The Origin of Culturally Diversified Individuals Buried in the Early Iron Age Barrow Cemetery at Chultukov Log-1 (Upper Altai) in Light of the Analysis of Stable Oxygen Isotopes

Chultukov Log-1 is a large barrow cemetery, located in the valley of Lower Katun river (Northern Altai, Russia), in which various cultural traditions of the Scythian era are represented (Pazyryk, Karakoba, Bystrianka). The main goal of this study was to determine whether the individuals buried in the cemetery and representing different cultural traditions are uniform in terms of their geographical origin. In order to reconstruction of origin of individuals an analysis of the isotopic composition of oxygen was performed within bone apatite phosphates from well preserved samples. To verify the state of preservation of human and animal osseous remains, diagenetic indices were calculated based on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer spectra (FTIR). One of the most important conclusions is the identification in the cemetery of individuals probably originating from the north. The most probable scenario is population movements of the Bystrianka culture people from the steppe and piedmont zones to the south, to the mountainous valley of Lower Katun river in the Northern Altai, where they assimilated with the North Pazyryk communities. In the opposite, the contact of the inhabitansts of the Norhern Altai with the south was not connected with the people\u27s movements, but rather with the trade and the common genesis of the North Pazyryk groups and the Pazyryk culture from Central and South-Eastern Altai. Some people of local origin had different eschatological beliefs and accordingly buried their dead in stone boxes (Karakoba type)

Unknown large ancient earthquakes along the Kurai fault zone (Gorny Altai) : new results of palaeoseismological and archaeoseismological studies

Palaeoseismological and archaeoseismological studies in the Kurai fault zone, along which the Kurai Range is thrust onto Cenozoic deposits of the Chuya intramontane basin, led to the identification of a long reverse fault scarp 8.0 m high. The scarp segments are primary seismic deformations of large ancient earthquakes. The scarp’s morphology, results of trenching investigations, and deformations of Neogene deposits indicate a thrusting of the piedmont plain onto the Kurai Range, which is unique for the Gorny Altai. Similarly for Northern Tien Shan, we explain this by the formation of both a thrust transporting the mountain range onto the depression and a branching thrust dislocation that forms the detected fault scarp. In a trench made in one of the scarp segments, we identified the parameters of the seismogenic fault – a thrust with a 30° dipping plane. The reconstructed displacement along the fault plane is 4.8 m and the vertical displacement is 2.4 m, which indicates a 7.2–7.6 magnitude of the ancient earthquake. The 14C age of the humus-rich loamy sand from the lower part of the colluvial wedge constrains the age of the earthquake at 3403–3059 years BP. Younger than 2500 years seismogenic displacements along the fault scarp are indicated by deformations of cairn structures of the Turalu–Dzhyurt-III burial mound, which was previously dated as iron age between the second half of I BC and I AD

Podrijetlo kulturno različitih pojedinaca pokopanih na groblju iz ranog željeznog doba na lokalitetu chultukov log-1 (Gornji Altaj) u svjetlu analize stabilnih izotopa kisika

Chultukov Log-1 is a large barrow cemetery, located in the valley of Lower Katun river (Northern Altai, Russia), in which various cultural traditions of the Scythian era are represented (Pazyryk, Karakoba, Bystrianka). The main goal of this study was to determine whether the individuals buried in the cemetery and representing different cultural traditions are uniform in terms of their geographical origin. In order to reconstruct the origin of individuals an analysis of the isotopic composition of oxygen was performed within bone apatite phosphates from well preserved samples. To verify the state of preservation of human and animal osseous remains, diagenetic indices were calculated based on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR). One of the most important conclusions is that the individuals from the cemetery probably originated in the north. The most probable scenario includes population movements of the Bystrianka culture people from the steppe and piedmont zones to the south, to the mountainous valley of Lower Katun river in the Northern Altai, where they assimilated with the North Pazyryk communities. However, the contact of the inhabitants of the Norhern Altai with the south was not the result of migrations, but rather of the trade and the common genesis of the North Pazyryk groups and the Pazyryk culture from Central and South-Eastern Altai. Some people of local origin had different eschatological beliefs and accordingly buried their dead in stone boxes (Karakoba type).Chultukov Log-1 je veliko groblje, smješteno u dolini donjeg toka rijeke Katun (Sjeverni Altaj, Rusija), u kojem su zastupljene različite kulturne tradicije iz skitske ere (Pazyryk, Karakoba, Bystrianka). Glavni cilj ove studije bio je utvrditi jesu li pojedinci pokopani na groblju koji predstavljaju različite kulturne tradicije homogeni po zemljopisnom podrijetlu. Za rekonstrukciju podrijetla pojedinaca izvršena je analiza izotopnog sastava kisika iz apatitnih fosfata u kostima dobro očuvanih uzoraka. Radi procjene stanja očuvanosti ostataka kostiju ljudi i životinja, izračunati su dijagenetski indeksi pomoću Fourierovog infracrvenog spektrometra (FTIR). Jedan od najvažnijih zaključaka je da su pojedinci na groblju vjerojatno podrijetlom sa sjevera. Najvjerojatniji scenarij je migracija stanovništva naroda Bystrianke iz planinskih i pijemontskih zona na jugu, prema planinskim dolinama donjeg toka rijeke Katun u Sjevernom Altaju, gdje su se asimilirali sa zajednicama Sjevernog Pazyryka. Nasuprot tome, kontakt stanovnika sjevernog Altaja sa jugom nije posljedica migracija, već trgovine i zajedničke geneze zajednica Sjevernog Pazyryka i kulture Pazyryk iz srednjeg i jugoistočnog Altaja. Neki ljudi lokalnog podrijetla imali su različita eshatološka uvjerenja i pokapali su svoje mrtve u kamenim kutijama (tip Karakoba)