Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 47 (4) 2019   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.4.043-052

Annotation:  A Neanderthal Refugium in the Eastern Adriatic Ushbulak—A New Stratifi ed Upper Paleolithic Site in Northeastern Kazakhstan Archaeological Findings on Suchu Island (Excavation Area I, 1975) Burial with a Chariot at the Tabyldy Cemetery, Central Kazakhstan Objects of Portable Art from a Bronze Age Cemetery at Tourist-2 The Use of 3D-Modeling for Reconstructing the Appearance and Function of Non-Utilitarian Items (the Ceramic Protomes of Horses from Late Bronze to Early Iron Age Sites in the Southern Taiga Zone of Si “Portrait” Medallions from the Kazym Hoard A Runic Inscription at Sarykoby (Southeastern Altai) The Ussuriysk Tortoise—A 13th Century Jurchen Monument Turkic Inscriptions in Cyrillic on 14th–15th Century Eastern European Lithic Artifacts The Topography of Ritual Buildings in Villages of the Tobolsk Governorate (Late 19th to Early 20th C Mesolithic Human Teeth from Zamostye-2, Moscow Region The Physical Anthropology of the Odino People, Western Siberia A Study of Human Bones from a Dwelling at Ust-Voikar, in the Subarctic Zone of Western Siberia   

Burial with a Chariot at the Tabyldy Cemetery, Central Kazakhstan

I.A. Kukushkin and E.A. Dmitriev

Saryarka Archaeological Institute, Buketov Karaganda State University, Universitetskaya 28, Karaganda, 100028, Republic of Kazakhstan

This article describes a high-ranking burial at the Tabyldy cemetery in the Shetsky District of the Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. The mound was encircled with a stone enclosure and marked a double burial of horses with discoid cheek-pieces and metal staples, symbolizing a chariot. Funerary items include a bronze knife-dagger, a goad-head, a metal pendant from a plate twisted 1.5 times and overlaid with gold, paste beads, tubular beads, and potsherds. A detailed description of these items is provided. The cheek-pieces resemble those of the Staroyuryevo type. Their position on the skulls of the horses suggests a reconstruction of the harness. On the basis of new finds, the evolution of the cheek-pieces is proposed. The reconstructed severe bits were made by interweaving metal staples with leather strips. This innovation, securing better driving, was the reason why later cheek-pieces had no studs. A comparative analysis of the burial rite and funerary items suggests an Early Alakul attribution. The fact that the horses’ heads were oriented to the northeast, like those of the buried humans (judging by the places where the bottoms of ceramic vessels were concentrated), evidences the influence of the Early Timber-Grave (Pokrovsk) culture. The AMS date and its 1 SD limits point to the late 18th to early 17th century BC, suggesting the Nurtai stage of the Alakul culture in Central Kazakhstan.

Keywords: Central Kazakhstan, Bronze Age, Early Alakul culture, chariot harness, discoid cheek-pieces, bits