Prehistory of Siberia
The prehistory of Siberia is also characterized by archaeologically different cultures due to the climatic conditions. During the Copper Age , the cultures of western and southern Siberia were dominated by cattle breeding , while the eastern taiga and tundra were dominated by hunters until the early Middle Ages . Significant changes in society, economy and art mark the emergence of equestrian nomadism in the Central Asian steppes in the 1st millennium BC. Chr.
Research history
Scientific research into the archaeological remains from the area between the Urals and the Pacific began in the reign of Peter I (1682 to 1725), who specifically had Scythian gold finds collected and thus saved the proceeds of numerous robbery excavations from being melted down. Under his government, several expeditions were commissioned with the scientific, ethnological and linguistic exploration of Siberia, including the second Kamchatka expedition of the Dane Vitus Bering 1733–1743. The researchers were also interested in archaeological finds and carried out the first scientific excavations in Siberian Kurganen . After a temporary decline in interest in the first half of the 19th century, archaeological research in Siberia made major advances again in the late 19th century. Excavations have been undertaken in southern Siberia and Central Asia in particular. The consequences of the October Revolution of 1917 created other, often cramped conditions for archaeological research, but it still experienced ever larger projects, often rescue excavations in the course of gigantic construction work. Gradually, more remote areas of the former Soviet Union, such as Yakutia and Chukotka , were included in the research. This development continued after the Second World War. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, more intensive cooperation with the West became possible again.
Natural structure
The natural conditions of Siberia vary widely; this applies to climate, vegetation and landscape. In the west, Siberia is bounded by the Ural Mountains; this is followed by the West Siberian lowland to the east, which extends in the east to the Yenisei River . It is followed by the central Siberian mountainous region, which borders the Lena basin in the east , to which the north-eastern Siberian mountainous region adjoins. To the south Siberia is bounded by a loose mountain range, to the southwest by the hilly country of the Kazakh threshold. The climate in Siberia is very different. Yakutia northeast of the Lena is one of the coldest places in the world; at the same time, the temperature there fluctuates by more than fifty degrees per season. Precipitation is also very low. This also applies to the southwestern edge of Siberia, where steppes, deserts and semi-deserts border.
Today agriculture in Siberia is only possible between the 50th and 60th parallel without artificial irrigation. The climatic conditions are the prerequisite for the vegetation zones . In the far north is the tundra with only minimal vegetation. So far not taken by mountains, most of Siberia is covered by the taiga , the boreal coniferous forest. The forest steppe joins in the southwest, which merges into the grass steppe and the Central Asian deserts to the south. However, before the beginning of the Holocene , about 12,000 years ago, the conditions were different. At the end of the Würm glacial period (115,000 to 10,000 years ago) the tundra extended much further south, but only the Urals and the area east of the lower Yenisei were covered by glaciers .
Historical overview
Stone Age (until around 2400 BC)
Finds from the Paleolithic have hardly survived. The old Paleolithic seems to have spread over East Kazakhstan to the Altai. A burial site of a Neanderthal child found in 1938 shows similarities with the Moustérien of Iran and Iraq . In the Upper Paleolithic , most of the traces can be found in the Urals, where, among other things, rock art depicting mammoths was found, the Altai foreland, on the upper Yenisei, west of Lake Baikal and around 25,000 BC At the Laptev Sea north of the Arctic Circle. In the settlement of Malta near Irkutsk, for example, the remains of huts with a rich inventory were found. Animal sculptures and statuettes of women ( Venus figurines ) are reminiscent of the European Upper Palaeolithic. The Siberian Paleolithic extends well into the Mesolithic of Europe. Postglacial only now was the taiga formed . The otherwise typical microliths are not found.
The concept of the Neolithic (around 5500-3400 BC) is predominantly of chronological importance in North Asia; there is no reference to agriculture or animal husbandry in Siberia during the actual Central European Neolithic. However, the Neolithic cultures of North Asia differ very clearly from the previous Mesolithic in their finds through the introduction of ceramics .
Southwest Siberia reached a Neolithic cultural stage during the Copper Age, which began here towards the end of the 4th millennium, which roughly coincided with the introduction of copper processing. In the northern and eastern areas there have not yet been any significant changes.
