Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (3) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.016-028

Annotation:  Aktas—an “Ephemeral” Upper Paleolithic Site in North Kazakhstan Neolithic Burials in the Zelinda River Mouth, Northern Angara: Burial Practices and Radiocarbon Chro Classic Samarra Painted Pottery from Yarim Tepe I, the Neolithic of Northern Iraq The Megalithic Tradition of East and Southeast Asia The Beginning of Iron Metallurgy in East Asia Tools Used in Tagar Rock Art: Findings of an Experimental Traceological Study Grave Goods of an Elite Saka Burial at Kyrykoba in the Context of Cultural Ties Between the Nomads o On Phoinix (Φοίνιξ) and Its Distinguishing Marks: A Karian “Type Site” Medieval Burials at Ryabchikov Klyuch-1, the Kansk-Rybinsk Basin Chinese Coins from the Early Medieval Cemetery Gorny-10, Northern Altai The State of Preservation of the Shakhty Rock Art Site and the Prospects of Its Conservation South Russian Settlers of Western Siberia in the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries, Based on Archiva A Case of Chronic Maxillary Sinusitis in a Late Neanderthal Population of the Altai Mountains Analysis of 3D-Models of Artifi cially Deformed Crania, Using Geometric Morphometry Dental Data on the Origin of the Early Iron Age Bolshaya Rechka Population in the Upper Ob Area, and   

Neolithic Burials in the Zelinda River Mouth, Northern Angara:
Burial Practices and Radiocarbon Chronology

Z.V. Marchenko, A.E. Grishin, Y.N. Garkusha, and E.A. Kerbs

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

We describe new findings relating to Neolithic burials at two cemeteries in the Northern Angara area, excavated in 2012 by the Boguchany archaeological expedition. The sites are located at the outlet of the Zelinda—the right tributary of the Angara. Two burials were revealed at Ust-Zelinda-1, and five at Ust-Zelinda-2. We describe preserved remains and the funerary rite, and analyze radiocarbon dates generated from the human bones. On the basis of archaeological parallels, we attribute certain burials to the Isakovo culture. Burial practices include the use of “ocher” and the supine position of the buried along the Angara, heads to the south, upstream of the site. Calibrated radiocarbon dates, details of the funerary rite, grave goods and their typological characteristics, as well as the placement of graves within the cemeteries, suggest that three chronological groups existed within the 7499-5583 cal BP (5550-3634 cal BC) interval. The ¹⁴C date of the third group (5718-5583 cal BP, or 3769-3634 cal BC), details of the funerary rite, and grave goods are indicative of the Late Neolithic (Isakovo culture of the Southern Angara). Burials of the second group, which is the best represented (7157-6555 cal BP, or 5208-4606 cal BC), resemble those of the classic Isakovo tradition. The burial (without grave goods) attributed to the first chronological group dates to 7499-7317 cal BP, or 55505368 cal BC. It is hypothesized that “proto-Isakovo” traditions originated on the Northern Angara, having later spread to the Southern Angara.

Keywords: Northern Angara, Neolithic, cemeteries, radiocarbon chronology, Zelinda River