Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (4) 2009

Annotation:  Paleolithic Site Biryuchya Balka-2: Geology, Chronology, and Paleoecology Tolbaga: Upper Paleolithic Settlement Patterns in the Trans-Baikal Region Paleogeography of Kostenki-14 (Markina Gora) Triquestrums of the Scythian Period in the Northern Altai Woven Belts from Sargat Mound 7 at Chepkul-9 Early and Middle Bronze Age Portable Art Pieces from the Forest-Steppe Zone of the Ob-Irtysh Region Anthropomorphic, Zoomorphic, and Solar Symbolisms on Bronze Age Ceramics from the Western Baikal Re Petroglyphs on the Poperechnaya Krasnoyarka River Images of Eurasian Ethnicity in Works of Renaissance Polish Historians The Pleiades as Openings, the Milky Way as the Path of Birds, and the Girl in the Moon: Northern Eur Felt Boot Rollers of the Altai Craniometric Evidence of the Early Caucasoid Migrations to Siberia and Eastern Central Asia, with R Principal Findings of the 20th-Century Population Studies in Tuva On the Origin of the Ryukyu Islanders: The Integration of Craniometric and Cranial Nonmetric Data   

Woven Belts from Sargat Mound 7 at Chepkul-9

V.A. Zakh and T.N. Glushkova.

While the number of Early Iron Age mounds excavated in the Western Siberian forest-steppe is considerable, due to the fact that most burials have been looted, as a rule only separate belt parts have been preserved. Therefore, the remains of woven belts found in mound 7 at Chepkul-5 burial ground in the Tobol River basin are highly relevant to the study of such artifacts. In the present article, the belts are described within the context of the entire assemblage and the planigraphy and stratigraphy of the fi nds are assessed. The burial rite and the artifacts recorded suggest that the woven belts as well as the entire assemblage should be attributed to the Sargat culture and dated to within the 3rd century BC – 1st century AD. Samples of textile were analyzed using science-based methods, and the technology of their manufacture reconstructed. The comparison of the Sargat assemblage with other Iron Age burials makes it possible to assess the signifi cance of the belt in the costume of buried women and to give a detailed description of the appearance of such belts at the time of burial.

Keywords: Chepkul-9, Sargat culture, ancient textile, woven belts, pileless carpet kilim, wool, vegetable fi bers.