Bronze Age (around 2400-800 BC)
In the second half of the third millennium BC, bronze processing reached the cultures of western Siberia. Groups in the eastern Ural foothills formed the Andronowo culture , which consisted of several local forms , from the Copper Age traditions at the turn of the second millennium . The fortified settlements of Arkaim , Olgino and Sintaschta deserve special attention as the first approaches to urbanization in Siberia. In the valleys of Ob and Irtysh , the ceramics that have existed since the Neolithic can still be seen; the changes in the area around Lake Baikal and in Yakutia were very small .
In the Middle Bronze Age (around 1800–1500 BC) the catchment area of the West Siberian Andronowo culture expanded strongly to the east and even reached the valley of the Yenisei. Homogeneous ceramics can be found in all local forms of the Andronowo culture, which also had an impact on the cultures on the Ob. At the same time, however, these preserved their own forms in the Neolithic tradition.
With the beginning of the late Bronze Age (around 1500–800 BC) decisive cultural changes took place in southern Siberia. The Andronowo cultural area dissolved; his southern successors produced a completely new ceramic, decorated with bulbous elements. At the same time, new forms appeared in the bronze industry of southern cultures, possibly due to influences from the southeast. These changes were particularly significant in the Baikal area (today Irkutsk Oblast and Buryatia ): The cultural conditions there, which were still at the Copper Age level, were replaced by a bronze-processing cattle breeding society ; As in Yakutia, bronze was used as a material there for the first time.
Iron Age (around 800 BC to 500 AD)
The cultural continuity on the Ob lasted in the first millennium BC. BC, when the Iron Age began in Siberia , continued; the local pottery can still be found there. An all the greater upheaval was now becoming noticeable in the Central Asian steppe belt: the sedentary , predominantly cattle-breeding societies of the late Bronze Age were replaced by mobile equestrian nomad associations, which were to endure into modern times. The mobility made possible by the new form of society unleashed a tremendous dynamic with which the peoples of Central Asia could henceforth move in the steppe. Last but not least, the neighboring high cultures were also affected. Ancient China was threatened by the Xiongnu and their successors, the ancient states of today's Iran had to defend themselves against the massages and saks , and the Roman Empire , the western part of which fell a little later, against the Huns . The social changes were also clearly reflected in the finds: There are no more settlements, members of the newly formed upper class were buried richly furnished in huge Kurgan , and completely new forms of art emerged.
In the less dry steppes further north, the settled cattle breeding society of the Late Bronze Age continued to develop under the influence of the material culture of the equestrian nomads. Protourbane settlements such as Chicha in the late Firmer culture in western Siberia and the facilities in the north of the Xiongnu settlement area emerged.
outlook
In many places the transition to the following time is still causing problems due to the lack of archaeological finds. Nevertheless, general statements are already possible. In the Central Asian steppes, Turkish groups made themselves felt around the 5th century , which spread to the west as well as to the north in the course of the following centuries and at times united all of southern Siberia under their rule. The areas further to the north, where carriers of Uralic and Paleo-Siberian languages are localized, are more difficult to grasp , without any further statements being possible. The next clear turning point in the history of Siberia was the Russian conquest, which began in the 16th century and was not completed until the 19th century. With her the modern age began in Siberia.
Ethnicities and languages
Usable historical news about the area in question have been available at the earliest since the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. BC with ancient oriental , and soon afterwards also Greek and Chinese sources available. Correspondingly, reliable statements about ethnic groups and languages have only been possible since the advanced Iron Age; for earlier times and the areas further north, only the archaeological findings are available. Some theories, such as the Kurgan hypothesis by Marija Gimbutas, try to connect hypothetical language groups with archaeological cultures, but here the uncertainties are very great.
The first clear statements have been made since the 1st millennium BC. Possible when neighboring high cultures came into contact with steppe peoples. In the steppes north of the Black Sea and east of the Caspian Sea , Greek, Assyrian and Persian sources show riding nomads who can be identified as carriers of Iranian languages . At the same time, the first reports about the equestrian peoples on China's northwestern fringes come from ancient China. In addition to various barely identifiable groups from texts from the Shang and Zhou periods , the Xiongnu are particularly worth mentioning. Based on traditional personal names and titles, attempts were made to identify the Xiongnu language either as an early Turkic language , as a proto-Mongolian or as a Yenisan language form. With the beginning of the early Middle Ages, the Iranian steppe peoples disappeared; in their place, Turkic peoples spread to the eastern periphery of Europe and north-east Siberia. In prehistoric times, carriers of Uralic , Paleo-Siberian and other languages presumably lived in the areas north of the Asian steppe belt ; In the Middle Ages, Turkic peoples also appear here in a large area, but their prehistoric extent has not been clarified.
