Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38 (3) 2010

Annotation:  Three Scenarios of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. Scenario 1: The Middle to Upper Paleo Chronology and Periodization of Upper Paleolithic Sites in Mongolia Projectile Points and their Implications The “Malta Realism”: On Interpreting Siberian Anthropomorphic Figurines from the Upper Paleolithic Private Collection of Seima-Turbino Bronzes from the Irtysh: The Tragedy of a Unique Site Destroyed Sargat Burial Sites in the Middle Irtysh Area: A Gender Analysis The Archaeological and Geophysical Study of Defense Works Yenisei Kyrgyz “Forts” in the Russian Reports of the 17th Century and the Archaeological Reality The Wusun in Northeastern Central Asia Eighteenth Century Trends in the Development of Buryat Clothing Field Trip by B.N. Gorodkov and G.M. Dmitirev-Sadovnikov to the Vakh River Valley in 1913 A Comparison of the Medieval and Modern Populations of the Novgorod Region, Based on Facial Reconst The Origin of the Late Medieval Population of the Novgorod Republic (13th–16th Centuries), Based on   

The Wusun in Northeastern Central Asia

Vl.A. Semenov.

Among the peoples mentioned in Chinese dynastic chronicles are the Xiongnu and other steppe nomads such as the Yuezhi and the Wusun. The Xiongnu forced both these peoples to abandon their camping grounds and move to Zhetysu. Numerous sites in Tuva of the Late Scythian period (those of the Uyuk–Sagly culture) reveal ties with the Xiongnu and suggest that they were associated with the Wusun. Artifacts from Suglug-Khem-1 and -2 and Khayirakan, Tuva, specifi cally mirrors with side handles, hairpins, wire earrings, small wooden four-legged tables, painted vessels, etc., are paralleled by fi nds from burials of the low-ranking Wusun in Zhetysu. Before arriving at Zhetysu, the Wusun crossed the Altai-Sayan highland and the Irtysh below Lake Zaisan, where their presence is attested by sites of the Kula-Zhurga type. The distinctive features of the latter are fl exed burials in stone cists and vessels resembling those from Tuva in shape; other artifacts are extremely rare and similar to those from burials of the low-ranking Wusun in Zhetysu.

Keywords: Xiongnu–Sarmatian age, Wusun, Xiongnu, Eastern Central Asia, Tuva, Zhetysu, Uyuk–Sagly culture, chronology, ceramics.