TY - JOUR

T1 - Grave Goods of an Elite Saka Burial at Kyrykoba in the Context of Cultural Ties Between the Nomads of Kazakhstan and Siberia

AU - Iskakov, K. A.

AU - Umitkaliev, U. U.

AU - Mitko, O. A.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was carried out in equal shares: by O.A. Mitko under the grant supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 20-18-00111; by K.A. Iskakov and U.U. Umitkaliev under the planned research of the Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Faculty of History, Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan. We express our gratitude to I.N. Kosenko, researcher of the Laboratory of Paleontology and Stratigraphy of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic at the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics SB RAS, and Senior Lecturer at the Chair of Historical Geology and Paleontology at the Department of Geology and Geophysics of the Novosibirsk State University, for helping us to prepare this publication. Funding Information: This study was carried out in equal shares: by O.A. Mitko under the grant supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 20-18-00111; by K.A. Iskakov and U.U. Umitkaliev under the planned research of the Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Faculty of History, Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences © 2022 Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences © 2022 K.A. Iskakov, U.U. Umitkaliev, O.A. Mitko.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - This article describes the findings of excavations of an Early Saka kurgan at Kyrykoba, Eastern Kazakhstan. The kurgan had been looted; human remains, according to physical anthropologists, belonged to a mature woman. Her cranium exhibited trepanation. Some 200 artifacts were found, mostly gold and stone ornaments (belt clips, gold seed beads, and simple beads). The most interesting find is a bimetallic pin made of iron. Its rod is missing; the tiny head, less the 1 cm in diameter, is covered with gold foil. On its surface, there is a figure of an ungulate with a curved antler, its body twisted 180°. This stylistic device in the depiction of ungulates and predators is typical of the Scythian-Siberian art of Kazakhstan and Western Siberia in 700-300 BC. Other rare finds include ornaments made from a cretaceous layer of oyster shells, such as pendants shaped as oval plates imitating tusks, or figurines of predatory animals-20 pieces, ranging in size from 0.4 × 0.4 to 2.5 × 2.5 cm. Oyster shells with thick cretaceous layers had been procured from the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The beads and the animal figurine made from cretaceous layers of oyster shells are paralleled by those from an Early Scythian era burial at Gilevo-10, Altai. These artifacts indicate regional and intracontinental trade and cultural ties in Eastern Kazakhstan and Western Siberia, evidenced by similar technological traditions, images, compositions, and decorative motifs.

AB - This article describes the findings of excavations of an Early Saka kurgan at Kyrykoba, Eastern Kazakhstan. The kurgan had been looted; human remains, according to physical anthropologists, belonged to a mature woman. Her cranium exhibited trepanation. Some 200 artifacts were found, mostly gold and stone ornaments (belt clips, gold seed beads, and simple beads). The most interesting find is a bimetallic pin made of iron. Its rod is missing; the tiny head, less the 1 cm in diameter, is covered with gold foil. On its surface, there is a figure of an ungulate with a curved antler, its body twisted 180°. This stylistic device in the depiction of ungulates and predators is typical of the Scythian-Siberian art of Kazakhstan and Western Siberia in 700-300 BC. Other rare finds include ornaments made from a cretaceous layer of oyster shells, such as pendants shaped as oval plates imitating tusks, or figurines of predatory animals-20 pieces, ranging in size from 0.4 × 0.4 to 2.5 × 2.5 cm. Oyster shells with thick cretaceous layers had been procured from the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The beads and the animal figurine made from cretaceous layers of oyster shells are paralleled by those from an Early Scythian era burial at Gilevo-10, Altai. These artifacts indicate regional and intracontinental trade and cultural ties in Eastern Kazakhstan and Western Siberia, evidenced by similar technological traditions, images, compositions, and decorative motifs.

KW - Altai-Sayan

KW - Early Iron Age

KW - Kazakhstan

KW - ornaments from cretaceous layer of oyster shells

KW - Scythian animal style

KW - trepanation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143144836&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.072-081

DO - 10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.072-081

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85143144836

VL - 50

SP - 72

EP - 81

JO - Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia

JF - Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia

SN - 1563-0110

IS - 3

M1 - 7

ER -