Cultural development
Siberia before the Copper Age
The first archaeological finds from Siberia date back to the Paleolithic. In various places in Western Siberia, Baikalia and Yakutia, camp sites from the pre-Neolithic period were discovered, which were often sought out over centuries. In addition to tent-like structures that were purely above-ground and left no traces in the ground, there were also huts (often slightly sunk) with walls and roofs made of animal bones and reindeer antlers. Tools and weapons were mainly made from flint and pebbles as well as bones, although there were rather minor differences in shape and use despite the immense temporal and spatial expansion. Early artifacts were found in some settlement areas, which are human- and animal-shaped, and occasionally abstract sculptures and carvings. The Paleolithic and Mesolithic inhabitants of Siberia were hunters and gatherers, with mammals such as mammoths and reindeer , and more rarely fish, being hunted. In the 6th millennium BC The manufacture of ceramics spread throughout Siberia , which is why the research classifies the following period as the Neolithic period. In contrast to Europe and the Middle East, the way of life, economy and culture remained largely unchanged.
The hunters and gatherers in Yakutia and Baikal
The prehistoric settlement of the huge taiga and tundra areas east of the Yenisei and north of Baikal differs in many ways from the prehistoric cultures of the other parts of North Asia. A settlement continuity dating back to the Mesolithic and up to the second half of the 1st millennium AD, when the transition to the Middle Ages, which has not yet been adequately clarified, is noticeable here more than usual. Despite the enormous extent of this area, there are only insignificant local differences, which indicates a very mobile, nomadic population. The earliest culture in Yakutia that made ceramics was the Syalach culture , which reached the 5th millennium BC using the radiocarbon method . Can be dated BC. It is characterized by ceramic decorated with mesh prints and rows of punctures on the edge. Their finds also include weapons and tools made of flint and bone. A number of settlement sites, some of which have been in use since the Mesolithic, are known, but the findings are limited to hearths and pits, remains of solid buildings are completely missing. Accordingly, the bearers of the Syalach culture were nomadic hunters who lived from hunting and fishing and who visited certain places in seasonal cycles.
In a continuous transition, the Belkachi culture developed from it , in whose ceramics you can find cord prints, stripes, zigzag lines and similar motifs. Their dead were buried stretched back in pits in the ground. Otherwise no major changes can be seen. The whole of the 2nd millennium BC The Ymyjachtach culture , which occupied the region of the BC, has a new type of waffle ceramic , the surface of which was decorated with textile prints, giving it a waffle-like appearance. Towards the end of the 2nd millennium, Yakutia was reached by bronze processing, which is the main characteristic of the Ust-Mil culture . In the 1st millennium, an independent culture formed on the Taimyr peninsula , which shared basic features of the Ust-Mil culture. The Iron Age began in Yakutia around the 5th century BC. BC, but apart from the appearance of iron weapons and tools, there were no major changes in material culture.
The cultural development in the Neolithic and Copper Stone Age Baikal is less transparent, where up to the Late Bronze Age plate grave culture similar conditions prevailed as in Yakutia. Here, too, a number of multi-layered storage areas, dating back to the Mesolithic, were excavated, at which fire pits and waste and storage pits, but no remains of houses, could be discovered. The pottery is similar to that in Yakutia and shows a more or less parallel development. The burial was mostly done in a stretched supine position, often the grave pits were covered with stone slabs. The region on the Onon is an exception , where stool burials have been found. Grave goods and bone finds show that the population lived from hunting mammals such as bears, foxes, moose and beavers and partly from fishing. The importance of hunting is highlighted by bone carvings and rock art. Their main motifs are the animals hunted by humans, and there are also scenic depictions of hunters on the hunt. In contrast to Yakutia, it was possible to take over cattle breeding here in pre-medieval times, and the first approaches are supposed to be found in the finds from the Glaskovo culture from the Copper Age .
