Pages: 385-402 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp262385402
This paper presents the analysis of materials from a grave in the Zhartas burial ground belonging to the Sargary-Aleksyevka culture, located in the north-eastern Kazakh low hills (Saryarka) in the middle reaches of the Shiderty River. The funerary rite and associated artifacts find analogies among culturally similar sites in Central Kazakhstan, which are part of the cultural community of roller ceramics. According to paleoanthropological analysis, the woman interred, aged approximately 45—55 years, can be classified as belonging to the Caucasoid dolichocranial cranial type. Examination of her postcranial skeleton indicates she represents the “steppe” morphotype commonly associated with Bronze Age populations from the western region of the Eurasian steppes. Anthropological evidence further suggests a resemblance between the woman buried at the Zhartas burial ground and individuals from other Bronze Age burial grounds in Kazakhstan. The artistic reconstruction made from her skull gives an idea of the appearance of the population of the Sargary-Aleksyevkaculture in the north-eastern part of the Kazakh low hills. Judging bywell-known analogies, radiocarbon and isotopic data, as well as current ideas about the chronology of coil pottery finds from the steppe zone of Eurasia, the Zhartas burial ground dates to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
Keywords: Kazakh low hills (Saryarka), Late Bronze Age, Sargary-Alekseyevka culture, funerary rite, paleoanthropology, craniometry, osteometry, isotope and radiocarbon studies
Information about authors:
Ilya Merts (Pavlodar, Kazakhstan). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Joint Research Center for Archeological Studies named after A. Kh. Margulan, Toraigyrov University. Lomov St., 64, Pavlodar, 140008, Kazakhstan
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-9066-9629
Viktor Merts (Pavlodar, Kazakhstan). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Joint Research Center for Archeological Studies named after A. Kh. Margulan, Toraigyrov University. Lomov St., 64, Pavlodar, 140008, Kazakhstan
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-3163-1609
Konstantin Solodovnikov (Tyumen, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen Scientific Center. Malygin St., 86, Tyumen, 625026, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-0925-7219