Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (4) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.4.132-139

Annotation:  Ivory Figurines and the Symbolic Context of a Paleolithic Dwelling at Kovrizhka IV on the Lower Viti On the Interpretation of Stelae in the Cult Complexes of Northern Mesopotamia During the Pre-Pottery A Study of Finds from Excavation I at Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (the 1974 Field Season) Jade Artifacts from Bronze Age Cemeteries in the Cis-Olkhon Area, the Western Coast of Lake Baikal Sherubai-1: An Andronovo (Fedorovka) Cemetery in Central Kazakhstan Technologies Involved in Manufacturing Wooden Horns for the Ceremonial Masks of Horses from the Pazy On the Time and Context of the Earliest Bronze Mirrors in the Northern Pontic Region Procession of Horsemen on a Gold Plaque from the Siberian Collection of Peter I A Mongolian Era Female Headdress from the Upper Ob Basin Ancient Irrigated Soils of the Bozok Archaeological District, Northern Kazakhstan (11th to 12th Cent Chthonic Animals in the Traditional Buryat Culture Reconstruction of Wooden and Earthen Buildings in 17th to 18th-Century Russian Forts in Siberia: The Application of the Blue-Intensity Method for Dating Wooden Buildings in Siberia The Eastern Slavic Population of Central Asia After the Collapse of the USSR: Ethno-Demographic Proc An Unusual Burial of a Xiongnu-Sarmatian Era Warrior in the Western Siberian Forest-Steppe: Results Armed Violence Among the Altai Mountains Pastoralists of the Xiongnu-Sarmatian Age “Abandoned, Tied, Flexed”: An Anthropological Study of an Unusual Late Sarmatian Burial in the South   

Armed Violence Among the Altai Mountains Pastoralists
of the Xiongnu-Sarmatian Age

S.S. Tur¹, S.S. Matrenin², and V.I. Soenov³

¹Altai State University, Pr. Lenina 61, Barnaul, 656049, Russia

²Barnaul Law Institute, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Chkalova 49, Barnaul, 656038, Russia

³Gorno-Altaisk State University, Lenkina 1, Gorno-Altaisk, 649000, Russia

On the basis of perimortem cranial injuries, we examine armed violence among the Altai Mountains nomadic pastoralists during the Xiongnu-Sarmatian period (2nd century BC to 5th century AD), when this region was within the military and political orbit of the Central Asian nomadic empires—Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Zhouzhan. The sample included 470 crania from 20 cemeteries of the Bulan-Koba Culture. Blade wounds, depressed fractures, and penetrating projectile wounds were registered. Additionally, weapon-related lesions of the postcranial skeleton (arrowheads stuck in the bones, and blade wounds) were recorded, as well as possible cases of scalping, decapitation, and severed limbs. The frequency of perimortem cranial traumas is 13.3 % in males, 6.4 % in females, and 4.8 % in sub adults. This rate shows considerable variation across local groups. During the Xiongnu-Xianbei period (2nd century BC to early 3rd century AD), perimortem trauma among the Altai Mountains pastoralists was related mainly to interpersonal and local intergroup violence. Between the late 3rd century AD and the 5th century AD, following the disintegration of the Xianbei Empire and the rise of intergroup clashes, the Bulan-Koba people became also involved in military conflicts with foreign tribes.

Keywords: Perimortem cranial trauma, violence, nomadic pastoralists, Xiongnu-Sarmatian period, Bulan-Koba Culture, Altai Mountains