Reconstructing Bronze Age animal husbandry practices requires evaluating the scale of livestock mobility within specific micro-regions. Strontium isotope analysis provides an effective tool for this task, especially in areas where closely situated settlements represent different archaeological cultures and phases of the studied period. The Konoplyanka micro-district, encompassing four distinct cultural phases, offers a valuable case for diachronic comparison. Based on 26 measurements of 87Sr/86Sr ratios, we identified a spectrum of mobility patterns – from the exclusive use of local grazing areas to the introduction of animals from distant regions. Since all sites share the same environmental setting, these differences are best explained by variations in cultural traditions or changing environment.

Изотопный состав стронция 87Sr/86Sr скелетных тканей (зубов и костей) позволяет получать информацию о миграциях и происхождении человека и животных. На примере образца зуба человека из погребения в кургане (ранний железный век, Омская обл.) с использованием методов масс-спектрометрии с индуктивно связанной плазмой (МС-ИСП) и лазерной абляцией и электронно-зондового микроанализа оценена пригодность его различных структурных элементов (эмали и дентина) для дальнейшего изотопного анализа стронция. Проведено микроэлементное картирование фрагмента зуба. Показано отсутствие значимых диагенетических изменений эмали зуба, для которой методом МС-ИСП с многоколлекторным приемником ионов после хроматографического выделения проведено определение изотопного состава стронция. Это первое изотопное исследование материалов из археологических раскопок курганов саргатской культуры. Кроме того, показана перспективность предлагаемого подхода для реконструкции тафономических условий среды захоронения, что может внести вклад в выявление и изучение условий, способствовавших сохранению целостности скелетных тканей и археологической информации.

The 87Sr/86Sr strontium isotope ratio in skeletal tissues (teeth and bones) gives valuable information about the migrations and origin of humans and animals. In this study, we assess the suitability of various structural elements (enamel and dentin) of a human tooth sample from a burial mound (Early Iron Age, Omsk oblast) for strontium isotope analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS), laser ablation, and electron probe microanalysis. The microelemental mapping of a tooth fragment was conducted. The results indicate the absence of significant diagenetic changes in the tooth enamel, for which the 87Sr/86Sr isotope composition was determined by multicollector ICP–MS after chromatographic separation. This research represents the first isotopic study of materials from archaeological excavations of Sargat culture burial mounds. Furthermore, this approach offers promise in reconstructing taphonomic conditions of burial environments, contributing to the understanding of conditions facilitating the preservation of skeletal tissues and archaeological information.

Изотопный состав стронция 87Sr/86Sr скелетных тканей (зубов и костей) позволяет получать информацию о миграциях и происхождении человека и животных. На примере образца зуба человека из погребения в кургане (ранний железный век, Омская обл.) с использованием методов масс-спектрометрии с индуктивно связанной плазмой (МС-ИСП) и лазерной абляцией и электронно-зондового микроанализа оценена пригодность его различных структурных элементов (эмали и дентина) для дальнейшего изотопного анализа стронция. Проведено микроэлементное картирование фрагмента зуба. Показано отсутствие значимых диагенетических изменений эмали зуба, для которой методом МС-ИСП с многоколлекторным приемником ионов после хроматографического выделения проведено определение изотопного состава стронция. Это первое изотопное исследование материалов из археологических раскопок курганов саргатской культуры. Кроме того, показана перспективность предлагаемого подхода для реконструкции тафономических условий среды захоронения, что может внести вклад в выявление и изучение условий, способствовавших сохранению целостности скелетных тканей и археологической информации.

The article deals with results of airborne laser scanning, which was undertaken with drone above selected locations of kurgans of the Sargat culture in the middle Irtysh river basin (Omsk region) and its correlation with total station data of terrain survey. The selected scanning area covers imposing “Princely kurgans” situated on a plowed field and small mounds inside birch forest. The scanning results were processed with various filters for further creation of a digital terrain model (DTM), and then based on DTM, a topographical relief of the area under study was presented with a step of 1.0 m and of 0.1–0.2 m for sites of kurgan groups’ locations. Structures visible on DTM are coincided in quantity, size and relative position with previously recorded kurgan mounds. Besides already known archaeological objects DTM allows identifying structures similar to small kurgans mapped during terrain prospection, but requires further clarification in a course of electromagnetic survey or excavation. Combination of field and cartographic approaches provides estimation of topography particularities and hierarchy of kurgans various in size and remoteness. Small kurgans are mapped at lower hypsometric levels and distinctly close to the origins of the ravines. “Princely kurgans” were accommodated to dominant heights of foremost river terrace what was decisive in landscape exploitation, i.e. new territory markers were erected and thus transformation of landscape into social sense occurred. The particularity of the graveyard functioning was reconstructed based on data recorded during excavation of various kurgans in different sides of the area under study.

