FEATURES OF FUNERARY RITUALS OF THE EARLY SCYTHIAN POPULATION OF THE EERBEK RIVER VALLEY IN TUVA (BASED ON THE EXCAVATIONS OF THE BAI-DAG I BURIAL GROUND)*

As a result of studying the materials of the excavations of the Bai-Dag 1 monument located in the Eerbek River valley in Tuva, the features of the funeral rite typical for the carriers of the Aldy-Belsky culture of the Early Scythian period were revealed. The characteristic features of the construction of tombstone and intra-grave structures, funeral rites, the composition and appearance of accompanying equipment, characteristic of different gender and age groups, are determined. The conducted research allowed us to characterize the main trends in the evolution of the funeral rite of the ancient nomads of Tuva in the Early Scythian period.

Key words: Tuva, Early Scythian period, funerary rites, Aldy-bela culture.

Introduction

In 2011, employees of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences - participants of the project of the Russian Geographical Society "Archaeological Expedition "Kuragino - Kyzyl Railway" developed a program of comprehensive archaeological and geographical research in the area of the planned construction of this road. In order to implement this program, in the field season of 2011, two detachments created by the Institute of Electric Power Engineering of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted excavations at the Ak-Dat I, Bay-Dat I and VI, Khendei-Aksy burial grounds located in the valley of a small right tributary of the Yenisei - the Eerbek River. Bai Dat I is the largest of them. This monument was discovered by the Tuvan expedition of the Institute of Chemical Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the leadership of V. A. Semenov in 2009 and named after the mountain of the same name located on the right bank of the Eerbek River (Semenov, 2009: 53-54). Seven mounds were examined. Some of them contained a significant number of burials. Mound 5 probably had the character of a ritual structure, since there were no burials in it. The materials obtained as a result of the excavations contain important information, primarily concerning the funerary rites of the population of the Early Scythian period of Tuva. Archaeological sites of this period have not yet been studied sufficiently, so the introduction of new sources into scientific circulation is important for the reconstruction of ethnoculturogeny in the Early Iron Age. This will help address a number of key historical, cultural and chronological issues. In addition, the materials of the Bai Dat I burial ground allow us to emphasize the features of its use

*The work was carried out under the project of the Russian Geographical Society "Kuragino - Kyzyl Railway Archaeological Expedition" and the program of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences IX. 81. 2. 1. " Western Siberia and adjacent territories in Ancient and Medieval times: peoples and cultures (2010-2012)".

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The study of the entrance burial site of the Kokel culture and the "treasure" of iron weapons of the Xiongno-Xianbian era (Khudyakov et al., 2011).

Results and discussion

Burial grounds of the Early Scythian period in Tuva are characterized by the arrangement of mounds in rows along the slopes of gentle hills. The same layout is recorded on the Bai Dat I monument. Mounds 3. 6,7, equidistant from each other, formed a row extending from the northwest to the southeast along the gentle slope of the hill on the right bank of the Eerbek River. Mounds 1, 2, 4, and 5, which were located at different distances from each other, were located around mound 3. It is possible that two more rows parallel to the main one should have started from these objects.

Mounds were built on relatively flat areas of a slightly blackened surface, sometimes on top of rock outcrops. They were gently sloping, rounded or oval in plan, noticeably flattened mounds-calculations of fragments of sandstone slabs and rock fragments. Some of them have a ring fence made of stones laid horizontally and aligned along the outer edge (Fig. 1), around which sandstone slabs were sometimes installed obliquely. At Mound 1, it is not built along the entire circumference of the mound-layout, but is attached to the rock exit (Fig. 1, a). In some cases, such fences were partially destroyed, including during the construction of additional and inlet burials, and around the mounds-the layouts of mounds 4 and 5 were not traced at all. On the north-eastern side of Mound 1, seven stone tiles were placed vertically, forming an almost straight row (Fig. 2).

1. Ring fences of mounds 1 (a) and 2 (b).

Fig. 2. Vertical slabs behind the ring fence of mound 1.

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3. Deer stone found in the mound of mound 4.

