The article reviews some aspects to the problem of reconstructing the orien-tation and length of the seasonal migration routes of the Southern Urals cat-tle-breeding population in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The research analyses studies devoted to the economy of the Medieval and New Time nomads. Besides, the work relies on ethnographic data and written sources to reveal the system of migrations. The system implies that pastures are located in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of the Southern Urals, while winter huts lay within the Caspian North and North-East, as well as the Aral Sea region. The study determines this migration system to be sustainable. It was constantly reproduced by the cattle-breeding population of these regions and can be extrapolated to the cattle-breeding communities system of seasonal migrations in the mid-1st millennium BC. In addition, the research reviews the nature of some archaeological sites of Ustyurt and Mangyshlak, in particular the structures of Tasastau 1–2, Tubezhik 1–2, Meretsai 2, Aygyrly 2, and the central structure of the Dykyltas complex, also known as sanctuaries according to specialized literature. This review shows that these sites are burial structures associated with the Southern Urals nomads. The sites are also assumed to serve as sanctuaries. The time of construction and initial use of these crypts dates back to the second half of the 5th–4th centuries BC. These burials structures reveal differences in the appearance, as well as in a number of other ritual characteristics compared to the monu-ments of the Southern Urals. This phenomenon can be explained through the transformation of cultural traditions due to different landscapes, season-al climatic conditions and economic circumstances. These burial complexes increase the number of monuments confirming the use of the territory of Ustyurt and Mangyshlak by the South Ural nomads in the middle of the 1st millennium as their winter quarters. Статья посвящена исследованию некоторых аспектов проблемы реконструкции направленности и протяженности маршрутов сезонных перекочёвок скотоводческого населения Южного Приуралья в середине I тыс. до н.э. Под Южным Приуральем понимаются равнинные территории, прилегающие на западе и востоке к Южному Уралу. Привлечение исследований, посвященных хозяйству кочевников средневековья и Нового времени и основанных на этнографических данных и письменных источниках, показало, что система перекочёвок, при которой летние пастбища располагались в степных и лесостепных районах Южного Приуралья, а зимовья – в пределах Северного и Северо-Восточного Прикаспия, а также Приаралья, являлась устойчивой. Она постоянно воспроизводилась скотоводческим населением этих регионов и может быть экстраполирована на систему сезонных миграций скотоводческих сообществ середины I тыс. до н.э. Анализ характера некоторых археологических памятников Устюрта и Мангышлака, в частности, сооружений Тасастау 1–2, Тубежик 1–2, Меретсай 2, Айгырлы 2, центрального сооружения комплекса Дыкылтас, именуемых в специальной литературе святилищами, показал, что они являются погребальными сооружениями, связанными с кочевниками Южного Приуралья. Они же могли выполнять функции святилищ. Время возведения и первоначального использования этих склепов приходится на вторую половину V – IV в. до н.э. Отличия в облике этих погребальных сооружений, а также ряде других обрядовых характеристик от памятников Южного Приуралья могут быть объяснены трансформацией культурных традиций, обусловленных различными ландшафтами, сезонными климатическими условиями и обстоятельствами ведения хозяйственной деятельности. Эти погребальные комплексы увеличивают число памятников, подтверждающих использование южноуральскими номадами в середине I тыс. до н.э. территории Устюрта и Мангышлака для своих зимовий.
The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the relations of the nomads‘ social elite from the Southern Urals buried in the cemetries of the kurgans Filippovka 1, 2. The total craniological series of these monuments consists of 22 skulls (9 male and 13 female) representing brachycranial broad-faced Caucasoids. The aim of the study is to determine the historical roots of this group including their migration patterns, as well as their contacts with the surrounding population. The study is based on a comparative analysis of 35 craniological series of the Early Iron Age sites in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eurasia. The comparison was carried out according to the canonical analysis method using the Multican and Statistica 12 programs. In terms of morphological features, the individuals buried in the Filippovka kurgans are as close as possible to the nomads of the Southern Urals and the Lower Volga region of the Sauromatian (6th – 5th/4th centuries BC) and early Sarmatian (4th – 3rd centuries BC) time. They probably come from the local nomadic population who resided in this territory in early Sauromatian time. Representatives of the Filippovka group are also morphologically close to the Saka of the Aral Sea region and to the bearers of the Tasmolà culture from Central Kazakhstan. The formation of the pastoral population of the Early Iron Age (5th – 4th centuries BC) of two regions – the Southern Urals and the Aral Sea – might have taken place on a single anthropological basis, which is associated with the nomadic tribes of Central Kazakhstan including the bearers of the Tasmolà culture who had contacts with the Southern Siberia settled groups. As a result of mestizo processes on the contact territory, a special type of population the so-called Eastern Caucasoids with a small Mongoloid admixture was formed, which then spread in the southern Aral and western Ural directions. The spatial connections of the population that left the Filippovka kurgans are geographically wide. Judging by the archaeological data, they were grounded primarily on the basis of trade and economic relations. The craniological source shows some heterogeneity of the Ural nomads, but it is difficult to speak confidently about the time and mixing forms of their constituent components; the recorded phenomenon is also relevant among other synchronous groups of mobile pastoralists from Central Asia.
