Pages: 333-344

The author offers a reconstruction of the main characteristics of the Turkic society by the materials of funerary sites in Altai-Sayan region. Having studied 385 objects excavated on the territory of Altai, Tuva and Minusinsk depression, the author presents a research program which takes into account both the experience of social reconstructions in archaeology and the features of the available source base. It allows to consider such features as gender and age differentiation of the Turkic society and possibilities for modeling of the nomadic society`s vertical structure. Groups of burials were distinguished, which demonstrate the heterogeneity of the nomadic society on the periphery of the empires. The most complete picture of the differentiation of Turks in the Altai-Sayan region is recorded from the materials of the male burials. The obtained results find confirmations in written accounts — Chinese dynasty chronicles and Turkic runic texts.

Keywords: Altai-Sayan region, early Middle Ages, Turks, social history, funerary complexes, reconstruction

Information about author:

Nikolai Seregin (Barnaul, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Altai State University. Lenin Ave., 61, Barnaul, 656049, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]