The settled societies of Western Siberia and Baikal
With the Neolithic or rather the Copper Age, sedentary groups formed in southwestern Siberia, in whose economy cattle breeding played a dominant role. The transition to the new economy and to settling down was fluid, as was the subsequent expansion to Baikal, where influences from northern China may have played a role.
Ceramics
Throughout the entire Siberian prehistory from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, there is a very small number of characteristic ceramic types. By far the largest number of ceramic finds belong to round-bellied vessels, often with a curved rim. In the Neolithic they had predominantly pointed floors, while later flat floors gained importance. In the east of the West Siberian forest steppes, on Ob, Irtysch and Jenissei, the decoration consisted of ridges, rows of punctures and dimples, which were arranged in longer rows and fields (right picture). In the course of the strong expansion of the Andronowo culture during the Middle Bronze Age, a different type spread. In its representatives, the decorations are arranged in meander bands , herringbone patterns and triangles (left picture). In the Iron Age, West Siberia, these types of ceramics continued, but at the same time in the catchment area of the Scythian and hunno- Sarmatian to watch nomads a sharp decline in ornaments; this also applies to the nomadic cultures themselves.
Art and small finds
Apart from the abstract ornamentation of the ceramics, which is dealt with here in a separate section, the first artifacts can be found in southern Siberia during the early Bronze Age.
The finds of the Karakol culture in the Altai and the Okunev culture in the central Yenisei have anthropomorphic motifs on stone slabs and stone steles, while the Okunev culture also contains small human sculptures. Related to these forms is the art of the Samus culture on the upper reaches of the Ob, where in addition to human sculptures and human heads carved into ceramics, clay phalluses and animal heads were made, and the nearby Susgun culture , whose bearers made bony human figurines. The only art evidence of the Late Bronze Age are early representatives of the South Siberian deer stones , decorated with deer figures stone steles, which were then taken over by the Scythian art.
The early Iron Age animal style of the South Siberian equestrian nomads had only a minor influence on the cultures in the West Siberian lowlands, but a very unique style was developed by the Kulaika culture and its neighbors on the Middle and Lower Ob. Bronze figures of animals and people were made here, in which eagles and bears played a particularly important role.
Housing development
The predominant construction technique in prehistoric North Asia was timber construction; Stones were only used in the foundation area. Most of the houses were light, no more than 1 m deep, sunk into the ground, and their floor plan was rectangular or round, more rarely oval or polygonal. Dome-like wooden structures and pitched roofs are possible as roof structures. In many cultures, a small corridor-like porch was built in front of the entrance, and one or more hearths were located inside the house.
The preferred settlement locations were river terraces and lake shores. The settlements could take on very different forms depending on the culture: there are small groups of houses, large unfortified settlements, fortified city-like structures and elevated castles. Small, village-like groups of houses can be found in large numbers in all sedentary cultures. In some cases, such as the Copper Age settlement of Botai on the Ishim , such settlements expanded considerably. Larger settlements were not infrequently fortified by ramparts and ditches in front of them, as in the western Siberian complexes of Sintashta and Chicha . The interiors of these city-like settlements were dense and very regularly built with square houses, which indicates careful settlement planning. Fortified structures in an elevated position, as they existed in the Minussinsk Basin and in Khakassia in the Bronze and Iron Ages, differ from these by their much smaller area. Their function has not yet been clarified, it could have been temporarily sought refuge castles, but also seats of privileged people or sanctuaries.
society
In contrast to the predatory groups of the previous period and north-eastern Siberia, the first more complex social structures became noticeable in the settled groups in western Siberia in the early Bronze Age. Their existence is assumed by the urban-like settlements and confirmed by the social differentiation of the grave goods. This development seems to have declined somewhat in the Middle Bronze Age, and social differences only become apparent again in the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Since northern western Siberia was apparently unknown to ancient writers and its ancient inhabitants left no written sources themselves, more detailed statements are very difficult. At least with regard to the settled people of the Wusun , who settled in the Tian Shan and the Seven Rivers, Chinese sources report the existence of a king and several dignitaries.
economy
The dominant economy of the sedentary population in prehistoric Siberia was livestock. Cattle, in particular, were bred intensively in all cultures, as were sheep and goats. Horse breeding gained in importance in Western Siberia, especially with the beginning of the Iron Age. A slightly different picture is provided by the finds of the Xiongnu, where pigs and dogs were domesticated. Hunting and fishing were initially an important addition, but lost much of their importance.