The article is devoted to the presentation of the typology of cheek-pieces used by the nomads of the Southern Urals in the VI–IV centuries BC and received the name S-shaped in special archaeological works. The relevance of the development is due to a significant increase in the number of cheek-pieces of various shapes found in mounds that were studied in the territory of the specified region. The number of these pieces of horse harness currently published in the scientific literature is about 200. The S-shaped cheek-pieces discussed in the article are metal rods with two holes in the body for fastening to a rein and ends bent in opposite directions at an angle to the central part. The development is based on the typology published by K.F. Smirnov in 1961, who considered S-shaped cheek-pieces as one type, represented by three options. The types were identified based on a set of characteristics that formed specific combinations and characterized the material from which the cheek-piece was made, the general configuration of the object, as well as the nature of its decoration. A sample of 57 specimens of these bridle parts was used to write the article. It is proposed to distinguish 6 types of two-hole S-shaped cheek-pieces. The dates proposed by researchers for the burial complexes containing these objects made it possible to establish the time of existence of each type among the South Ural nomads. Nomads of the Southern Urals used such cheek-pieces from the end of the 6th to the 4th centuries BC inclusive. The article examines the features of the spatial distribution of types represented by the largest number of copies.
The papre is devoted to determining the date of the kurgan 28, Filippovka 1 burial ground, which is a necropolis of the social elite of the Southern Urals nomads in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. A burial partially destroyed by repeated robbery was found in the kurgan. At least six people were buried in the grave pit with a dromos entrance, covered with a structure of radially diverging logs. The features of the five individuals‘ bone remains location in the western part of the grave indicate their simultaneous or relatively simultaneous burial. Another burial was made in an underground passage leading from the outside of the kurgan mound to the grave pit. The accompanying grave goods were placed in the destroyed part of the grave near the buried individuals as well as in on the buried soil as a part of the sacrificial complex. They included weapons and parts of military ammunition (armor, daggers, arrows, a quiver hook, a lanyard pendant, a vorvorki), parts of a horse harness (bit, cheek-pieces, bridle plaques, pierced), as well as jewelry (earrings, bracelets, beads, sewn-on plaques), ritual objects (a bone spoon, a fragment of a stone altar) and household items. An analysis of the grave goods and a radiocarbon dating obtained by accelerator mass spectrometry method suggest that five people were buried in the western part of the grave in the middle or third quarter of the 4th century BC. However, the construction of the funerary structure and the placement of the dead in its eastern part could have begun earlier - in the period falling at the turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC - early 4th century BC.
The Saka of the Aral Sea region are considered as one of the components of the communities of the nomads of the Southern Urals. A sample of 192 anthropological analyses was studied to determine the nature of the migration of the cattle-breeding population of the Aral Sea region to the Southern Ural steppes. The analysis showed the absolute quantitative predominance of male burials in the late 6th–5th century BC and an equal number of men and women in the burials of the late 5th — 4th century BC. This ratio suggests that the initial development of the steppes of the Southern Urals was carried out mainly by male cattle-breeding teams. The occupation of the steppes could become the basis for the growth of the number of cattle grazed and an increase in the nomadic populations. The further successful functioning of the society was possible with the normalization of its social structure, which was achieved, in particular, through the inclusion of women into the cattle-breeding groups. Thus a society with a complex social hierarchy was formed. This process probably occurred during the 5th century BC and was completed by the 4th century BC. One of the probable reasons for the occupation of the steppes of the South Urals by cattle-breeding groups from the Aral Sea region with their transformation into a society with a hierarchical structure was the expansion of the Achaemenid state to the borders of the territory of the cattle-breeding tribes of Central Asia with their involvement in the system of socio-economic relations with this Empire.
