Sintashta
Sintaschta ( Russian Синташта ) is an early Bronze Age site in Russia on the river of the same name, a western tributary of the upper Tobol . 1972–76 and 1983–86 extensive excavations were undertaken in Sintaschta, during which several find complexes could be discovered, which are assigned to the Sintaschta culture , an early form of the Andronowo culture . Using radiocarbon dating, Sintashhta can be traced back to the turn of the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC. To be dated.
The most important excavated site is a round settlement with a diameter of about 140 m, which was fortified by a ditch and a wood-earth wall . About half of it was examined by archaeologists. In the south and north there was a gate system, each secured by two smaller gates. Inside stood square houses along the wall, dividing their long walls. Their size, layout and construction are largely identical. Inside each house there was a hearth; the walls were made of wickerwork and clay and supported by wooden posts. Inside this outer ring of houses was a 4 m wide street that separated it from an inner ring of houses, the houses of which were significantly smaller.
A little north of the settlement was a hill-shaped embankment with a height of 4.5 m and a diameter of around 80 m. Inside was a burial chamber, a tholos and other constructions, the function of which remains unclear. A cult site was subsequently built above it. Directly south of it was a necropolis with 40 graves, possibly arranged in a circle. The graves consisted of wooden chambers in deep shafts, in which the dead were buried, mostly on the side of the stool. Some graves, which apparently belonged to members of an upper class of warriors, also contained animal sacrifices, especially horses and two-wheeled wagons. On the edge of the necropolis there were three cult buildings, in the middle of which there was a clay circle with a wooden post and a wooden wall. Between 100 and 200 m further north, two more burial grounds and a single Kurgan were discovered, which also contained cult buildings.
See also
literature
- WF Gening, GB Sdanowitsch, WW Gening: Sintaschta. Chelyabinsk 1992
- Karl Jettmar : Sintašta - a common sanctuary of the Indo-Iranians? In: Eurasia Antiqua, Vol. 2, 1996, pp. 215-228
- Hermann Parzinger : The early peoples of Eurasia. From the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. Historical Library of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, Volume 1. Beck, Munich 2006 ISBN 978-3-406-54961-8 (pp. 251-257 ff.)
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 31.5 ″ N , 60 ° 10 ′ 40.6 ″ E