4. Burial of 26 mounds 2.

Some of them are reinforced with stones in shallow pits. In the mound of mound 4, a vertically rounded river boulder was found, which is a simplified version of a deer stone, on one of the faces of which three oblique lines are cut out at the top, depicting the front part of an anthropomorphic statue (Fig. 3).

In the central part of mounds 2-4, 6, 7 there were deep grave pits, in some cases deepened into rock outcrops. Such graves can be considered the main ones. Inside the pits were stone boxes of rectangular or trapezoidal shape, made of massive stone slabs (Figs. 4-7), which were installed vertically or with an inward slope. From above, the boxes were covered with slabs and fragments of stone. In most cases, they were recorded already partially collapsed inside. In rare cases, the ceilings were additionally reinforced with wooden blocks or poles.

In mounds 4, 6, 7 in mounds and under them around the main ones, additional burials were found in the same stone boxes. Only in one case, in mound 7, an adult was buried in a dirt pit covered across with logs (Fig. 8). In the mound. 3 the main burial turned out to be

5. Burial of mound 3.

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Fig. 6. Burial 6b of mound 6.

the only one. Probably, one grave was originally built in mound 2, but after some time, another burial was made in its mound - an inlet.

The dead were laid with their heads in a northerly direction with deviations to the northeast and northwest. In one case, the woman's body was oriented to the west. Among the characteristic features of the funeral rite noted as a result of research, it is possible to include the position of the buried: on the left side with legs bent at the knees, arms extended or bent at the elbows. As a rule, the dead were placed with their heads in the expanded side of the stone boxes. The position of mound 6 buried in the main (male) burial is very unusual (see Fig. 6). Part of the skeleton was displaced by rodents, but from the bones that have preserved their location, it becomes obvious that the deceased was laid on his stomach, with his legs bent at the knees and arms outstretched, and his head in the narrowed side of a trapezoidal stone box. A mound buried in a dirt pit. 7 was lying at the bottom of the grave on his left side, with his arms and legs bent, his head oriented towards the northern sector of the horizon.

Skeletons and scattered bones of children and adolescents were found in additional burials under the mounds of mounds 4, 6, and 7 (Figs. Big

Fig. 7. Burial 7b of mound 7.

Fig. 8. Ground burial of 7g mound 7.

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Fig. 9. Burial of the 4th mound 4.

10. Burial 76.
some of these burials were made in shallow grave pits, inside which stone burial boxes were built. In Mound 6, next to such a box (border 6g), there was a stone slab, probably originally dug vertically, but eventually tilted. Under the mound of this mound was a small stone box of triangular shape, inside which two small fragments of stone slabs were found (Fig. 11). Two burial boxes (in mounds 6 and 7) were located directly in the mounds - the upper ends of the stone slabs protruded to the surface. Inside, the bones of disturbed skeletons of teenagers were found.

In mounds 6 and 7 in the northwestern part of the mound, there were accumulations of calcified bones and embers under the stones. In the mounds and filling of the central grave pits, there were bones of domestic animals and fragments of stucco ceramic vessels. These are probably the tracks of Trizna. A fragment of the chime of a grain grater was found in the mound of mound 7.

The composition and appearance of the accompanying equipment in the excavated burials probably reflect the canons of funeral rites. One-and two-part bronze bits were found in mounds 2, 4, and 6 (Fig. 12). These items were placed out of connection with the main or additional burials. So, in mound 2, two-piece bits with stirrup-like ends of the links were located on the outside of the fence in the western part of the embankment. In Mound 4, single-piece mouthpiece bits with stirrup-shaped ends of the links lay under the embankment in the southern sector. Two people were found under the mound-laying of mound 6

11. Triangular stone box 6d in mound 6

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12. Bronze bits from mounds 6 (a, b) and 2 (c).

two-piece rods with trapezoidal and stirrup-shaped ends of the links, the first - in the south-eastern sector, the second - in the north-eastern. One of the hinges of the latter was cast with a defect-without a cross bridge. Without it, the bits could not be used for their intended purpose. Perhaps they were made specifically for the funeral rite. The presence of bronze rods under the mounds of mounds, outside the main burial site, is one of the characteristic features of the funeral rites of the Aldy-Belsky culture [Grach, 1980, p. 25]. Bronze double-jointed rods with trapezoidal ends of the links are known in the accompanying inventory from the Arzhan mound in the neighboring Turan-Uyuk basin (Gryaznoye, 1980, Fig. 12, 1). They are characteristic of the subject complex of monuments of the Mayemir culture of the Early Scythian period in the Altai Mountains (Kiryushin and Tishkin, 1997, fig. 39, 5; 40, 3, 4; 43, 2, 5; 47, 1 - 9; 48, 2 - 8; 49, 1 - 4].