When findings of radiocarbon dating differ from method to method, researchers deal with this issue in absolutely different ways. This study is a case that compares two dating series of one Late Bronze kurgan. This kurgan is one of the Srubnaya-Alakul antiquities in the South Transurals. Even though the researched material is the same (human bone collagen), the scope of findings is comparable (19 LSC dates and 29 AMS dates) and the same individuals (n = 14) were dated repeatedly, the differences are still significant. In addition, every series in particular does not show any signs of static emissions. Bayesian modelling of the monocultural kurgan chronology (single-phase model) allows to determine boundaries of the intervals and assess durations for each series. LSC series covers the period between 20th and the mid-18th century BC (up to 167 years long), while AMS series covers the period between the mid-19th and the early 17th century BC (up to 34 years long). Most cases showed statistically different dates for the same individuals studied with different technologies. AMS version of the kurgan chronology conforms better to the previously determined parameters of the Alakul culture. The kurgan’s short chronology is also confirmed by only three generations of kin determined through DNA tests. It means this part of the necropolis could not function too long. Before we reveal the reasons of systematic discrepancies in different date series, it is not practical to consolidate them as it would affect reliability of conclusions both in the general chronology of the archaeological culture and in recovering the ‘history of life’ for a particular site.

The article deals with a complex study of the materials obtained during archaeological excavation of the kurgan Novopokrovka 16 in the middle Irtysh river basin (Omsk region). The site, which is attributed to the Sargat culture (5th century BC – second half of the 3rd century AD), was located farmost on the right bank of the river Irtysh, nearby the group of “Princely kurgans”. Despite almost total disturbance by robbers and agricultural activity, common scholars’ efforts demonstrate high informative capacity of the multidisciplinary approach, while modern level of undertaken research is not just being declared but enables to reconstruct seemingly lost information. The kurgan erection stages and mound structure features have been decoded using the results of a geophysical survey and soil morphology data. The paleoanthropological study of the incomplete skeletal remains does not support multiple or inlet interment inside the central grave, and provides sexing and aging of the buried individuals as well as some paleopathological observations. Apart from species examination, archaeozoological data testify that a warm period from spring to early autumn was the season of animal slaughter. Characteristics of mortuary rituals and direction of intercultural contacts of the ancient forest-steppe groups have been completed by new details based on the results of strontium isotope analyses (dental enamel of humans and animals) and evidence non-local origin of the individual buried under the excavated kurgan, what is different from local origin of horses butchered for funereal feasts. The proposed hypothesis supports previously suggested archaeological, paleoanthropological and paleogenetic facts on the origin of the forest-steppe population, indicating an involvement of various population groups with notable external components. Based on the archaeological materials, the kurgan under study might be dated back to mid-4th – 3rd centuries BC.

We present the results of a multi-disciplinary analysis of a jug and its contents from the elite burial complex of the Sargat culture in Middle Irtysh Basin (burial Isakovka I, mound 3, burial 6). The burial, along with military equipment and various metallic import, contained a ceramic jug, the closest analogies to which are found in the production centers of the settled population of the foothill zone of the central and partially eastern regions of the North Caucasus, as well as the steppe territory (the basin of the Kuma River). The studied piece is distinguished by its massive form and traces of repair of the upper part. The jug was placed in the burial filled with a granular substance with fragments of light and gray-black color. Laboratory analysis found no traces of tartrates, i.e. the jug was not used for cooking or transporting beverages of grape juice. The detected fractions of biogenic apatite could possibly originate from fish bones and scales, used for the production of glue, which was added for clarification of wine, beer and mead. At the same time, the composition of the filling contains organic substances related to the production of a low-alcohol drink based on honey, fermented with the addition of cereal grains (local wild or coming from agricultural centers). There are two versions for defining this drink: either it was beer – one of the oldest ritual drinks, the use of which in pastoral cultures is confirmed by texts of the Nart sagas and is confirmed by similar forms of words of Iranian origin; or an infusion of herbs/cereals based on honey, also common in the ritual practices of ancient and traditional cultures. This find is considered exceptional, since the North Caucasian antiquities of the Early Iron Age have been previously unknown in the forest-steppe monuments of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. It is possible that the area of the Sargat culture is so far the easternmost territory of distribution of such ceramics.

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic-Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka-Volga-Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium BC, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.

