Tashtyk Culture

The article is devoted to the history of research and analysis of the planigraphy of the Oglakhta burial ground, known to the scientific community primarily for its phenomenal preservation of organic objects. According to the aerial survey, verified by ground surveys, the necropolis includes more than 300 objects expressed in relief, which allows you to assign it to one of the largest burial grounds of Tashtyk culture. The study resolved historiographic
contradictions regarding the location of sections of the cemetery with the best-preserved graves. Negative impact of the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir, which may have affected the unique microclimate created in some graves, contributing to the preservation of objects and the remains of the buried.
Keywords: Oglakhty cemetery, Tashtyk culture, Minusinsk Basin, Early Iron Age

Описаны история исследования и анализ планиграфии Оглахтинского могильника, известного научному сообществу прежде всего феноменальной сохранностью органических предметов. По данным аэрофотосъемки, верифицированной обследованиями с земли, некрополь включает более 300 выраженных в рельефе объектов, что позволяет отнести его к числу крупнейших могильников таштыкской культуры. В ходе исследования разрешены историографические противоречия относительно расположения участков кладбища с могилами наилучшей сохранности. Сделаны неутешительные предположения о негативном воздействии Красноярского водохранилища, которое могло повлиять на создавшийся в некоторых могилах уникальный микроклимат, способствовавший сохранности сопроводительных предметов и самих останков погребенных.

In 2003 tattoos on a mummy found at the Oglakhty cemetery (Minusinsk Hollow, early Tashtyk culture) were revealed
in the State Hermitage Museum using reflected infrared rays. Several of the Oglakhty tattooed figures look alien for
local culture but are analogous to images found in Xinjiang (China). Taking into account the parallels in funeral assemblages
and specifics of tattoos as deeply traditional depictions, one may suppose that natives of Xinjiang were among
the ancestors of the Tashtyk population of Southern Siberia. On the later stage of the Tashtyk culture similar figures are
available on representations of Tashtyk warriors. Some analogies to the tattoos are seen in paintings of Tashtyk funeral
masks.

The semi-arid steppe and forest-steppe regions of southern Siberia have a long history of human occupation. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, the area became home to a number of archaeological cultures that greatly
influenced the cultural and technological development and exchange processes in the middle latitudes of Eurasia and left a rich archaeological record. One of the lesser-known Iron Age archaeological cultures is the Tashtyk culture, which flourished in the Minusinsk Basin in the upper reaches of the Yenisei during the 1st to 7th centuries CE. Using an extensive set of radiocarbon dates and identifications of plant and animal remains from the best-preserved and most spectacular Grave 4 of the Oglakhty burial ground, our study aims to improve the age determination of the examined grave and to better understand the natural environments and way of life of the local population in this remote region of Central Asia during the early 1st millennium CE. Our dating approach could narrow down the probabilistic age range of the time at which Grave 4 was constructed and used to ca. 250–300 CE. The inferred age together with polychrome jin silks documented in Grave 4 suggests a connection
between the local populations and silk producing centres in eastern China via either oases-states in the Tarim and Turfan basins or via the Mongolian steppes. The records of zooarchaeological remains and artefacts approve that the local Tashtyk people were skilful craftsmen and had a complex subsistence economy mainly based on animal husbandry, which was supplemented by hunting-gathering and small-scale agriculture. The available evidence on the use of sheep indicates that they played an important role in the local economy, although other domesticated
animals (such as goats, cattle, horses) were bred as well. Whether reindeer were present locally (i.e. domesticated) or their skins were obtained through hunting or more distant exchange requires further investigation.
Also, the role of agriculture and millet cultivation (mentioned in the reports of the first archaeological excavations) remains an important topic for upcoming research. The available, albeit still rare, palaeoenvironmental
records from the region suggest drier conditions during the 4th to 1st centuries BCE, partly corresponding to a colder and dryer phase in the North Atlantic region. The regional pollen and isotope records demonstrate a weak trend towards wetter and warmer climate during the following five centuries representing the Tashtyk culture.