Behind the walls of stone boxes in mounds 2 and 6 were placed arrows with bronze tips (in the first one this is a female burial, in the second - a male one). It is interesting that on the Bai-Dag VI monument, which we also studied in the field season of 2011, one human tooth was found behind three walls of the stone box of the main grave. Probably, such finds can be explained by protective magic. As part of the accompanying inventory inside the boxes, the tips were found only in one burial - a man's (border 6b mound 6). They lay around and under the thighs. Among those found, products with a v-shaped nozzle, a rhombic pen section, and two-bladed elongated-rhombic and elongated-pentagonal shapes predominate. Part of the tips had a hidden sleeve and protruding two or four spikes. In the collection there is only one petiolate tip with a three-sided-three-bladed cross-section pen of an elongated-pentagonal shape. Similar objects were found in Early Scythian monuments of the Aldy-Bela culture in Tuva and the Mayemir culture in Gorny Altai (Gryaznov, 1980, Fig. 11, 12; Vinogradov, 1980, Fig. 1, 5; Chugunov, 2000, pp. 213-238; 2011, fig. 15, 1 - 10; 16, 1 - 3; 17, 2-4, 7, 8; Kiryushin and Tishkin, 1997, fig. 59,12, 14; 60, 8, 10; Kocheyev, 1999, p. 74].

In the accompanying inventory of the buried men, women and teenagers there were bronze knives (including one broken off). In several burials, there were no other things besides them. All knives have straight blades, triangular in cross-section, with sharp-angled points. Handles are solid-cast, straight or slightly bent to the side of the blade, in most cases ending in a semicircular or trapezoidal extension with a rounded hole for the strap. There are some differences in the design of the blade and handle (Fig. 13, 14). In some blades, the edge bends smoothly to the blade, while in others, on the contrary, the blade bends to the edge. One copy (from mound 6) does not have a hole on the handle, the other (from mound 7b) is equipped with an annular ring on the handle. -

13. Bronze knives from mound 3 (a), border 6b mound 6 (b) and border 7a mound 7 (c).

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14. Bronze knives and fragments of leather scabbards.
1-mound 2, border 26; 2, 7,8 - mound 3; 3-mound 6, border 6b; 4-mound 7. border. 7a; 5,9-mound 7, border 7b; 6-mound 7, border 7g.

vershiem. On some knives (from mounds 3, 6, 7), leather scabbard covers and remnants of leather covering of the handles (in one case with traces of fur) were preserved. A stone touchstone was found in the additional border 6b. Perhaps it was also used for sharpening knives. Due to the frequency of occurrence of knives, it can be assumed that for people buried in these mounds, they were everyday household tools.

Bronze mirrors were a characteristic feature of the female subculture of the population that left the Bai-Dag I burial ground. They are found only in the main burials of women, i.e. in the central graves (in mounds 2, 3, 7). From mound 2 there is a disk-shaped mirror with a diameter of approx. 5 cm, with uneven edges and two loops located on the same line from the center at a distance of approx. 2 cm apart. The leather strap threaded through these loops is partially preserved. A larger disk-shaped mirror, 8.5 cm in diameter, was found in Mound 3.There is a gentle elevation along the edge of the disk on the front side. On the back side in the center there are two thin arc-shaped loops, one of which is threaded with a thin leather cord. The third disc-shaped mirror (from page 7b) has a diameter of approx. 9 cm, on the back side in the center is a flattened loop. Mirrors were worn in leather cases, from which fragments of tanned leather were preserved.