Introduction. Currently, the picture characterizing the health status of the population, inhabiting the Southern Urals during the Bronze Age, is fragmentary due to the unsystematic nature of paleopathological studies and the often small sizes or poor preservation of the analyzed skeletal samples. This paper contributes new data to the overall discussion of the topic by presenting the results of a paleopathological study of materials from the Neplyuevsky kurgan cemetery, kurgan 1, located in the southern Chelyabinsk region and excavated between 2016 and 2017. The sample includes the remains of 14 adults (aged 18 and older) and 23 subadults (<18 years old). Methods. The skeletons were assessed for macroscopically detectable pathologies and markers of physiological stress. Pathological lesions were scored base on the recommendations given in specialized literature. Analysis. Cribra orbitalia, dental enamel hypoplasia and various traumatic injuries were common in the sample. As in other Srubnaya and Srubnaya-Alakul series of the region, the skeletons from kurgan 1 show no changes consistent with specific infections, though incidences of nonspecific infections are not excluded. Results. In general, the sample from kurgan 1 of the Neplyuevsky kurgan cemetery demonstrates similarity with materials from other synchronous sites of the Southern Urals and the Samara valley region. A distinguishing feature of the Neplyuevsky series is the relatively high frequency of bone fractures and their predominance in women.

The article deals with artifacts found in the Iron Age kurgans over the Trans-Uralian and West Siberian forest-steppe, which might be referencing for chronology of the Sargat culture and late complexes emerging within area under study. Our emphasis is placed on the analyses of some belt and strap fittings. Meanwhile the novelty of undertaken research might be viewed less in general discussion of chronological aspects but it brings to light quite rare examples of metal belt buckles among the well-known collections. Such finds broad our knowledge on material culture of the forest-steppe population during the first centuries AD and allow the authors’ assume on origin and time of appearance of buckles with flexile tongue as items of Roman patterns. At the same time one may presume that emergence of belt fittings with such construction over the vast territory, i.e. on the south of Eastern Europe on the one side and Central Asia and Siberia on the other side could occur irrespectively in general. In chronological aspect the introduction of buckles with flexile tongue into Asiatic territory of the steppe belt could have been no earlier than during the second half of the first century AD. Based on archaeological finds from the latest complexes the highest chronological edge of the Sargat culture might be considered as not beyond the mid of the third century AD. The early third century BC marks decline and stagnation of the culture, and archaeological sites with main, blatant features dated back to the mid of the third century AD are not found in the forest-steppe eastward the Urals. All available data testify to the fact that a relatively short-term lacuna divides archaeological materials of the early Iron Age and Great Folk Movement.

The article continues the publication of the results of multidisciplinary study of the Bronze Age cemetery Nepluyevsky in the Southern Trans-Urals, presenting the experience of studying the soil contents of ceramic vessels from kurgan 1. The pottery collection consists of 95 pots found intact or fragmentated in burials, food offerings pits and cenotaphs, as well as outside structures, i. e. on the ancient surface horizon. All studied structures were attributed to the Srubnaya culture, mainly to its Srubnaya-Alakul variant. The undertaken reconstruction of funeral food is based on comparative analysis of chemical compounds in soil samples from 54 archaeologically intact pots using X-ray and mass-spectrometry. The studied pottery includes decorated and non-decorated pots of different shapes. There are no any traces of utilization, that is why one may presume its ritual meaning. During laboratory analyses, its soil content marks high points titers of biogenic elements such as P, K, Ca and Mg, which used to be the difference in funereal meals. The results obtained made it possible to reconstruct the original contents of ritual ceramics. Thus, there is no evidence of meat, the vessels could contain both milk/fermented milk products and water/herbal drinks, or they could be empty as well. There is not any strong connection between the age of the deceased and the food offerings. The absence of cereals residues in the studied samples is noteworthy, which is typical for groups with a predominantly meat and dairy diet.

The article deals with the results of a study of a plant mixture from an ancient vessel found in the rich burial of the Isakovka I burial ground (the Gorkovsky district of the Omsk region, the right bank of the Irtysh River). According to archaeological material, the estimated date of the complex might be not earlier than the 1st–2nd centuries AD. The analysis of the substance was carried out by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC–MS) after acid methanolysis. The mixture contains aliphatic lipids (fatty acids, phytosterol), terpenes (monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and triterpenes) derived apparently from the large amounts of essential oils and resins of plant origin. The presence of a number of diagnostic compounds in the mixture composition (boswellic acid derivatives, amyrins, lupeol) suggests that frankincense from Boswellia resin is included in the mixture. Since psychotropic substances (cannabinoids and nicotinoids) have not been found, this combination may be characteristic of an aroma mixture or incense based on frankincense from Boswellia.