Introduction. This is a report on the results of archaeological excavations at Maksimovka I, the subterranean burial ground located in the forest-steppe Volga region. The site is unique because it contains burial complexes of different epochs. The purpose of the paper is to introduce the materials found during the 2018 excavations for the attention of the academic community. In particular, the paper focuses on the description and characterization of the archaeological complexes under investigation, and, also, on their cultural-chronological attribution. Data. The cultural layer was not particularly rich but contained fragments of Neolithic, Eneolithic, and Bronze Age ceramics, stone tools, and waste left after stone processing. Three burials were examined in the excavation area. The first burial comprised the skeleton of a deceased person in a supine position; the head oriented to the north-northeast; the grave goods included iron items (a fragment of a boiler and of a bit, rod-shaped items, and a firesteel), grindstones, and flints. The second buried person was found in the seated position, leg bones bent at the knee joint, head oriented to northeast; the finds included a nonferrous metal ring, a bone pendant, a silicon wafer, and tubular beads. The third buried person was also in a seated position, head oriented to the northeast; no grave goods were found in the third burial. Also, two other burial constructions recovered on the site were partially examined. Results. The first burial was attributed to the Golden Horde period in the Middle Ages (the second half of the 13th or the 14th c.). The second burial has a number of parallels to burial complexes of mid-late Eneolithic era of the forest-steppe Volga region. The third burial was left unidentified in terms of its cultural-chronological attribution, granted the non-standard position of the skeletal remains in the grave and the absence of goods. Conclusions. The examination of the subterranean burial ground Maksimovka I has allowed to introduce the archaeological material of different periods, such as Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze, and Middle Ages.
Introduction. This is a report on the results of archaeological excavations at Maksimovka I, the subterranean burial ground located in the forest-steppe Volga region. The site is unique because it contains burial complexes of different epochs. The purpose of the paper is to introduce the materials found during the 2018 excavations for the attention of the academic community. In particular, the paper focuses on the description and characterization of the archaeological complexes under investigation, and, also, on their cultural-chronological attribution. Data. The cultural layer was not particularly rich but contained fragments of Neolithic, Eneolithic, and Bronze Age ceramics, stone tools, and waste left after stone processing. Three burials were examined in the excavation area. The first burial comprised the skeleton of a deceased person in a supine position; the head oriented to the north-northeast; the grave goods included iron items (a fragment of a boiler and of a bit, rod-shaped items, and a firesteel), grindstones, and flints. The second buried person was found in the seated position, leg bones bent at the knee joint, head oriented to northeast; the finds included a nonferrous metal ring, a bone pendant, a silicon wafer, and tubular beads. The third buried person was also in a seated position, head oriented to the northeast; no grave goods were found in the third burial. Also, two other burial constructions recovered on the site were partially examined. Results. The first burial was attributed to the Golden Horde period in the Middle Ages (the second half of the 13th or the 14th c.). The second burial has a number of parallels to burial complexes of mid-late Eneolithic era of the forest-steppe Volga region. The third burial was left unidentified in terms of its cultural-chronological attribution, granted the non-standard position of the skeletal remains in the grave and the absence of goods. Conclusions. The examination of the subterranean burial ground Maksimovka I has allowed to introduce the archaeological material of different periods, such as Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze, and Middle Ages.
The article illustrates a study of cheek-pieces with zoomorphic images used by the nomads of the Samara-Ural region at the end of the VI–IV centuries BC. A review of 79 cheek-pieces is presented, as well as their characteristics. As a result of the excavations, two chronological groups of such horse gear are identified. The date of the early group refers to the second half of the VI–V centuries BC. It is characterized by rod-like straight and arcuate curved bronze, iron, bimetallic double-hole bit shank with zoomorphic ends. The most common endings are decorated with realistic sculptural images of the heads of birds of prey / griffins, wolves and horses. Combinations of the heads of a predatory animal and a bird of prey, a predatory animal and a horse, a camel and a horse, as well as the head of a bird of prey and a hoof are rare images. The late group refers to the period of the end of the V–IV centuries BC. This group is characterized by the following cheek-pieces: S-shaped with endings shaped as horse hooves; L-shaped with curved endings shaped as a horse’s hoof or an open-work plate, which is a stylized image of a bird’s paw, the claws of which are transformed into the heads of birds or animals. A significant difference between these two groups is stated and based on their composition, motives (plots) of images and their stylistics. The mapping of the findings allowed to record the concentration of the most numerous groups of cheek-pieces (straight lines with endings in the form of the heads of birds of prey / griffins, wolves, horses, and S-shaped bit shanks with endings in the form of horse hooves) on the territory of the steppes, adjoining the western slopes of the Ural Mountains. These are mainly steppes in the basin of the middle and lower reaches of the river Ilek.
The article is devoted to characterizing bridle plaques with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images, which were used by the nomads of the Southern Urals in the 6th – 4th centuries BC. The paper presents a summary of these horse ammunition items, which includes about 80 finds. The author proposes a typology of these subjects. Types of bridle plaques are distinguished by a combination of features that characterize the plot, composition and style of images. The items are represented by various types of plaques in the form of predatory and hoofed animals, birds, several species of animals or their parts, fish, and a rider on a horse. All the plaques are divided into four chronological groups in accordance with currently accepted dates of the monuments, where they were found: the late 6th – the early 5th century BC, the late 6th – the 5th century BC, the late 5th – the 4th century BC, the late 6th – the 4th century BC. Thus, nomads used plaques with zoomorphic images throughout the period under consideration. The distribution of types of plaques with zoomorphic images on chronological groups demonstrates both continuity in the nomads’ culture development throughout the 6th – 4th centuries BC and cultural transformations that occurred during this period. The transformations are reflected in changing nomenclature in the category of horse ammunition, style of zoomorphic images (including due to the appearance of plaques indicating links with the Don region, the North Caucasus, and the North Pontic region), and emergence of a tradition to use plaques with anthropomorphic images.