Due to certain equipment and possible remains of irrigation systems, many researchers assume that arable farming is widespread, but other researchers point out that grain remains and thus clear evidence are only available in a few southern cultures such as the finds of the Wusun in the Seven Streams and in the Tian Shan . There, as in the northern area of the Xiongnu, millet was mainly grown, wheat and rice can also be detected. Millet grains were also found in graves from Tuwa , possibly in addition to the pastoral nomads there was also a previously undetectable settled peasant population, which could also have been responsible for the metallurgy there.
Depending on mineral resources, ore mining and metallurgy have also been practiced since the Chalcolithic. This is shown by finds from slag heaps, tools and workshops in the context of different cultures.
Religion and the cult of the dead
The funeral customs were subject to great changes in sedentary societies. In the West Siberian Chalcolithic period, there are simple shallow graves in which the dead were buried stretched out on their backs. In the early Bronze Age, Kurgane were first piled up in Western Siberia , whose owners, judging by the additions, were members of a newly formed warrior class and were not buried in simple earth pits, but in wooden or stone grave structures. Kurgane can also be found in the Middle Bronze Age phase of the Andronowo culture, but without any differences in the accessories. The dead were now buried here in a crouched position or cremated. In the somewhat later Karassuk culture on the central Yenisei, the graves show rectangular stone fences, which in the Iron Age developed into the corner stone kurgan of the Tagar culture , which is characteristic of this area . The early Iron Age plate grave culture in Transbaikalia has a special position ; some of their dead were buried in stone boxes. In Western Siberia people returned to burial in the stretched position on their backs; this also applies to the newly formed South Siberian cultures of the Scythian cultural area, which will be discussed separately in connection with the other groups of rider nomads.
Sanctuaries are only known very rarely. In the vicinity of necropolises of the Copper Age Afanassjewo culture in southern Siberia, fire victims were found several times. They consist of simple stone circles in which ashes, ceramics, animal bones and utensils made of copper, stone and bone have been discovered. Several circular buildings in necropolis near the early Bronze Age settlement of Sintashta , inside of which were a wooden pole and a wooden wall, are also cult buildings .
The Iron Age steppe peoples of Central and East Asia
The equestrian nomads , a characteristic feature of the Asian steppe belt up to modern times, are a relatively young phenomenon. As recently as the late second millennium BC In the arid areas of Central Asia there lived sedentary groups of cattle ranchers, which were replaced by early horseback nomads around the turn of the first millennium in a manner that has not yet been sufficiently clarified.
The transition to the sedentary groups further north was fluid in many places. The inhabitants of the Minussinsk Basin remained sedentary cattle breeders even in the Iron Age, but their cultural development shows particularly strong similarities with the neighboring nomads. The Xiongnu in Transbaikalia also have characteristics of equestrian nomads as well as sedentary ranchers and farmers. The situation in northern Tian Shan and the Seven Rivers is remarkable: in the earlier Iron Age the nomadic Saks lived there, but their settlement area was then taken over by the settled Wusun.
The earlier nomad cultures are summarized by archeology under the term "Scythian". " Scythians " is the ancient Greek name for an equestrian people north of the Black Sea; in a broader sense it referred to all equestrian nomads in the Eurasian area. With the 3rd century BC The Hunno - Sarmatian epoch begins , which is also named after two equestrian peoples from the southern Russian area and extends roughly to the emergence of the khaganate of the Kök Turks in the 6th century.
art
While the art of the sedentary cultures of the Asian steppes in the Bronze Age was dominated by anthropomorphic motifs, the Scytho-Sarmatian animal style emerged with the emergence of the equestrian nomadism , which was common to all steppe peoples of Asia and Eastern Europe. His basic motifs came from a limited repertoire of wild animals, but notably no animals that were of economic importance to the equestrian nomads. Representations of horses and people are extremely rare; instead, there are deer, mostly lying down, moose, big cats, which are likely to betray the influence of the Near East, griffins and hybrid creatures. Individual animals can appear rolled up as rolling animals , pairs of different animal species could be devoured purely ornamentally or shown fighting with each other. Rows of the same animals often appear in friezes, and individual body parts, such as animal heads, also served as ornaments.
