, Asian badger, mountain hare, and birds. The peculiarities of the associated food were determined (scapula, 3–4 ribs, femur, and tibia of cattle and sheep). The use of right parts of animal bodies is discussed in the context of burial practice in the Early Tagar period. Remains of young animals (younger than 1 year) were also found in the materials. It is supposed that the burial mounds were made in winter time. Some domestic and wild bone assemblages located in different places of the kurgans are considered to belong to another period and culture or zoogenic processes. A special attention is paid to the doe and fox remains in the tombs since their carcasses might have been used in burial rituals. In total, the composition and specifics of zooarchaeological materials make it possible to speak about similarity of forest-steppe and steppe early Tagar assemblages in this aspect of burial practice.

Проблемы реконструкции жилищ тагарской культуры Хакасско-Минусинской котловины

Проблемы реконструкции жилищ тагарской культуры Хакасско-Минусинской котловины

Эволюция погребального обряда хакасов: факторы сохранения системной целостности

<p>В работе осуществлен анализ основных этапов и факторов эволюции погребального обряда хакасов начиная с древности до начала XXI в. Под понятием «погребальный обряд» авторы понимают систему действий, объединенных единством мировоззренческих оснований, совершаемых с момента смерти человека, во время погребения и после похорон в виде поминальных ритуалов. Анализ научной литературы показал, что погребальный обряд рассматривался как объект либо археологических, либо этнографических изысканий, а также, что потребность рассмотреть обряд в его системной целостности требует культурологического анализа. </p><p class="21">Погребальный обряд хакасов в своих мировоззренческих основах начал формироваться еще в период тагарской культуры VIII–II вв. до н. э. Он соответствовал вертикально-горизонтальной структуре мира, проводился в соответствии с культами Неба, Земли, Огня. Таковым он оставался и в последующие периоды развития народа.</p><p class="21">В ХVIII — начале ХХ1 в. обрядность испытала влияние ряда факторов, в большей степени повлиявших на форму, но не на содержание ритуалов. Так, влияние господствующего рода кыргызов выразилось в доминировании обряда по типу трупосожжения. Взаимодействие различных этнических групп и родов (сеоков) Саяно-Алтая также внесло некоторые новации в обряд и оформление памятников. Особое влияние на проведение погребального обряда хакасов могла бы оказать христианизация, но он сохранил свою целостность. Атеизм ХХ в. лишь изменил форму надгробного памятника, когда распространились постаменты с пятиконечной звездой. В ХXI в. происходит восстановление этнической культуры хакасов. Хакасы выказывают живой интерес к традиционным формам, в том числе в погребальной обрядности.</p>

NEWLY DISCOVERED BRONZE ARTIFACTS OF THE SCYTHIAN PERIOD FROM ARCHEKAS MOUNTAIN, KUZNETSK ALATAU

The borderland between the West Siberian Plain and the Kuznetsk-Salair mountain ridge is a narrow strip of the Mariinsk forest-steppe, which was a transit and contact area between two ancient cultural centers: one on the Upper Ob and the other on the Middle Yenisei. Archaeological finds from that area are especially interesting. One of important geographic features of the Mariinsk forest-steppe is Archekas mountain. About a dozen archaeological sites on this mountain date mostly to the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. In October 2015, several bronze items were found there: a cauldron, four arrow points, a “mirror”, a deer figurine, and a dagger, whose handle is decorated in the Scytho-Siberian style. All items are cast of stannic bronze; a small amount of arsenic is also present in certain cases. The article describes the context and the location of the find, the items, and their cultural affinities. Despite the generally Scythian appearance of all the artifacts and the wide distribution area of their parallels, we demonstrate that the assemblage belongs to the Tagar culture and, by the Tagar standards, should date to 600–400 BC. However, the artifacts resemble those manufactured in the forest-steppe periphery and were probably custom-made for the Kulai people of the taiga zone. If so, the date must be younger and fall within the 400–200 BC interval. The analysis of assemblages with cauldrons allowed us to assume that the Archekas assemblage was ritual, associated with a sanctuary.

DEPICTION OF THE DEER IN TAGAR WEAPON DECORATION

The paper is devoted to the depiction of deer in the decoration of Tagar weapons. Such images are not numerous, much fewer than the deer images on other types of Tagar inventory. However, in terms of expression and diversity the deer images in the decoration of Tagar weapons are not inferior and even superior to those in other extant categories of items. The paper presents the experience of systematizing animal style decoration of Tagar weapons based on such features as the type of weapon, animal posture and image style. The authors revealed the stylistic traditions of images dating back to Arjan-Mayemir traditions, images on deer stones of the Sayan-Altai and Mongolian-Trans-Baikal type, as well as the impact of the Scythian art from Tuva and Altai. Styles of deer depiction in knife decoration were correlated with blade types. It was possible to determine that some of the images with depictive signs of the early Scythian tradition were performed on items related to the later stages of Tagar culture, indicating the duration of the early Scythian traditions along with new versions of images.

Цветной металл тагарской культуры: история исследований состава сплавов на медной основе с 1860-х по 1950-е гг.

Цветной металл тагарской культуры: история исследований состава сплавов на медной основе с 1860-х по 1950-е гг.