Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 52 (1) 2024   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.1.099-108

Annotation:  Origin of Neanderthals. Neanderthals of the Altai: Myth or Reality? The Origin of Biogenic Horizons in the Pleistocene Strata of Denisova Cave: Mineralogical and Geoche Newly Discovered Remains of a Late Upper Paleolithic Dwelling in the Northern Baikal Area: Cultural Sanctuary with “Kalguty” Style Images in Northwestern Mongolia (Preliminary Data) Pottery Traditions Among the Carriers of the Novosibirsk Variant of the Kulaika Culture: A Multidis Origin and Date of Cast-Iron Moldboards from Southern Siberia The Wanyan Digunai (Wanyan Zhong, Esikui) Funerary Complex in Primorye Cultural Horizons at the Uyelgi Cemetery Mound 11, Southeastern Urals Types of Construction Nails from Markul, Abkhazia (Based on Metallographic Analysis) A Log Structure in the Northern Palisade of Fort Umrevinsky An Archaeobotanical Study of the Bukhta Nakhodka Fort, the Yamal Peninsula (13th to Early 14th Centu Archaeological and Anthropological Study on the Grave of Eunuch-Offi cial Couple Serving for a Royal Traditional Bow of the Selenga Buryats (Based on a 2019 Field Study)   

Cultural Horizons at the Uyelgi Cemetery Mound 11,
Southeastern Urals

S.G. Botalov^{1, 2}, I.V. Grudochko², A.V. Parunin³, and S.R. Gazizova²

¹Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, S. Kovalevskoi 16, Yekaterinburg, 620108, Russia

²South Ural State University, Pr. Lenina 76, Chelyabinsk, 454080, Russia

³“Southern Urals” Public Foundation, Lenina 28, Kopeysk, 456618, Russia

The article outlines the findings from excavations at Uyelgi mound 11, the most informative one at the cemetery. Its lower horizon revealed a burial demonstrating features highly indicative of the nomadic culture of the Southern Urals. The upper horizon contained two burials belonging to the Srostki culture, characterized by certain artifacts of the "Hungarian" (Carpathian) type, evidencing the return of some South Uralic groups from the west at the time when the Srostki people migrated in the opposite direction from Eastern Kazakhstan and the Altai. This conclusion is supported by findings from the Aktobe cemetery, where typically "Hungarian" ornaments of horse harness co-occur with a belt set with floral decoration following the Srostki tradition of the Altai. Inside the mound and on the platform under it, fragments of five clay vessels were found, most of which are decorated with comb-and-cord patterns of the post-Bakal, Nevolino, and Petrogrom-Yudina type, associated with the East Uralic and West Siberian Ugrians. In terms of spatial structure, stratigraphy, and typology, then, the Uyelgi mound 11 demonstrates at least four cultural horizons: South Uralic, "Hungarian" (Carpathian), Altaic (Srostki), and Ugric (East Uralic and West Siberian), jointly mirroring complex ethnic processes in the region between 800-1000 AD.

Keywords: Middle Ages, Southeastern Urals, cultural horizons, burials, belt set, Hungarian-style items