Chronology of the Burial Finds from Scythian Monuments in Southern Siberia and Central Asia

Abstract

We present here new radiocarbon dates for the different barrows (burial mounds) of the nomadic tribes of the Scythian period in the Khakassia and Tuva regions (Central Asia). The time scale of these barrows is compared with the elite barrows of the Sayan-Altai. In agreement with archaeological evidence, some barrows in Khakassia are chronologically close in time to the Arzhan barrow. The first 14C dates produced for the barrows from the Tuva region belong to a later Scythian period, compared with the elite Arzhan barrow. We determined the final stage of the barrow construction, but to establish the starting time, more dates are necessary (both by dendrochronology and 14C).

New Radiocarbon Dates and a Review of the Chronology of Prehistoric Populations from the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia, Russia

“…Some of the first 14 C dates obtained for the prehistoric complexes of Southern Siberia (Scythian monuments of the Altai Mountain region) were published in Radiocarbon in 1965 (Butomo 1965), and since then the various aspects of the area's 14 C chronology have been presented and discussed in its pages (e.g. Sementsov et al 1969Sementsov et al , 1998Semyontsov et al 1972;Görsdorf et al 1998bGörsdorf et al , 2001Alekseev et al 2001;). The following paper focuses on the chronology of the prehistoric populations of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia, and presents new 14 C dates and a review of the previous understanding of the region's chronology.…”

Radiocarbon and the Old World Archaeology: Shaping a Chronological Framework

“…Mochanov and Fedoseeva 1985;Goebel and Aksenov 1995;Goebel and Slobodin 1999;Vasil'ev et al 2002;Dolukhanov et al 2002;Sulerzhitsky 2004;Kuzmin 2007) and Holocene cultural complexes (e.g. Ackerman 1982;Mochanov and Fedoseeva 1985;Zaitseva et al 1993;Dumond and Bland 1995;Weber 1995;Sementsov et al 1998;Kuzmin 2000Kuzmin , 2006bKuzmin and Orlova 2000;Kuzmin and Vetrov 2007;Görsdorf et al 2001;Fitzhugh et al 2002;Pitulko 2004;Timofeev et al 2004;Chernykh 2008). …”

Climate change and the expansion of the Scythian culture after 850 BC: a hypothesis

“…The change from the latest phase of the Late Bronze Age to the beginning of the Tagar culture does not represent a break in the cultural development [23]. A long series of radiocarbon dates clearly shows that the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Tagar culture should be placed around the 9th century BC [2,27,28]. In the context of the present paper it is important to note that this fits with the period of evidence for climate change at the SubborealeSubatlantic transition.…”