In the western steppes in particular, metal goods decorated with elements of animal style are almost exclusively found; In the permafrost soils of southern Siberia and Transbaikal, felt carpets and other textile goods with animal-style elements should also be mentioned, whereby a swan sculpture made of felt, stuffed with moss, deserves special attention. Stone was only used occasionally, mostly on so-called deer stelae , presumably anthropomorphic grave stelae decorated with deer and found in southern Siberia, Transbaikalia and Mongolia. Finally, the corpses of important people were also tattooed with motifs of the animal style.
So far, the origin of the animal style is questionable. Due to possible references to ancient oriental art, a strong influence from the south was considered. However, the early dating of some finds from southern Siberia suggests a local origin in the steppes themselves. It is certain, however, that Greek and Persian art exerted a great influence on the art of the steppe peoples, especially in Central Asia and the northern Pontic region.
society
A distinctive feature that separates the society of the equestrian nomad cultures from Bronze Age cultures is a powerful and warlike upper class, whose wealth and strength can be grasped in their magnificent tombs. Particularly interesting in this context is the Chinese tradition, which provides a detailed description of the Xiongnu society. According to her, the people were divided into clan-like groups, which were combined in larger clan associations. Their leaders were in a strict hierarchy and were all subordinate to the unrestricted ruling Chanyu , head of the Xiongnu Confederation.
economy
The equestrian nomads of Inner Asia were pastoral nomads and, to a lesser extent, hunters. They especially raised sheep, goats, and horses; other animals, including the camel, also occurred regionally. Arable farming was demonstrably practiced by parallel sedentary populations, but it probably did not play an important role. Ore mining and metalworking, which have been documented for some nomadic cultures, may also have been carried out by elusive sedentary groups.
Religion and the cult of the dead
Common to all rider nomad cultures is the burial of the dead in barrows, which in these areas are called Kurgane . Even their size is extremely variable, their radius fluctuates between 2 and 50 m, the height ranges from less than one to 18 m. The Kurgane clearly reflect the social hierarchy of the steppe nomad groups.
Depending on the region, Kurgane could be surrounded with different types of stone borders. The more or less square tombs of the later Tagar culture, for example, were delimited by a low row of stones at the approach of the embankment of the Kurgan embankment, which was interrupted at regular intervals, later mainly at the corners, by higher stones. In the Iron Age cultures of Tuwas, some, but by no means all, of the Kurgan were enclosed at some distance with a rectangular or round stone wall. The Kurgan themselves were partly made of earth, partly of stones; a regional variation can also be observed here.
One, very often several, burials were sunk into the ground under the Kurgan embankment. The dead lay either in a wooden chamber or in a stone box; the furnishings suggest that higher-ranking people were buried in wooden chambers. While burial in the Bronze Age was mostly done in a sideways stool position, in the Iron Age the stretched supine position prevailed to a large extent. With regard to the treatment of the dead, detailed statements are only possible in the Altai and Tuva, where some ice mummies have been preserved through the permafrost soil. Here, the entrails and muscles were removed from the deceased before burial and the wounds were then sewn up with tendons and horse hair. Injuries to the skull that occurred before death or that could have caused death are questionable. It does not have to be a ritual trepanation . After the entrails were removed, the noble dead were tattooed and embalmed. These customs were also described by the Greek historian Herodotus , who in the 5th century BC. In his work about the Scythians north of the Black Sea. Even his report of hemp vapor inhalation in small tents during the ritual of the dead has been confirmed by finds from Pasyryk. This not only testifies to Herodotus' credibility, but also the cultural homogeneity of the peoples in the steppes of Western Siberia, Central Asia and the northern Black Sea region. However, the Great Kurgan of the Xiongnu provide a slightly different picture. The grave pits were much deeper there and were accessible via a ramp.