Погребения таштыкского грунтового могильника Оглахты в Хакасии интересны как хорошо сохранившимися предметами из органических материалов, так и необычной погребальной практикой: в могилах соседствуют захоронения по обряду ингумации c трепанированными черепами (мумии) и кремации в кожано-травяных манекенах («погребальные куклы»). В могиле 4 (III–IV вв. н. э.) мужские и женские мумии и куклы были одеты в меховые одежды: шапки, шубы, нагрудник, рукавицы, штаны, носки / чулки и сапожки. Основное внимание уделяется найденным шести шубам, принадлежащим разным категориям погребенных. Рассмотрение особенностей покроя шуб и способов их шитья привело к выводу о том, что наибольшие различия наблюдаются между шубами, сшитыми мехом к телу и мехом наружу. Отличия шуб, принадлежащих мумиям и куклам, женщинам и мужчинам, детям и взрослым, также существуют, но выглядят гораздо менее явными.

Burials of the Tashtyk flat-grave cemetery of Oglakhty in Khakasia are interesting both in the well preserved objects from organic materials and in a peculiar funerary practice: in the graves, interments according to the inhumation rite with trepanised skulls (mummies) and cremations placed in leather-grass dolls (funerary mannequins)
are neighbouring. In grave no. 4 (3rd–4th century), the male and female mummies and mannequins are dressed in fur clothes: caps, coats, bibs, mittens, trousers, socks/stockings and boots. The main attention is paid to findings of six fur coats belonging to different categories of the interred. Analysis of the peculiarities of the cut of the fur coats and techniques of their sewing draws to the conclusion that the greatest differences are between the coats sewn fur inside and those with fur out. There are also certain differences between the furs coats belonging to mummies and mannequins, males and females, children and adults, but these distinctions seem to be much less pronounced.

In the article explored by the author in 2003 petroglyphs on flagstones of burial mound fences of the Tagar culture near village Podkamen are published. The most of them are carvings including unusual figures in long robes and with high headdresses. Such figures have been known since the late XIXth century but till the present they are a mystery though are found on several monuments of Nothern Khakassia.Their study history is considered. Their belonging to the Tashtyk art tradition is proved. Costumes and attributes are also analyzed for which analogies from China and Xinjiang are noted. Performed figures can be presumably considered as foreigners coming from afar to the Siberian region, bearers of foreign traditions or their descendants connected with trading and missionary activity in the Nothern part of Central Asia.

В статье публикуются изображения на плитах оград могильника тагарской культуры у д. Подкамень, исследованные автором в 2003 г. Значительная часть из них представлена гравировками, в том числе изображениями особых человеческих фигур в длинных одеждах и высоких головных уборах. Такие фигуры известны с конца XIX в., но до сих пор представляют загадку, хотя найдены уже на нескольких памятниках Северной Хакасии. Рассмотрена история их изучения, обоснована принадлежность к таштыкской изобразительной традиции. Проанализирован костюм и атрибуты, для которых отмечены аналогии в памятниках Китая и Синьцзяна. Показанные фигуры предположительно могут рассматриваться как изображения выходцев из дальних от Сибири областей, носителей чуждых традиций или их потомков, связанных с торговой и миссионерской деятельностью в северной части Центральной Азии.

В статье рассмотрена модель горита из погребения 4 таштыкского грунтового могильника Оглахты (III–IV вв. н. э., раскопки Л. Р. Кызласова 1969 г.). Дано детальное описание модели, приведены ее фотографии и прорисовки. Судя по аналогиям в могильнике Субейси (Синьцзян) V–III вв. до н. э., конструктивно модель относилась к горитам скифского типа; можно предполагать, что к той же
традиции принадлежали и полновесные таштыкские луки и гориты, данных о которых крайне мало.При этом декоративное оформление модели (окантовка полихромным шелком) отвечало вкусам своего времени.

In grave 4 of the flat-grave cemetery of Oglakhty (excavated by Leonid R. Kyzlasov, Tashtyk culture), there was a unique funerary model of a gorytus — miniature leather bowcase with external pockets for arrows and inserted models of bows, feathered arrow shafts and a nogayka whip (Fig. 1). The model presented a distinctive and spectacular object (Fig. 4); the tips of the whip were plated with gold foil (Fig. 5, 3, 4). This paper is the first to consider in detail the design of the Oglakhty model. The good state of preservation and the abundance of the details allow us to consider it as an object retaining the construction of the real Tashtyk cases for bows and arrows of the 1st–4th century AD the data on which is very scarce.
The Oglakhty model shows considerable resemblance to the also well preserved goryti of the 5th–3rd century BC from the cemetery of Subeixi in East Turkestan (Fig. 6, 1–4). Among the common construction features there is the function of the case as the base of the gorytus, the presence of a wooden frame planking, small sewn-on pockets for arrows, stitching of the edge of the gorytus with straps, a belt suspension loop in the slot near the plank, and a ‘projection/insert’ in the opposite lateral seam. Thus, the Oglakhty model, in terms of its construction, belonged to goryti of the Scythian type. One can assume that also the real early Tashtyk goryti belonged to the same tradition, although already archaic one for their time considering the bows and goryti of new types distributed in the first half of the 1st millennium AD (Fig. 7). The design of the Oglakhty model might have been either a heritage of the Tagar epoch or linked with the Central-Asiatic migrants of the beginning of the new era. By contrast to the сonstruction, the decorative design of the model, i. e. the edging with polychromatic silk, corresponded to its time.

