Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (3) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.072-081

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   

Grave Goods of an Elite Saka Burial at Kyrykoba
in the Context of Cultural Ties Between the Nomads
of Kazakhstan and Siberia

K.A. Iskakov^{1, 2}, U.U. Umitkaliev², and O.A. Mitko^{2, 3}

¹National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Pr. Tauelsyzdyk 54, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Republic of Kazakhstan

²Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Satpayeva 2, Nur-Sultan, 010008, Republic of Kazakhstan

³Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This article describes the findings of excavations of an Early Saka kurgan at Kyrykoba, Eastern Kazakhstan. The kurgan had been looted; human remains, according to physical anthropologists, belonged to a mature woman. Her cranium exhibited trepanation. Some 200 artifacts were found, mostly gold and stone ornaments (belt clips, gold seed beads, and simple beads). The most interesting find is a bimetallic pin made of iron. Its rod is missing; the tiny head, less the 1 cm in diameter, is covered with gold foil. On its surface, there is a figure of an ungulate with a curved antler, its body twisted 180°. This stylistic device in the depiction of ungulates and predators is typical of the Scythian-Siberian art of Kazakhstan and Western Siberia in 700-300 BC. Other rare finds include ornaments made from a cretaceous layer of oyster shells, such as pendants shaped as oval plates imitating tusks, or figurines of predatory animals— 20 pieces, ranging in size from 0.4 x 0.4 to 2.5 x 2.5 cm. Oyster shells with thick cretaceous layers had been procured from the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The beads and the animal figurine made from cretaceous layers of oyster shells are paralleled by those from an Early Scythian era burial at Gilevo-10, Altai. These artifacts indicate regional and intracontinental trade and cultural ties in Eastern Kazakhstan and Western Siberia, evidenced by similar technological traditions, images, compositions, and decorative motifs.

Keywords: Early Iron Age, Kazakhstan, Altai-Sayan, Scythian animal style, trepanation, ornaments from cretaceous layer of oyster shells