Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 47 (4) 2019   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.4.053-065

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   

Objects of Portable Art from a Bronze Age Cemetery at Tourist-2

N.V. Basova¹, A.V. Postnov¹, A.L. Zaika², and V.I. Molodin^{1, 3}

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University, Lebedevoi 89, Krasnoyarsk, 660049, Russia

³Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This article introduces an unusual complex of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic artifacts from a Bronze Age cemetery at the Tourist-2 settlement, situated in the center of Novosibirsk. Given their context, motifs, and style, they were apparently ritual artifacts. Human-like, animal-like, and bird-like figures limn mythological ideas. They are so unusual that we may speak of a separate style. Despite being very different, all the figurines have common features, both artistic and iconographic. They are generally rather realistic, showing similar features such as tattoo. Yet they are stylized and share certain conventions attesting to an established canon. All these characteristics, as well as the context, suggest that the representations belong to a single style that we tentatively refer to as “Krokhalevka” style— a distinct variety of Siberian native ritual art. In our view, this style is autochthonous, originating from local Neolithic art under a marked influence of adjacent Early and Middle Bronze Age cultures, such as Okunev, Karakol, Samus, Krotovo, and Odinovo. Judging by the motifs and manner, the “Krokhalevka” tradition might have affected Kulai art, especially repousse.

Keywords: Art, Bronze Age, anthropomorphic images, zoomorphic images, Krokhalevka archaeological culture