Bronze awls were found in several women's graves. As a rule, they were located in the area of the belt of the buried. Only in page 26 was the awl inserted into the woman's pelvic bone (Fig. 15). In the same burial, a whole horn hairpin and a fragment of a wooden one were found. A horn hairpin was also found in burial 7b. In the main grave of Mound 3, near the skull, there was a bronze needle. Fragments of coarse cloth, probably remnants of clothing, were found in the burials of mounds 2 and 7.

Various kinds of ornaments were also found in women's burials (mounds 2, 3, 7). Musk deer tusks and maral teeth were used as pendants, in which rounded holes were drilled. The necklaces included stone beads of square, rectangular, cylindrical, spherical and ring shapes. They could also be used to decorate a suit and hairstyle, since they were found in the area not only of the neck, but also of the back up to the lower back. One bronze ringlet was also found. Fragments of a bone plate with an ornament were found in border 7b.

The considered features of the structures of tombstone and intra-grave structures, the burial rite, the composition and appearance of the accompanying inventory of mounds 2-4, 6, 7 give grounds to attribute these objects to the Aldy-Bela culture of the Early Scythian period. It is characterized by rounded and oval stone mounds, under the mounds of which there were from one to seven burials in stone boxes; the crouched position of the buried, oriented in the western and northern directions; the presence of bronze bits and bridle accessories under the mounds, outside the grave pits [Grach, 1980, p. 25].

15. Bronze awl in the pelvic bone buried in mound 2.

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16. Burial in mound 1.

17. Inlet burial (2a) in mound 2.

18. Inlet burial (4a) in mound 4.

A special feature of the Bai-Dag I burial ground is that here the mounds were not connected by their floors (usually two or three mounds in a row), and the accompanying clothing complex does not contain objects made in the animal style, and daggers characteristic of the burial equipment of the Aldy-Belsky culture [Ibid., pp. 24-26].

Two burial mounds were examined at the Bai-Dag I burial ground, and their belonging to the Aldi-Bel culture needs additional justification. Thus, in the center of mound 1, under the mound, there was a burial made at the level of the ancient horizon, i.e. without a pit (Fig. 16). Outside the ring fence, there was a row of small stone slabs set vertically. But the presence of a stone fence gives reason to attribute this mound to the number of Aldy-belsky tombstones. Probably, the absence of a grave pit should be attributed to the fact that the mound was built not on top of the turf layer, but directly on the rock outlet, in which, due to the high labor intensity, it was not hollowed out. Mound 5 did not contain any burials. A single fragment of a stucco ceramic vessel was found in the mound. Probably, this mound can be attributed to the number of memorial ones. Similar structures (without burials) were also found on other monuments of the Aldy-Bel culture in the Eerbek River valley, excavated in 2011 (Ak-Dag I and Eerbek-10).

Inlet burials were found in two mounds (Figs. 17, 18). In the mound-layout of mound 2, the body is located by-

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the comb was thrown carelessly on its face in a shallow hole. There was no accompanying inventory. This suggests that the deceased was not laid here by the creators of this mound. A small fragment of a narrow strip of highly corroded iron was found under the skull of the buried person in the inlet burial in the center of the mound mound 4. Maybe it's a knife blade. There was also a stucco ceramic vessel in the burial (Fig. 19). It is characteristic of the Kokel culture of the Xiongno-Xianbian period [Vainshtein and Diakonova, 196, p. 256; Savinov, 1984, p. 23; Khudyakov, 2006, p.76], which gives grounds to attribute this burial site to this epoch.

In the upper part of the mound of mound 1, near its center, a "treasure" of iron objects was found, which included two eye axes and two daggers with double-edged blades (Fig. 20). One dagger has a curved front crosshair and a solid-forged handle with a rounded pommel. Judging by the material and design features, these weapons belong to the Xiongno-Xianbian period.