In addition to the deceased himself, the burial chambers also contained accessories, the wealth of which was subject to great variation. Ordinary mounted warriors were buried with a fully armed horse and armament, women with a horse, a knife and a mirror. The burials of high-ranking personalities were far richer. The grave could accommodate up to twenty-five richly decorated horses and a splendid carriage; the actual burial chamber was made of wooden planks, often larch planks. The dead man and a woman who probably accompanied him into death were clothed and placed in a long tree coffin. In Noin Ula in Mongolia, instead of a woman, there are only women braids, who should represent them. Outstanding examples are the necropolises of Pasyryk in the Altai, Noin Ula in Mongolia and Arshan in Tuwa, where organic additions were also preserved through the permafrost soil. There were felt carpets that adorned the walls of the grave, decorated saddlecloths, and different types of clothing. Although many large Kurgane fell victim to robbery graves, more valuable items, including countless gold objects, have been preserved.
Due to the extensive lack of written remains, research into the religion of the steppe peoples is dependent on parallels with later peoples and on the archaeological findings themselves. The funeral rites leave no doubt as to the concept of the afterlife, according to which the dead need the same material goods in the afterlife as in this world, which is why they are buried with gifts.
Individual evidence
- ↑ VV Pitulko, PA Nikolsky, E. Yu. Girya, AE Basilyan, VE Tumskoy, SA Koulakov, SN Astakhov, E. Yu. Pavlova, MA Anisimov: The Yana RHS Site: Humans in the Arctic Before the Last Glacial Maximum. In: Science , Jan. 2, 2004, No. 303, pp. 52-56
- ↑ ZA Abramova, 1962
- ↑ Dates here and below based on Parzinger 2006
- ↑ BF Saibert: Eneolit Uralo-Irtyschskogo meschduretschja. Petropavlovsk 1993
- ↑ http://www.dainst.org/index.php?id=597 ( Memento from April 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) with references
- ↑ Hanshu , Chapter 96.2
- ↑ a b Roman Kenk: grave finds of the Scythian from Tuva, South Siberia. Materials for general and comparative archeology, volume 24. CH Beck, Munich 1986 ISBN 3-406-31614-X , p. 98 f.
- ↑ AD Zybiktarow: Kultura plitotschnych Mogil Mongolii i Sabaikalja. Ulan-Ude 1998
- ↑ Parzinger 2006, pp. 191, 197
- ↑ Parzinger 2006, p. 255
- ↑ Rudenko 1969, p. 22 ff.
- ↑ Parzinger 2006, pp. 659 ff. And 790 ff.
- ↑ image ( Memento from February 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Rudenko 1969, p. 58 ff.
- ↑ NL Tschlenowa: Tagarskaja kultura. In: MG Moschkowa: Stepnaja polosa Asiatskoi tschasti SSSR w skifo-sarmatskoje wremja. Archeologija SSSR. Moscow 1992, pp. 206 ff., Especially plates 90–92
- ↑ Roman Kenk: Grave finds from the Scythian period from Tuva, southern Siberia. Materials for general and comparative archeology, volume 24. CH Beck, Munich 1986 ISBN 3-406-31614-X , p. 44 ff.
- ↑ Herodotus, Historien 4,74-75.
- ↑ Rudenko 1969, p. 11 ff.
- ↑ Rudenko 1969, plate LI
literature
- Chester S. Chard: Northeast Asia in Prehistory. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1974. ISBN 0-299-06430-1 (brief overview) .
- Mikhail Grjasnow: South Siberia. Archaeologia Mundi. Nagel, Geneva 1970 (from the Copper Age) .
- Karl Jettmar : The early steppe peoples. The Eurasian animal style. Origin and social background. Holle, Baden-Baden 1964.
- Владимир Иванович Матющенко: Древняя история Сибири Omsk 1999 ISBN 5-7779-0135-2 (Vladimir Ivanovich Matjushchenko : Drewnjaja istorija Sibiri. ) ( Overall Russian representation) .
- М. Г. Мошкова (Ed.): Степная полоса азиатской части СССР в скифо-сарматское время. Moscow 1992. ISBN 5-02-009916-3 (MG Moschkowa (ed.): Stepnaja polosa Asiatskoi tschasti SSSR w skifo-sarmatskoje wremja. ) ( Covers the steppe peoples of southern Siberia and Mongolia) .
- Hermann Parzinger : The early peoples of Eurasia. From the Neolithic to the Middle Ages (= Historical Library of the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Volume 1). CH Beck, Munich 2006 ISBN 978-3-406-54961-8 (detailed overall presentation) .
- SI Rudenko: The culture of the Hsiung-nu and the barrows of Noin Ula (= Antiquitas. Series 3, Volume 7). Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 1969.
