Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 53 (2) 2025   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.070-079

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Cremation Burials at Ust-Zelinda-2, the Northern Angara Region: Typology and Chronology of Artifacts

P.I. Shulga, Y.N. Garkusha, A.E. Grishin, and Z.V. Marchenko

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

We describe artifacts found in cremation burials at Ust-Zelinda-2 in the Northern Angara region. Such sites have been traditionally attributed to the Early Iron Age, specifically to the second stage of the Tsepan culture (8th-2nd centuries BC), first described by V.I. Privalikhin. Six cremation burials were found at the cemetery. We focus on the most informative burial 16, while other burials are described in brief. The bodies were cremated outside the graves; most artifacts also reveal traces of fire. Cremated remains are those of adults. Accompanying finds are rather abundant, including stone, bone, and bronze arrowheads, horn sockets for attaching them, horn overlays for bows, and bronze ornaments. A specific type of butterfly-shaped belt plaques was common in Scythian-type cultures of northeastern Eurasia from Ordos to the Upper Ob region. Those from Ust-Zelinda-2 are the most numerous in the Angara area and the taiga zone from the Tomsk stretch of the Ob to the Upper Lena. Bronze butterfly-shaped belt plaques used in eastern North Eurasia were examined. On the Angara, they appeared in the 5th century BC and continued to be in use until the 3rd century BC, i.e., longer than on the Upper Ob or in Tuva. The attribution of culture that existed in the Northern Angara region is an open question.

Keywords: Cremation, burial, butterfly-shaped bronze belt plaques, Ust-Zelinda-2, Early Iron Age, Northern Angara region