The article investigates probable routes of dissemination of Northern Black Sea products in the Trans-Volga and Southern Ural steppes and forest-steppes, as well as the possibility to link them with the "Herodotus path". The distribution of finds indicating links to the Northern Black Sea Coast (details of bridle, mirrors, some types of ornaments and armor) suggests that there was a trade route in the area under consideration in the early Iron Age, which began in the Samara Luka area, followed into the Samara River valley, between Sakmara and Ural Rivers and into the Trans-Ural region. It is possible to interpret this route as a segment of the path to the lands of the Issedons and Argippeans, which was described by Herodotus. The possibility of the existence of this itinerary of the trade route is confirmed by the existence of caravan roads in the Middle Ages and New Times. The functioning of this route in antiquity could be ensured by the location of several crossings across the Volga, located on the section between the Samara Luka and the Akhtuba branch.
The paper is devoted to the description of horse forehead pieces, which were used by the nomads of the Southern Urals in the 6th – 4th centuries BC for protecting the horse’s head and / or decorating bridle. The research is based on the analysis of sample consisting of 47 finds. The author proposes the typology of the items under consideration, characterizes the types of lamellar forehead pieces with and without zoomorphic images, rodlike and rod-lamellar forehead pieces, forehead pieces in the form of zoomorphic images, representing a round sculpture. All the finds are divided into two chronological groups. The first group includes forehead pieces, which were part of horse equipment mainly at the end of the 6th – 5th centuries BC. This period was charactized by the prevalence of forehead pieces in the form of fairly large trapezoidal or subrectangular plates depicting the heads of prey birds in profile on one or both short sides. The second group unites the items referring to the end of the 5th –4th centuries BC. The most common type in this period is represented with forehead pieces in the form of a rod, the upper part of which is bent as a loop and ends with a spherical thickening, and the lower part is loose in the form of an elongated plate. A significant difference in the nomenclature of the two chronological groups of the horse forehead pieces has been revealed. This was probably due to the ethnocultural changes that took place in the nomadic society of the Southern Urals in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC, including those in the nature and direction of external relations.
This article describes burials on the buried soil horizon in the Southern Urals, associated with the culture of nomadic animal breeders. The database includes published data on 37 barrows. Instead of digging graves, the nomads built above-ground wooden or adobe structures. Sometimes bodies were placed on wooden floors or platforms. Weapons found in burials include swords, daggers, arrowheads, and items of horse harness. In female burials, small stone altars, adornments, mirrors, and utensils are found. Clay vessels are common. In the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, the tradition of placing bodies on the level of the ground surface was common in the eastern part of the southern Ural steppes. By approximately 400 BC, this tradition had virtually disappeared.
The article is devoted to the research of peculiarities of using girth clasps by the nomadic cattlebreeders living in the steppes of South Ural area in 6th-4th centuries BC. The analysis of location of metal parts of girth clasps in interments of horses, the quantity and content of these details in interments of people and sacrificial places proves the point about the preferable usage of girth clasps by nomads at the end of 6th-4th centuries BC, which looked like rings, horse brasses with fixed ledge-stops being perpendicular towards the plane of clasp. The left clasp consisted of two metal parts, the right – of one part. The presence, quantity and location of ledge-stops were caused by the purpose of details of clasps. The deviation from this rule is recorded. In the article probable variants of different types of parts of clasps are studied.
The article presents the comparative description of cultural and historical processes that took place in the life of nomadic cattle-breeders in the 6th-4th centuries B.C. in the steppes of the left-bank territory of the Lower Volga and the steppe and partially wood-steppe zone of the left-bank territory of the Middle Volga. The comparison showed that on the whole this territory the similar cultural and historical processes took place in the societies of the nomadic tribes that were caused by the penetration of the South-Ural steppe population in the Volga region at the end of the 6th-4th centuries B.C.These processes were most probably mutually connected. In this connection the theme of the direction or directions and the character of the penetration of the nomadic groups migration from the East into the Volga steppes demands the further research. The visual parallels in the pointed cultural and historical processes happening in the steppes of the Middle and Lower Volga region might be caused either by the movements of some groups of nomads or the formation of the total system of seasonal migrations (or involving into this one) of the replacing groups of cattle-breeding population on the whole area of the Volga steppes as well as on the territory between the Volga and Ural.
