Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 49 (4) 2021   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.4.024-036

Annotation:  The Early Paleolithic Go Da Site and the Bifacial Lithic Industries of Southeast Asia Paleolithic Personal Ornaments from Xiaogushan Cave: The Formation of Early Symbolism and Its Region A Multidisciplinary Study of Burnt Deposits at Surungur, Fergana Valley, Southern Kyrgyzstan Handles of Early Iron Age Cauldrons from Southwestern Siberia The Pazyryk Style Burial of a Hunnic Period Noblewoman at Karakabak, Mangystau, Kazakhstan Integrative Geophysical Studies at the Novaya Kurya-1 Cemetery in the Kulunda Steppe Reconstructed Paleodiets and Subsistence Strategies of the Central Ciscaucasian Population (1000 BC Archaeological Evidence of Migration from the Southern Taiga of Western Siberia to the Urals in the Hephthalite Coin from an Early Medieval Burial at Gorny-10, Northern Altai Kainar: A Late 18th to Early 20th Century Ritual and Housing Complex in the Northern Ustyurt Tungus-Manchu Traditional Beliefs. Part 2: Zoomorphic Complex Urbanization of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia and the Far East (20th to Early 21st Centuries) Patterns in the Population History of Northern Eurasia from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age,   

Multidisciplinary Study of Burnt Deposits at Surungur,
Fergana Valley, Southern Kyrgyzstan

I.E. Dedov¹, E.P. Kulakova², M.V. Shashkov^{1, 3}, A.A. Zhdanov³, E.V. Parkhomchuk^{1, 4}, T. Chargynov⁵, and S.V. Shnaider¹

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

²Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya 10, bldg. 1, Moscow, 123242, Russia

³Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 5, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

⁴Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Center for Collective Use, Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

⁵Jusup Balasagyn Kyrgyz National University, Frunze 547, Bishkek, 720033, Kyrgyzstan

Burnt deposits are an important source of information on ancient lifestyles, providing the possibility of reconstructing the size, intensity of use, and functions of fireplaces at prehistoric settlements, and to assess fuel sources. We outline the results of a multidisciplinary study of fireplaces and their contexts at Surungur—a stratified site in the Fergana Valley, in southern Kyrgyzstan. Sixteen samples from ash lenses and intermediate deposits were studied by rock-magnetism, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The rock-magnetic analysis suggests that the origin of all samples from ash lenses was anthropogenic. Types of fuel were reconstructed. At the initial stage (Early Holocene), the encompassing deposits likely resulted from short-term occupation, and fuel consisted of wood and grass/dung. In the Middle Holocene, occupation became more long-term, as evidenced by maximal heating temperatures and high concentration of fireplaces. During the Late Holocene, habitation intensity on the platform under the stone ledge remained the same, but heating was less intense. Wood and grass/dung were used as fuel at all stages, suggesting that wood was available in the region throughout the Holocene.

Keywords: Fergana valley, archaeological site, fireplace, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), rock-magnetism