Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (3) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.060-071

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   

Tools Used in Tagar Rock Art:
Findings of an Experimental Traceological Study

L.V. Zotkina and R.V. Davydov

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

We describe the findings of traceological analysis and experiments with bronze and iron tools used by Tagar and Tes artists. The pecking traces these tools leave on the red Devonian sandstone were examined to assess which of them could have been used in rock art production. At the first stage, a preliminary analysis of Tagar petroglyphs was carried out, and metal tools and weapons from the Martyanov Museum of Local History in Minusinsk were examined. Morphologically suitable ones were selected, and experimental tools were made of stone, copper alloys, and low-carbon steel. Experiments were conducted and samples of pecking traces were produced. The final stage of the work consisted of comparing these samples with actual petroglyphs, and use-wear traces on the experimental tools with those on the actual tools. This approach made a direct comparison possible. Among the Tagar and Tes metal tools, those that had likely been used in rock art production were detected. The conclusion was made that no specialized tools designated for that purpose existed at that time in the Minusinsk Basin. Rather, multifunctional tools were used. These were made of tin bronze and low-carbon steel with thermal processing. Such tools first appeared in the region in the Early Iron Age.

Keywords: Rock art, petroglyphs, Tagar culture, Minusinsk Basin, use-wear analysis, experiment, traceology