Ирина Викторовна Шевнина

The article addresses the interaction of the steppe (Mahanjar) and forest (Boborykinо) Neolithic populations at the Sulukol 1 settlement. The settlement is located in Turgai (Northern Kazakhstan). As part of the study, a technical and typological analysis of stone implements using binocular microscopy and a technical and technological analysis of a ceramic collection using petrographic analysis and binocular microscopy were carried out. The main result of the work was the conclusion that the ensemble of finds deposited at the Sulukol 1 site demonstrates common features of the stone industry and pottery techniques of the Neolithic of Turgai and the Trans-Urals. At the same time, there are a number of features that suggest some syncretic nature of the Sulukol materials, due to the interaction of the Turgai and Trans-Urals Neolithic. The nature of these interactions, most likely, has a socio-cultural aspect, expressed in the creation of mixed family and marriage groups.

В 2002 г. на могильнике Бестамак обнаружен комплекс предметов вооружения и конского снаряжения. По нашему мнению, археологический объект необходимо обозначить как ритуальный воинский комплекс. Исследование древней ритуальной деятельности относится к числу сложных задач в археологии, но устойчивый состав и условия обнаружения этих ритуальных комплексов демонстрируют наличие определённой традиции у населения степной Евразии на протяжении длительного времени. Назрела необходимость в её исследовании и выявлении причин появления. Ритуальный комплекс датируется VII–VIII вв. и символизирует воина-лучника, которому принадлежали найденные предметы. Изучение таких объектов позволит расширить наши представления о сакральных практиках раннего средневековья.

Results of the analysis of ceramics of the Boborykino appearance from the Neolithic sites of Turgai are represented in the paper. The initial raw materials and molding masses of ceramic products were studied using the technique of binocular microscopy and petrographic analysis. When analyzing the ceramic collections of the sites Bestamak, Belkaragai 1 and Sulukol 1, according to the profling of the necks, the technique of applying the ornament, a group of ceramics of the Boborykino appearance was identifed. The dishes of this group were molded from silty clays with the addition of freclay and an organic solution; in one case, talcum gruss was added. The penetration of the Boborykino groups of population into the Turgai steppes was episodic, and the groups were quite small (based on the number of artifacts found), which indicates not migration, but rather family and marriage contacts.

The settlement of Belkaragai 1 is located on the shore of a dry lake, 160 km south-west of the city of Kostanay (Kostanay Region, Northern Kazakhstan), at an altitude of 6 m from its bottom. The paper examines the materials of the settlement of Belkaragai 1, where it was possible to identify a new type of ceramics — Belkaragai. The purpose of this work is to determine the cultural and chronological affiliation of all archaeological materials obtained from site B of the settlement of Belkaragai 1. The settlement covers an area of about 15 hectares. Seve-ral accumulations of finds were recorded; one of them, designated as site B, attracted attention due to significant quantity of plates. An exploratory dig was set up; the total area of the excavation was 144 m². The analysis, synthesis, generalization, description, comparison, statistical methods, comparative typological method, and the method of analogies were used to distinguish the Belkaragai type of the Neolithic ceramics in Turgai. The raw feedstock and molding masses of the ceramic products were studied using binocular microscopy and petrographic analysis. The main feature of the Belkaragai type ceramics is the combination of the Eneolithic exterior of the vessels with the typical Mahanjar admixture of wool and animal hair in the composition of the clay dough. The Belkaragai type of ceramics accompanied a lamellar complex of stone tools, which is commensurable with the Mahanjar complex but has its own characteristics manifested in the width of the plates and composition of the tools. The peculiarities of the ceramics and flint industry allows placing chronologically the Belkaragai type of ceramics between the Mahanjar (Neolithic) and Tersek (Late Neolithic) antiquities. Besides, it should not go unnoticed that the Belkargai type may be genetically related to the Mahanjar Neolithic antiquities. As the result of the search for analogies to the Belkaragai type in the materials of other Turgai sites (the sites of Duzbay 3, Svetly Dzharkul, and the settlements of Bestamak and Buruktal 1), it was possible to identify pottery which, in terms of its main features, correlates well with the Belkaragai type. It is possible that the Belkaragai-type materials are not a local phenomenon, but have a wider character (at least within the Turgai trough). Most likely, this is a cultural phenomenon that reflects the processes that took place in Turgai at the end of the Neolithic period.