Conclusions

Most of the mounds excavated at the Bai-Dag I burial ground have similar features in the design of tombstone and intra-grave structures, burial rituals, and also in the accompanying inventory. This may indicate that they are simultaneous. The materials of the burial ground indicate that the bearers of the culture of the Early Scythian period in the Eerbek River valley (pre-VII-VI centuries BC) observed all the main canons characteristic of the Aldi-belsky funeral rite. It corresponds to the modest appearance of burial structures in the form of medium and small stone mounds of rounded or oval shape, the presence of additional burials under the mound-layout and directly in it, the position of most of the buried in a crouched position on their sides, poor inventory of similar composition, in which horn and bone products, as well as ceramics are presented in small quantities, placement of fishing rods in mounds-layouts. Burial in a dirt pit (mound 7), despite the structural differences of the internal grave structure, generally also corresponds to the Aldy-belsky traditions. Based on the presence in one mound of several additional structures of the same time, such objects should be considered burial complexes, apparently used by representatives of the same family. At the same time, some local features of the burial rites were revealed (the location of some of the mounds relatively far from each other, the presence of a number of vertically installed small stone slabs outside the fence of mound 1, the small number of weapons in the funeral inventory, the complete absence of objects made in the animal style, and psalms, despite the presence of bits), other groups of native speakers of the Aldy-Belsky culture. Mounds-mound layouts, as clearly visible objects on the ground, were sometimes used at a later time (in the Xiongno-Hsien-bi era), as evidenced by the inlet

19. Ceramic vessel from mound 4.

20. "Treasure" of iron weapons in the mound of mound 1.

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burial and "hoard" of quite valuable iron melee weapons items. In general, the new materials obtained allow us not only to describe in more detail the main features and features of the funeral rite, but also to clarify some directions of the general development of the material culture of the population of Central Asia at this stage of the Scythian era in Eurasia.

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Vinogradov A.V. Pamyatnik aldy-belskoy kul'tury v Tuve [Monument of the Aldy-Belsky culture in Tuva]. - Kyzyl: Tuvniiyali, 1980. - p. 60-64.

Grach A.D. Ancient nomads in the center of Asia, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1980, 256 p.
Gryaznov M. P. Arzhan: Tsar's Mound of the Early Scythian period. - L.: Science, 1980. - 62 p.

Kiryushin Yu. F., Tishkin A. A. Scythian epoch of the Altai Mountains. - Barnaul: Alt. State University Publishing House, 1997. - Part I: Culture of the population in the Early Scythian time. - 232 p.

Kocheev V. A. Boevoe obuzhenie pazyryktsev [Combat weapons of Pazyryk people]. Gorno-Altaisk Publ., 1999, No. 4, pp. 74-82.

Savinov D. G. Peoples of Southern Siberia in the Ancient Turkic era. - L.: Publishing House of Leningrad State University, 1984. - 175 p.

Semenov V. A. Report on archaeological exploration in the construction zone of the Kyzyl - Kuragino railway line in the territory of the Republic of Tyva. 2009 / / Archive of IIMC RAS. KP 6768.

Khudyakov Yu. S. Archeology of Southern Siberia of the Xiongno-hsien-bi epoch. Novosibirsk: Publishing House of Novosibirsk State University, 2006. -130 p.

Khudyakov Yu. S., Skobelev S. G., Mitko O. Borisenko A. Yu., Teterin Yu. V. Nachalo rabot Sayanskoi kompleksnoi expeditsii IAET SB RAS v polose stroitel'stva zheleznoy dorogi Kuragino - Kyzyl [Beginning of the Sayan complex Expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the construction zone of the Kuragino-Kyzyl Railway]. Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel'nykh territorii: Materials of the Final Session of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2011. SB RAS, 2011. - Vol. XVII. - P. 487-90.

Chugunov K. V. Bronzovye nakonechniki strel skifskogo vremeni Tuva [Bronze arrowheads of the Scythian period of Tuva]. Archeology. The ritual. Kul'tura: sb. art. k 60-letiyu ML. Podolsky district. St. Petersburg: Mir knigi Publ., 2000, pp. 213-238.

Chugunov K. V. Discreteness of the construction of the "royal" memorials of Tuva and the chronology of the Early Scythian time. simp. Novosibirsk: Publishing House of IAET SB RAS, 2011, pp. 358-369.

The article was submitted to the editorial Board on 11.05.12, in the final version-on 21.06.12.

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