Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data

Chugunov, K.V.; Parzinger, Hermann; Nagler, Anatoli

doi:10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1

Cited by 5 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…The first chronology for this monument was obtained using wiggle-matching, and showed that its construction could be dated to the calendar interval 670-625 cal BC at 2 σ (Chugunov et al 2004).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chronology of Key Barrows Belonging to Different Stages of the Scythian Period in Tuva (Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 Barrows)

et al. 2007

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This paper focuses on the chronological study of 2 Scythian period monuments that are the key to the chronology of the entire Eurasian Scythian culture. These are the unique monuments of Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 in Central Asia (Tuva Republic). The dating of both these monuments began immediately after their discovery, but discussion about their chronological position is still current. Both monuments contained considerable wooden material from their construction suitable for dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. The first results for the Arzhan-1 barrow were obtained by wiggle-matching in 2004–2005, while the Arzhan-2 barrow was first dated in 2003. It is now possible to compare the chronological position of these barrows using the same methods. As postulated earlier, Arzhan-1 is the oldest Scythian period monument and is dated to the boundary of the 8–9th centuries BC. The position of the Arzhan-2 monument stretches to the middle of the 7th century BC. δ13C values for annual tree rings in logs from both barrows were also determined to gain a better understanding of the climatic conditions at the time of barrow construction.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During 2001, a Russian-German research project discovered the Arzhan-2 monument in the Uyuk hollow, about 9 km from the Arzhan-1 barrow (Chugunov et al 2002(Chugunov et al , 2004. This monument is unique because it had not been robbed or otherwise disturbed and appears untouched since its construction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronology of Key Barrows Belonging to Different Stages of the Scythian Period in Tuva (Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 Barrows)

et al. 2007

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“…This is partly true about the Eastern Scythians (Saka/Sacae) living in Inner Asia and centred in the Altai Mountains. The opulent burial mounds, up to 25 m high and 20-70 m in diameter (with the largest 110 m kurgan at the Arzhan I burial complex in Tuva) (Gryaznov 1980;Chugunov et al 2004), with larch-log tombs covered over by stone cairns sealing unique fine art items made on precious metals provide witness of active trade links with the early historical civilizations of the Hellenistic Greece, Egypt, Assyria, Iran (Parthia), the Pamir-Hindukush area (Bactria), India and west-central China. The uncovered archaeological records deliver unprecedented insights on lifestyles of the Altai occupants of that time.…”

Section: The Pazyryk Culture Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The early royal kurgans excavated at Arzhan (kurgans I & II) and at other sites in the Republic of Tuva, date between the late ninth and early sixth century BC (Chugunov 1994;Chugunov et al 2003Chugunov et al , 2004, may indicate an origin for the westward expansion of early Scythian cultures to the Black Sea area (Akishev 1978;Baumer 2016). The location and geographic extent of the ancient Scythia varied over time, encompassing the Altai-Sayan region and the adjacent parts of Mongolia, North China and Eastern Kazakhstan, across parkland south-western Siberia, the Pontic (Northern BlackSea) steppes and North Caucasus to the lower Danube area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia–East Kazakhstan)

Chlachula

2018

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The Altai Mountains are well-known for their unique archaeological records, with rich, chronologically sequenced Palaeolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze Age (late fourth-early first millennium BC) sites and, in particular, the Iron Age Scytho-Siberian and early historical monuments represented by burial sites, ritual structures, and rock-art. The Altai prehistoric archaeological localities are distributed across a broad range of topographic and ecological settings, encompassing altitudinal zones from 800 m asl in the lower reaches of glacial river valleys up to 2500/3000 m asl on the high mountain plateaus. The partial spatial overlap of these (often multi-component) geoarchaeological loci over time suggests that similar adaptive strategies were employed by countless generations of hunter and later nomadic communities-their actions constrained by the locally specific forms of (palaeo-)relief and the associated ecosystems. The dynamics of the initial occupation of the boreal and alpine Altai landscapes and subsequent processes of (re-)colonisation during the Final Pleistocene-Holocene transition are directly linked to transformations in the regional hydrological systems after the LGM. The principal settings for early pastoral settlements were the xerothermic grasslands that formed on the flat glacio-lacustrine terraces which rise above the modern fluvial floodplains-the remains of ice-dammed wastage lake basins drained at the end of the Pleistocene (15,000-13,000 year BP). Marked climatic changes, evidenced by regional variations in temperature and humidity across the territory, are well attested in the geological, biotic and archaeological records. The initial Sub-Boreal aridification correlated with the beginnings of the Altai Bronze Age traditions continued until the early Iron Age-causing an expansion of parkland-steppe in the main valleys and a forest retreat in the foothills. Mountain steppes constituted the most essential food-procurement habitat for the Holocene prehistoric and historical settlements of Southern Altai. The current degradation of insular alpine permafrost poses an imminent threat to preservation of the region's most precious archaeological monuments-the frozen burial mounds of the Pazyryk culture (sixth-third century BC) belonging to the UNESCO World cultural heritage.

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“…The Iron Age Saka population of eastern Eurasia is considered the earliest of the Scythian groups to emerge in the 1st millennium BCE, as well as being the most substantial part of the Eastern group of the pan-Scythian family, occupying almost the entire territory of modern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan, north-west China and northern Mongolia, and substantial parts of western and eastern Siberia (Davis-Kimball et al 1995;Gnecchi-Ruscone et al 2021). Among the earliest securely dated Iron Age Eurasian pastoralist sites of the whole region are the burial mounds (kurgans) located on the territory of western Siberia and East Kazakhstan, including Arzhan-1 and 2, and Baigetobe (Panyushkina et al 2016;Chugunov et al 2017;Zaitseva et al 2004Zaitseva et al , 2005Zaitseva et al , 2007. These sites provide excellent examples of contextualised archaeological finds of Saka art, including numerous gold objects, in contrast to many of the collections of the last 200 years, which were instead looted or displaced from their original resting places with minimal or no provenance information Curtis 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Zoomorphic Arts of Ancient Central Eurasia

2023

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Cover image courtesy of Met's open access database© 2023 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications.The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.

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Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Chronology of Key Barrows Belonging to Different Stages of the Scythian Period in Tuva (Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 Barrows)

Chronology of Key Barrows Belonging to Different Stages of the Scythian Period in Tuva (Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 Barrows)

Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia–East Kazakhstan)

The Zoomorphic Arts of Ancient Central Eurasia

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