The Oglakhty burial ground in Southern Siberia belongs to the early stage of the Tashtyk culture (1st to 4th centuries AD). Some burials were investigated in 1903 by A. V. Adrianov and in 1969-73 by L.R.Kyzlasov. The investigated burials are distinguished by good preservation of organic materials, including items made of wood, fur, leather and fabrics. Among the latter are fragments of Chinese silk, both polychrome and plain. These are mostly small textile pieces either representing manufactured funerary models, for posthumous rites of the dead, or preserved parts of the deceased’s clothing. The finds from the Oglakhty burials are kept in different museums including the State Historical Museum in Moscow, Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum and the State Hermitage. In our article we present textile finds from the Hermitage collection, namely from Grave 4, investigated by L.R.Kyzlasov. They include seven plain silk fabric fragments, representing four objects, and fragments of ten polychrome silk fabrics representing six objects. Polychrome fabrics from reeled silk are made using a specific traditional Chinese technique jin (warp-faced compound tabby). Such fabrics were difficult to manufacture and therefore they were highly valued both in China and beyond. The largest number of polychrome silks of the Eastern Han-Jin period (25 AD – 420 AD), chronologically close to the Oglakhty burial, comes from the oases sites of the southern and eastern parts of the Tarim basin, corresponding mainly to the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. In our article the finds of silk from Grave 4 are presented in detail, including technological information. In the discussion we also present the analogies of the Oglakhty fragments from the burial grounds of the Tarim Basin (Gaotai, Niya, Zagunluk, Sampula, Yingpan) in China. An attempt is made to date polychrome silk from the Oglakhty burials based on the dating of Xinjiang burials with similar findings.

In: Академическое востоковедение в России и странах ближнего зарубежья (2007–2015): Археология, история, культура / Под ред. В.П.Никонорова и В.А. Алёкшина. — СПб. 2015 (Записки Восточного Отделения Российского Археологического Общества. Нов. сер. Т. III (XXVIII); Труды Института истории материальной культуры РАН. Т. XLV).

The people of Oglakhty in South Siberia: What place did they have in the history of Eurasia in the early first millennium AD?
When a shepherd fell into an old grave pit on the bank of the Yenisei River in 1902 and Alexander Adrianov uncovered another sixteen graves in the following year, research began in Oglakhty that still offers as many challenges as it did a hundred years ago. This is due to the unusual treatment of the deceased that was not previously practiced in this region, the grave goods and their age. Our project aims to improve the accuracy of the determined age of grave no. 4 in Oglakhty, in order to understand the emergence of new cultural phenomena in southern Siberia and ultimately to be able to connect it with the overall mechanism of the formation processes in East Asia during the early first millennium AD. In this first work report we present the main features of the finding and outline the open research questions.

http://www.kronk.spb.ru/library/azbelev-pp-2012b.htm
В статье рассмотрены развитие взглядов на хронологию таштыкской культуры, а также приёмы датирования, применённые разными исследователями. В советское время одни исследователи подчиняли решение этих проблем официальной псевдомарксистской идеологии, другие стремились этого избежать. Из-за этого возникла путаница в датах и интерпретациях, постепенно преодолеваемая в последние десятилетия.

P.P. Azbelev
Tashtyk Chronology: the Current State of the Problem.
The article considers the development of views on the chronology of Tashtyk culture, as well as dating techniques applied by different researchers. In Soviet times, some researchers subordinated the solution of these problems to the pseudo-Marxist official ideology, others sought to avoid it. Because of this, there was confusion concerning chronology and interpretations, but the situation has been improving over the last decades.

P.P. Azbelev.
Cronologia culturii Tashtyk: starea cercetării.
Acest articol abordează evoluţia opiniilor cu privire la cronologia culturii Tashtyk şi metode de datare aplicate de către diferiţi cercetători. În vremurile sovietice, unii cercetători au subordonat soluţionarea acestor probleme ideologiei oficiale pseudomarxiste, alţii au încercat să evite acest lucru. De aceea, a apărut o confuzie cu privire la date şi interpretări, care este treptat depăşită în decursul ultimului deceniu.