Direct and accurate radiocarbon dating of lipid residues preserved in ceramics is a recently established method that allows direct dating of specific food products and their inception in human subsistence strategies. The method targets individual fatty acids originating from animal fats such as ruminant dairy, ruminant adipose, non-ruminant adipose and aquatic fats. Horse lipid residues found in Central Asian pottery vessels are also directly dateable using this new method. Here we present the identification of equine lipid residues preserved in two pottery assemblages from the Neolithic and Eneolithic in Kazakhstan and their direct ¹⁴C dating. The site of Botai, previously radiocarbon-dated to the 4th millennium BC, was used as a reference to evaluate the dates obtained directly on horse lipids. The direct dating of equine products extracted from Botai potsherds are shown to be compatible with previous ¹⁴C dates at the site. The site of Bestamak, lacking previous¹⁴C measurements, had been relatively dated to the Neolithic based on pottery typologies. The direct dating of equine residues made it possible to anchor the pottery assemblage of Bestamak in the 6th millennium BC confirming their Neolithic attribution. These findings demonstrate the potential for dating horse products through a compound-specific approach, while highlighting challenges in ¹⁴C dating individual fatty acids from lipid extracts in which their abundances differ substantially.

The camp Ekidin 24 is located in the southern part of the Turgai Depression (Northern Kazakhstan, Kostanay region). The monument was explored by the Turgai archeological expedition in the 1989 field season. The present research featured the ceramic complex of camp Ekidin 24. The research objective was to study technological aspects in the manufacture of ceramic vessels of the Ekidin potters. An important aspect of the work is the generalization of all currently known camp data. The ceramic collection of the Ekidin 24 camp consists of 48 fragments, including 6 fragments of the upper parts of vessels with a grooved neck, one fragment of a vessel bottom, and 38 fragments of vessel walls. All fragments of ceramics from the Ekidin 24 camp were subjected to a technical and technological analysis. The study employed petrographic analysis and binocular microscopy. The initial raw material of the Ekidin potters was iron clay (iron hydroxides, such as hematite and magnetite), or hydromica. A formula of molding mass was revealed: clay + organic (wool) + chamotte. The Ekidin 24 camp is the reference monument of the Mahanjar culture of the Turgai Depression. The age of Mahanjar finds is determined primarily on the analogies with early Neolithic monuments of the Central Asian interfluves as late 7,000 – 5,000 B.C. The obtained radiocarbon dates indicate 6,000 B.C. Mahanjar-like Ceramics are still represented by single fragments outside the Turgai Depression and, as a rule, are not recognized by researchers as Mahanjar. We can confidently say that the Mahanjar culture is not an isolated phenomenon, and the identification of new Mahanjar sites in different regions of the steppe and forest-steppe Eurasia is only a matter of time.

Керамический комплекс маханджарской культуры в системе неолитических древностей евразийских степей

The role of migration and mobility of people across the steppe has often been cited as key to Bronze Age developments across Eurasia, including the emergence of complex societies in the steppe and the spread of material culture. The central Eurasian steppe (CES) is a focal point for the investigation of the shifting nature of pastoral societies because of the clear transition in archaeological patterning that occurred from the Middle (MBA) to Late Bronze Age (LBA). The spread of LBA (1700–1400 cal BC) Andronovo cultural materials found across wide swaths of the steppe provide indirect evidence for broad scale interactions, but the degree to which people moved across the landscape remains poorly understood. This study takes a first step into documenting human movement during these critical periods through strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and oxygen (δ¹⁸O) isotopic analyses of tooth enamel recovered from human individuals buried in the cemeteries of Bestamak (MBA) and Lisakovsk (LBA) in northern Kazakhstan. Strontium isotope results, referenced against the distribution of contemporary bioavailable strontium in the vicinity of both sites, suggest local communities engaged in small-scale mobility with limited ranges. Reduced strontium and oxygen isotopic variation visible in humans from Lisakovsk suggests mobility decreased from the Middle to Late Bronze Age likely indicative of a shift in resource and landscape use over time.