NOVOSIBIRSK, October 4Scientists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Novosibirsk State University examined an elite mound of the early Iron Age in the Novosibirsk region: unique bronze and gold plaques, a neck torch and a bone pendant with the image of a boar were found , NSU reported.
Archaeological excavations of mound No. 51 of the Sargat culture of the early Iron Age were carried out within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation project in the Vengerovsky district of the Novosibirsk region under the leadership of Vyacheslav Molodin, Deputy Director for Science of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS, and Lyudmila Mylnikova, Associate Professor of the Department of Archeology and Ethnography of the Humanitarian Institute of NSU. Radiocarbon dating was carried out with the support of a project of the Priority 2030 program.
September 27, 03:00
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"We examined 22 burials. All of them are equipped with sets of accompanying equipment: women in most cases — three vessels, men — two. Both of them, in addition to a varied set of products, had a single-edged iron knife. Iron and bone arrowheads and buckles were found in male burials. Women from three burials were buried in fur or fabric hats, embroidered with multi-colored beads and beads, including those made of glass. In some cases, it was even possible to identify the finest silver threads and laces on which these elegant pendants were attached to headdresses,” said Mylnikova.
According to her, another interesting feature of the found headdresses were the rows of figured bronze plaques sewn horizontally in one row on the frontal part of the cap. Moreover, the plaques had an individual shape for each woman. In one burial, in addition to two large round bronze plaques, there were two more gold plaques, decorated with embossed decor.
“We also found rare items, for example, a bronze neck torch and a bone pendant with an image of a wild boar. It is noteworthy that some of the items found were made using technologies that were not practiced in our region at that time. This emphasizes the high status of the buried,” the researcher noted .
The sacred space of the mound was built in such a way that some grave pits overlapped each other. This enabled scientists to construct a relative chronology of the site, which was later confirmed by radiocarbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry: the mound was in use between 200 and 40 BC, with peak burials occurring between 150 and 120 BC.
Sargat culture is a culture of the early Iron Age, belongs to the cultures of the Scythian circle. Its population occupied a vast territory between Ishim and the middle Irtysh, and possibly extended to the banks of the Ob. It existed for more than a thousand years from the 7th-5th centuries BC to the 3rd-5th centuries AD.