Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 48 (1) 2020   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.1.091-100

Annotation:  Early Upper Paleolithic Serpentine Ornaments from Ust-Karakol, Northwestern Altai Unshaped Bone Tools from Denisova Cave, Altai The Sartan Upper Paleolithic Assemblages of the Northwestern Altai Stages in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene Peopling of Lake Bolshoye Ushkovskoye Shore, Kamchatka Fishing in the Early Holocene Human Ecosystem of the Northern Angara Region: Findings from Stratifi Late Bronze Age Smelting and Processing Furnaces of the Eastern Variant of the Pakhomovskaya Culture Late Bronze Age Petroglyphs of Unyuk Mountain, in the Minusinsk Basin Tagar Artifacts at the Stavropol State Museum Reserve (G.N. Prozritelev’s Collection) An Early Pazyryk Kurgan at Khankarinsky Dol, Northwestern Altai: Chronology and Attribution of Artif The Triquetras from the Filippovka Kurgans, Southern Urals Early Iron Age Carpenter Tools from the Altai and Adjacent Territories A Comparative Analysis of Structural and Developmental Trends at Major Cheptsa Fortifi ed Sites in t Ancestors of the Oriental Horse in Eurasia: Origin and Distribution Regional Features of the Traditional Clothing of Ukrainians and Belarusians in the South of the Russ Collection Related to the Omaguaca Indians from the Pucara de Tilcara Fortress, Northwestern Argenti   

An Early Pazyryk Kurgan at Khankarinsky Dol, Northwestern Altai:
Chronology and Attribution of Artifacts

Р.К. Dashkovskiy

Altay State University, Pr. Lenina 61, Barnaul, 656049, Russia

This article introduces a Pazyryk kurgan, unearthed at Khankarinsky Dol, in the northwestern Altai. On the basis of the funerary rite, burial goods, and radiocarbon analysis, the kurgan dates to the late 6th or early 5 th centuries BC and is one of the earliest Pazyryk kurgans in this area known to date. A detailed description of artifacts is provided, including a bimetallic dagger, bronze hairpins, a quiver hook, a mirror, a belt buckle, a slotted clip, a knife, and a torc lined with foil. Special attention is paid to the details of a horse harness, which include bronze bits, two bone plaques, cheek-pieces, four strap distributors, a shackle, two clasps, and a bone girth buckle. The analysis of zoomorphic images on cheek-pieces suggests that the images of a wolf and a short-snouted feline carnivore are interchangeable in Scythian-Saka art. Evidently, the distinction between them mattered less for the nomads than did the fact that the animal was a carnivore. The reconstruction of the early Pazyryk horse harness is proposed. The burial rite and the burial goods indicate a high social status of those buried.

Keywords: Pazyryk culture, Altai, funerary rite, artifacts, radiocarbon analysis, horse equipment