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

Abstract

ABSTRACT.The results are presented of a new program of radiocarbon dating undertaken on 88 human skeletons. The individuals derived from Eneolithic to Early Iron Age sites-Afanasievo, Okunevo, Andronovo (Fedorovo), Karasuk, and Tagar cultures-in the Minusinsk Basin of Southern Siberia. All the new dates have been acquired from human bone, which is in contrast to some of the previous dates for this region obtained from wood and thus possibly unreliable due to old-wood effects or re-use of the timber. The new data are compared with the existing 14 C chronology for the region, thereby enabling a clearer understanding to be gained concerning the chronology of these cultures and their place within the prehistory of the Eurasian steppes.

A lack of freshwater reservoir effects in human radiocarbon dates in the Eneolithic to Iron Age in the Minusinsk Basin

“…The first is that the refined cultural historical sequence present in Svyatko et al (2009) is likely to remain broadly correct. The second is that there is little reason to doubt the inferred date of ca.…”

“…For fish samples (lab IDs SS MBF), note that the δ 15 N values were taken from the sample not subjected to lipid removal; the final δ 13 C value was obtained by taking the carbon isotopic value of the sample which had undergone the lipid removal process and adding 1.5 ‰ for the Suess effect (see Sample Pretreatment section for details). The δ 34 S values were taken from the sample also not subjected to lipid removal (lab IDs UBA) (twenty-sixth to twenty-first century BC for Okunevo, thirteenth to tenth century BC for Karasuk, and third-early fifth century AD for Tashtyk individuals) support the existing chronology attributing Okunevo culture to twenty-fifth to eighteenth, Karasuk-to the fifteenth to ninth century BC, and Tashtyk-to the third-early fifth century AD (Svyatko et al 2009;Pankova et al 2010;Zaitseva et al 2007). …”

“…The large set of 14 C dates from human remains (more than 100) obtained for the region to date has been used both to refine the cultural historical sequence (Svyatko et al 2009), as well as to suggest a date of ca. 1400 BC for the appearance of millet as an important element of human diet (ibid.).…”

“…Here, we address this question in the context of the Early Bronze Age (Okunevo), Late Bronze Age (Karasuk) and Late Iron Age (Tashtyk culture) of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia. The issue is important given the large number of radiocarbon dates that have been published on human remains here, which have been used both to refine the cultural historical sequence (Svyatko et al 2009), as well as to suggest a date of ca. 1400 BC for the appearance of millet agriculture (Svyatko et al 2013).…”

Freshwater Reservoir Effect on Redating of Eurasian Steppe Cultures: First Results for Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age Northeast Kazakhstan

“…The turbulent history of migrations and collisions of tribes and nations, rise of empires and fall of civilizations in the region has forged its unique heritage drawing enormous interest from the global academic community (Mair 2006;Anthony 2007;Kuzmina 2008;Beckwith 2009). A growing number of 14 C ages from archaeological human bone samples appear considerably older than expected from traditional or established archaeological chronologies based on associated wood and/or charcoal 14 C ages (Görsdorf et al 2001;Alekseev et al 2005;Hanks et al 2007;Svyatko et al 2009), possibly due to the FRE. Often particular human burials are of interest but they do not always have associated terrestrial material for dating.…”