Pages: 73-92

The article addresses characteristics of the clothing assemblage as a marker of intercultural communications in the Upper Ob River region of the Early Iron Age. The materials of the Bolsherechenskaya cultural and historical community sites of the 8th (7th) — 3rd (2nd) centuries BC were selected as the main source for this paper.
As a result of the study, foreign cultural and transcultural elements were identified within the clothing assemblage of the population of the Upper Ob River region of the Early Iron Age. Gold accessories in the shape of argali (volumetric and planar applications), some types of hairpins, earrings, torques, beads and elements of waist accessories were imported for the clothing decoration. These categories of finds can be considered through the prism of numerous analogies from the sites of neighboring territories to determine the directions of possible contacts. The most stable communication links are observed between the carriers of the Bolsherechenskaya and Tasmola, Sargat, Tagar, Kulay cultures. Probably, some jewelry revealed in the sites of the Upper Ob basin was brought here as a result of short-term episodic contacts or gift and trade exchanges. The clothing assemblage of the Bolsherechenskaya cultural and historical community is characterized by selectivity and fragmentation, due to the territorial peripherality of the region and the multiculturalism of its population.

Keywords: Western Siberia, Eurasian steppes, Upper Ob River region, Early Iron Age, communication, elements of clothing

Information about authors:

Nikolai Golovchenko (Barnaul, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Altai State Pedagogical University. Molodezhnaya St., 55, Barnaul, 656031, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]