Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:20:37.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon and Tree-Ring Dates of the Bes-Shatyr #3 Saka Kurgan in the Semirechiye, Kazakhstan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Irina Panyushkina ,
Fedor Grigoriev ,
Todd Lange  and
Nursan Alimbay
Irina Panyushkina*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Fedor Grigoriev
Affiliation:
Kaz-Restoration, Almaty, 050013, Kazakhstan
Todd Lange
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Nursan Alimbay
Affiliation:
Central State Museum of Kazakhstan, 44 Samal St., Almaty, Kazakhstan
*
Corresponding author. Email: ipanyush@email.arizona.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study employs tree-ring crossdating and radiocarbon measurements to determine the precise calendar age of the Bes-Shatyr Saka necropolis (43°47′N, 81°21′E) built for wealthy tribe leaders in the Ili River Valley (Semirechiye), southern Kazakhstan. We developed a 218-yr tree-ring chronology and a highly resolved sequence of 14C from timbers of Bes-Shatyr kurgan #3. A 4-decadal-point 14C wiggle dates the Bes-Shatyr necropolis to 600 cal BC. A 47-yr range of cutting dates adjusted the kurgan date to ∼550 BC. This is the first result of high-resolution 14C dating produced for the Saka burials in the Semirechiye. The collective dating of Bes-Shatyr indicates the early appearance of the Saka necropolis in the Semirechiye eastern margins of the Saka dispersal. However, the date is a couple of centuries younger than previously suggested by single 14C dates. It is likely that the Shilbiyr sanctuary (location of the Bes-Shatyr) became a strategic and sacral place for the Saka leadership in the Semirechiye long before 550 BC. Another prominent feature of the Semirechiye burial landscape, the Issyk necropolis enclosing the Golden Warrior tomb, appeared a few centuries later according to 14C dating reported by other investigators. This study contributes to the Iron Age chronology of Inner Asia, demonstrating successful results of 14C calibration within the Hallstatt Plateau of the 14C calibration curve. It appears that the wide range of calibrated dates for the Saka occurrences in Kazakhstan (from 800 BC to AD 350) is the result of the calibration curve constraints around the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

Type
Archaeology of Eurasia and Africa
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 1297 - 1303
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akishev, KA. 1978. Kurgan Issyk. Moscow: Iskusstvo. In Russian. Akishev, KA, Kushayev, GA. 1963. Ancient Culture of Sakas and Wusuns in the Ili River Valley. Alma-Ata: Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences. In Russian.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, van der Plicht, J, Weninger, B. 2001. ‘Wiggle matching’ radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 43(2A):381–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, C, Norbert, B, Grigoriev, F, Rosen, AM, Tourtellotte, PA. 2003. Iron Age society and chronology in south-east Kazakhstan. Antiquity 77(296):298–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, C, Guroff, KS, editors. 2008. Of Gold and Grass: Nomads of Kazakhstan. Oakville: Mosaic. 180 p.Google Scholar
Chernikov, SS. 1975. K voprosu o khronologicheskikh periodakh v epokhu rannikh kochevnikov [A question on the chronological periods of the Early Nomads Epoch]. Pervobytnaya arkheologiya Sibiri [Primordial Archaeology of Siberia]. In Russian.Google Scholar
Dolukhanov, PM, Romanova, YN, Semyontsov, AA. 1970. Radiocarbon dates of the Institute of Archaeology II. Radiocarbon 12(1):130–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, ME. 1997. Towards an absolute chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia. Antiquity 71(274):863–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmatta, J. 1999. History of Civilization of Central Asia. Volume 2. Motilal Banarsidass. 421 p.Google Scholar
Jacobson, E. 1993. The Deer-Goddess of Ancient Siberia: A Study in the Ecology of Belief Leiden: E J Brill. 269 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristiansen, K. 2008. Eurasia in the Bronze and early Iron Ages. Antiquity 82(318):1113–8.Google Scholar
Leavitt, SW, Danzer, SR. 1993. Method for batch processing small wood samples to holocellulose for stable carbon isotope analysis. Analytical Chemistry 65(1):87–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4): 1111–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rinn, F. 2003. Time Series Analysis and Presentation Software (TSAP-Win). User Reference (Version 0.53). RinnTech, Heidelberg, Germany.Google Scholar
Toleubaev, A. 2010. Snow leopards, eagle-felines, and golden deer. Treasures from the hill of horse races. In: Chang, C, Guroff, KS, editors. Of Gold and Grass: Nomads of Kazakhstan. Oakville: Mosaic. p 51–7.Google Scholar
Yablonsky, LT. 1995. The material culture of the Saka and historical reconstruction. In: Davis-Kimball, J, Bashilov, VA, Yablonsky, LT, editors. Nomads of the Eurasian Steppe in the Early Iron Age. Berkeley: Zinat Press. p 201–35.Google Scholar
Zaitseva, GI, Bokovenko, NA, Alekseev, AY, Chugunov, KV, Scott, EM, editors. 2005. Eurasia in Scythian time: Radiocarbon and Archaeological Chronologies. St. Petersburg: Thesa. In Russian.Google Scholar