ESPECIALLY OF THE BURIAL RITE TASHTYK’ POPULATION (FROM ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF
CREMATED BONES OF TASHTYK MONUMENTS UNDER STONE PLATES IN SITE MARKELOV MYS II).
Keywords: Early Iron Age; the Krasnoyarsk area; Tashtyk culture; monuments under the stone calculations; anthropological analysis;
cremation.
One of the modern physical anthropology directions is the study of cremations. In foreign archeology, since the 60s of the last century,
there is almost no study about a large cemetery with the remains of cremations without the view of anthropologists. The main rule is to
support the results of excavations of the observations made in the analysis of calcified bones. In Russian archeology, the anthropological
analysis of cremations is out of attention. This can be seen in relation to this kind of culture as Tashtyk, which stands out against the
background of other Siberian archaeological cultures of Hun-Sarmatian time, the variety of forms of funeral rites. Questions that were
needed to field and laboratory work with cremations of Tashtyk monuments were placed in the scientific literature, but their complex
anthropological studies have not been conducted to date. The main task of the article is to fill this gap. The results of working with materials
obtained in the course of many years of research repository Markelov Mys II, located in the Krasnoyarsk Region. Necropolis is a
multi-temporal, multi-cultural complex, which includes monuments of Tashtyk cultures and objects of ancient Turkic time. All in all it
was recorded 140 objects belonging to Tashtyk culture, including 89 under the stone monuments calculations, containing the remains of
cremation. It was investigated 79 or 88.8% of them. Anthropological analysis confirmed the preliminary assumption of burning predominantly
adult individuals (bone remains of children were recorded). Gender has been identified only in a few cases. Four individuals
were recorded features and pathology development. In general, it is observed a certain canon of the rite of cremation which was common
for the population, left the cemetery of Markelov Mys II. The rite was accomplished shortly after the death, in an open area of space near the source of wood at high temperature burning fire. At the same time there was a certain time lag between the time of the
burning and the time of the burial. A complete picture of the skeleton in the grave did not play a significant role. The bones were placed
together with waste in the production process, or the tomb of earth was placed at the bottom of the pit in a special container. Accompanying
inventory in most cases was not put at all, but in some facilities met the remnants of meat food, stucco non-ornamental vessels
(mostly canned form, small metal parts (buckles, rivets, rods, etc.), a fragment of a horny pins. The specificity of the source material
does not allow to give a comprehensive description of the funeral of the rim Tashtyk population, burned their dead. However, the results
can be the basis for the creation of anthropological data base for cremations and the extension to give a new impetus to the debate about
the functional-semantic content “mention” in relation to the concept of Tashtyk culture.

Farklı coğrafyalarda yaşayan halkların hemen hepsinin bir ritüel nesnesi olarak maske kullandıkları bilinmektedir. Bu çalışmada ise Hakasya'da keşfedilen ölüm maskeleri üzerinde durulmuştur. MÖ 2-MS 5. yüzyıllara tarihlendirilen Taştık arkeolojik kültürüne ait bu maskeler, doğrudan ölünün yüzüne yapılmış olmaları sebebiyle 2000 yıl önce Güney Sibirya'da yaşamakta olan Türklerin fenotipik özellikleri hakkında bilgi sağlamaktadır. Tang yıllıklarında bahsi geçen Kırgız ölüm gelenekleri üzerinden kurulan kültürel bağlantılar sonucu bu maskelerin herhangi bir etkileşim sonucu ortaya çıkmadığı ve özgün olduğu görüşüne varılmıştır. Ayrıca Taştık mezarlarından elde edilen buluntular arasında söz konusu dönemde oldukça değerli kabul edilen Çin ipeğinin bulunması, Taştıkların Han dönemi Çin devleti ile ilişki kurduklarını düşündürmektedir. Günümüzde Rusya ve Hakasya'daki müzelerde muhafaza edilen özgün Taştık maskelerinin fotoğraflarını içeren bir fotoğraf sergisi ilk kez 2009 yılında Sergey Narylkov tarafından açılmıştır. Narylkov'un koleksiyonundaki fotoğraflardan esinlenerek ortaya konulan fotoğraf sergisi projesi için söz konusu maskeler sanatsal bir üslupla yeniden yorumlanmıştır.