Original scientific paper
The Origin of Culturally Diversified Individuals Buried in the Early Iron Age Barrow Cemetery at Chultukov Log-1 (Upper Altai) in Light of the Analysis of Stable Oxygen Isotopes
Łukasz Oleszczak
orcid.org/0000-0002-9197-0605
; nstitute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Gołębia 11, 31-007 Krakow, Poland
Andriey P. Borodovskiy
orcid.org/0000-0002-6312-1024
; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Science, 17 Ac. Lavrentieva Ave., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Aleksandra Lisowska-Gaczorek
; Departament of Anthropology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Jacek Pawlyta
; Division of Radioisotopes, Institute of Physics Centre for Science and Education, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland
Sławomir Kozieł
orcid.org/0000-0002-0584-4427
; Department of Anthropology, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
Svietlana S. Tur
; Altai State University, 61a pr. Lenina 656049, Barnaul, Russian Federation
Beata Cienkosz-Stepańczak
; Departament of Anthropology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Krzysztof Szostek
; Departament of Anthropology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Abstract
Chultukov Log-1 is a large barrow cemetery, located in the valley of Lower Katun river (Northern Altai, Russia), in which various cultural traditions of the Scythian era are represented (Pazyryk, Karakoba, Bystrianka). The main goal of this study was to determine whether the individuals buried in the cemetery and representing different cultural traditions are uniform in terms of their geographical origin.
In order to reconstruction of origin of individuals an analysis of the isotopic composition of oxygen was performed within bone apatite phosphates from well preserved samples. To verify the state of preservation of human and animal osseous remains, diagenetic indices were calculated based on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer spectra (FTIR).
One of the most important conclusions is the identification in the cemetery of individuals probably originating from the north. The most probable scenario is population movements of the Bystrianka culture people from the steppe and piedmont zones to the south, to the mountainous valley of Lower Katun river in the Northern Altai, where they assimilated with the North Pazyryk communities. In the opposite, the contact of the inhabitansts of the Norhern Altai with the south was not connected with the people's movements, but rather with the trade and the common genesis of the North Pazyryk groups and the Pazyryk culture from Central and South-Eastern Altai. Some people of local origin had different eschatological beliefs and accordingly buried their dead in stone boxes (Karakoba type).
Keywords
isotope analyses; mobility of Scythian people; Pazyryk culture; Karakoba culture; Bystrianka culture; Northern Altai in the Early Iron Age
Hrčak ID:
205618
URI
Publication date:
1.4.2018.
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