Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 39 (4) 2011

Annotation:  The Upper Paleolithic Site of Dodekatym-2 in Uzbekistan Daggers from the Fofonovo Burial Ground in the Collection of the Museum of the Buryat Scientifi c C Hundidero: MIS 4 Open Air Neanderthal Occupations in Sierra de Atapuerca Absolute and Relative Chronology and Cultural Attribution of Neolithic Sites in the Kulunda Steppe Technological Analysis of Ceramics from Early Sarmatian Burials in the Southwestern Urals Archaeological Studies of the Kamenny Ambar (Olgino) Fortifi ed Settlement Silver Dish with Fighting Scenes from the Lower Ob Region Lacquer Cups of the Western Han Dynasty (Noin Ula, Mongolia): An Analysis of Inscriptions Tinder Bag with a Chinese Inscription Ancient Agriculture in Western Siberia: Problems of Argumentation, Paleoethnobotanic Methods, and A Red Marals at Satakular in the Alai The “Kirghiz Frontier” and the Frontier Volosts of the Tomsk Uyezd in the 17th Century: Formulation Sacred Space and the Art of its Representation in the Ethnic Culture of Northern Asia: Artifacts of Pottery Making in the Village of Balkhar, Dagestan The Diet of Siberian Peasants on Lenten Days (the 19th Century) Craniometric Characteristics of the Ust-Ishim People (the Southern Taiga Part of the Irtysh Basin,   

Tinder Bag with a Chinese Inscription

O.A. Mitko and Yu.S. Stupan.

This article analyzes a tinder bag of the type that became widespread among the Turkic- and Mongolian-speaking peoples of Siberia and Central Asia in the Late Middle Ages and ethnographic period. The tinder bag is decorated with a metal plate containing the Chinese hieroglyphic inscription 连 生 贵子, which renders traditional Chinese good wishes, “Let precious/noble sons be born constantly.” This wish is one of the cultural universals related to the archetypal beliefs on the connection of fi re with the birth of a child.

Keywords: Tinder bag, Siberia, China, Mongols, Middle Ages, archetype, birth of a child.