The body of works on craniological and paleoodontological analyses of the materials from the Bronze Age sites of the Southern Trans-Urals still has not clarified the question of the genesis of the people who lived in this area. This is partly due to fragmentary state of the available materials, so that publication of new data appears highly relevant. This paper deals with the results of craniological and dental analyses of an osteological sample from two kurgans of the Nepljuevski burial ground, excavated between 2015 and 2017 by a Russian-German archaeological expedition. The burial ground is located 300 km south-west of Chelyabinsk city, in Kartalinsky district in the steppes of the Southern Trans-Urals. The recovered materials are dated to the Late Bronze Age and attributed to the Srubnaya-Alakul Culture variant. Materials and methods. Metric description of 5 male and 6 female crania is given. The dental sample comprised remains of 14 children and adolescents and 12 adults. Standard craniometric and paleoodontological protocols were used. Statistical procedures included principal component analysis (PCA) for craniometric traits and correspondence analysis for odontological traits. Results. Generally, the crania show morphology characteristic for the European (Caucasian) groups. The male crania are homogenous in such traits as narrow, vividly protruding nose and a pronounced horizontal profiling. The sample is dominated by individuals with a high facial height. Females and males generally show morphological similarities, but females, on average, have a relatively higher braincase, wider and lower orbits, a relatively wider nose, and slightly less pronounced horizontal profiling. The odontological analysis is in line with the cranoimetric data indicating European ancestry. One of the distinct characteristics of this sample is the presence of «enamel pearls» — a usually rare trait — in 5 out of 12 individuals, which may indicate an increased percentage of biological relatives in it. Conclusion. Overall, the crania from kurgan 1 find analogies among gracilized high-faced forms widespread in Southern Urals and Kazakhstan during the Bronze Age, often linked to the southern ancestry. The attribution of the Nepljuevski sample to the circle of gracile forms is indicated by the results of odontological analysis, which revealed its proximity to the Tripolye culture sample.

The publication continues the presentation of the Sargat culture materials and deals with field and desk-top investigation of two male burials found under barrow 6 in Gaevsky 1 cemetery (Trans-Urals, Tobol river basin). The analyzed assemblages are exceptional due to preservation (intact tombs), which provides each stage of the undertaken study with various information and bio-archaeological reconstructions. The paper is based on already published materials, which within interdisciplinary approach yields new data and interpretations, when already known materials are being considered from the general to the case study and from the distinct to the specific. Results of ancient DNA of the males under study are of particular interest. Their close kinship was not attested, while mtDNA and Y-chromosome were analyzed within Sargat genepool. Thus, life-style, social environment and cultural tradition can be seen as individual scope, similar to personality.

The paper presents the results of a study of gold embroidery samples from two sites of different times: Early Iron Age Isakovka I burial ground and the burials of Bolgar medieval settlement. Using the SEM method, we examined the composition of Isakovka I burial ground gold threads and Bulgarian silver threads. The gold composition (Au-Ag-Cu ratio) can significantly vary both between different threads and within the same sample. The data obtained provide to conclude that for the manufacture of gold threads various metals, e.g. native gold (possibly from different ore deposits), as well as scrap gold or other products, could be mixed. The analysis of individual fibers of the filament cores at high zooming confirmed that silk was used in Bolgar samples. For further research, the use of high-precision analysis methods is proposed.

The article deals with the antiquity of Sargat culture of forest-steppe in the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. The established concepts of chronological framework cover the interval from the 5th century BC to 4th-5th centuries AD. Recent studies, both in the main territory and outside the Sargat area, provide evidences for clarifying the upper chronological boundary of the culture. The bright Late Sarmatian appearance of some Sargat burial complexes allows to consider Late Sarmatian finds of the Southern Urals as a reference; rich material has been accumulated on them, as well as detailed chronology.Late Sargathian monuments are found only in two regions - Tobol and Ishim rivers basins. The proposed correction is based on archaeological material which is external data (relative chronology) towards radiocarbon analysis (absolute chronology). In the archaeological collections of Sargat burials there are no any artifacts, the beginning of the period of existence of which falls on the 3rd century AD. There is no such evidence in the settlements either. Furthermore, judging by the available materials, the number of such complexes is small and the inventory is quite poor. The article gives a detailed analysis of burials from seven kurgan cemeteries located in Tobol and Ishim rivers basins, which might be attributed to the latest group marking the upper chronological boundary. In the second half of the 3rd century AD, the main features of the Sargat culture are fading and blurred, besides, it is absent in most of the forest-steppe territory to the east of the Urals. In conclusion the author suggests that if the assumptions are correct, the disappearance of the bright expressive complexes that defined the image of the Sargat social and cultural system, looks quite sharp. The Sargat monuments of the 4th century AD and later are not found across vast forest-steppe territory.

М. К. Карапетян, С. В. Шарапова, А