Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 41 (4) 2013

Annotation:  Acheulean Large Flake Technology in Campo de Calatrava (Ciudad Real, Spain) Alternative Interpretations of the Middle/Upper Paleolithic Interface at Vindija Cave (Northwestern Early Upper Paleolithic Stone Tool Technologies of Northern Mongolia: The Case of Tolbor-4 and Tolb On the Supposedly Young Age of Angara Alluvial Sediments Based on the Findings of Salvage Excavatio The Early Neolithic of the Kama Region On the Function of “Grooved Stones” Middle Neolithic Ceramics from the Tytkesken VI Settlement Site A New Neolithic Ceramic Tradition in the Kama Region Early and Middle Bronze Age Burials at Ordynskoye-1, Western Siberia: A New Cultural Interpretation The Suzukteh Mound 22, Mongolia: The Burial Rite Prestigious Afanasyevo Wooden Metal-Bound Ware from the Sayan-Altai Without a Face: A Silver Plaque from the Eastern Slopes of the Urals New Elements in the Iconography of 9th–10th Century Ural-Siberian Silver A 13th–14th Century AD “Horse Skin Burial” at Basandaika Kurgan 1, Western Siberia Age-Related Skeletal Changes in Adult Populations Under Various Social and Geographical Conditions:   

Prestigious Afanasyevo Wooden Metal-Bound Ware from the Sayan-Altai

A.P. Borodovsky.

Metal plates, which probably decorated wooden vessels from Afanasyevo burials, are described. The plates bear punched designs and were clearly related to female symbolism, implying that they were probably used for ritual purposes. Their expansive distribution area from the lower Katun in Gorny Altai to the middle Yenisei in Khakassia points to the similarity between the two local variants of the Afanasyevo culture across the Altai-Sayan region. These vessels might have marked the high social status of the women in whose graves they were placed.

Keywords: Sayan-Altai highlands, Afanasyevo culture, metal-bound wooden vessels, prestigious ware, Early Bronze Age.