Predecessors of astronomical observatories (ancient observation points of Sayan-Altai)

Archeoastronomy is a relatively new trend in world archeology and astronomy, which began to develop in Western Europe from the end of the 19th century, and in Russia only from the 1980s. As a result of comprehensive studies of the Sayan-Altai archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage Museum, various types of observation points were discovered - rock and earthen holes, towers, grottoes, sculptures, "deer" stones, petroglyphs, centers of barrows and others. Stationary points for astronomical observations, as a rule, are located on the mountain slopes, and temporary points were often located in the center or outside the centers of large and small barrows. Comparison of astronomical points close in time from different areas of Sayan-Altai showed their great similarity in many signs. The article uses archaeological, paleoastronomic, metrological and comparative research methods. Observant astronomical points played an important role in the construction of religious objects of the ancient nomads of Sayan-Altai, in spite of the fact that they used for the different purposes during long or brief time

The Great Salbyk barrow in Siberia (archaeoastronomical aspects of its studying)

The article The Great Salbyk Barrow is the best known of the megalithic monuments in Siberia. Archaeologist S.V. Kiselev excavated the Salbyk-barrow, the largest barrow in Khakasia in 1954-1956. The expedition of the State Hermitage Museum researched Salbyk valley in 1992-1998, 2008 and 2010. A barrow height is more than 20 m and originally it was pyramid-shaped (Fig. 1). Under the mound was a square "fence" (71 x 71 metres) made of huge stone slabs placed vertically and horizontally and weighting some tonnes (the average size was about 5 metres - Fig. 1-2). The construction of big barrows in Salbyk having multiple functions (funeral, socio-political, religious, astronomical, architectural, and others) probably was based on the astronomical knowledge of their time. The installation of the fence slabs is connected with the main moments of the rising and setting of the Moon and Sun on astronomically significant days. Signs in the form of circles, crescents and other figures situated on significant astronomical direction lines were discovered on the barrow's slabs. On the basis of the new analyses, the Great Salbyk barrow is dated to the 7th century BC

Astronomical and sacred aspects of the surrounding landscape at the archaeological monuments of Sayano-Altai (integral approach)

Over the past five decades in Siberia, archaeologists have not only searched for and excavated new monuments, but also developed new approaches to previously studied archaeological sites – to mounds, calculations, settlements, stone sculptures and petroglyphs. At this time, new types of ancient objects were discovered on the Sayano-Altai mountains – sanctuaries, megaliths, observation astropoints and a giant "zooanthropomorphic sculpture". Sacred features at archaeological sites and sanctuaries can be identified by studying: 1) the surrounding landscape; 2) orientation and marking of sacred objects and paths to them; 3) pictorial images on stones, rocks, objects (main and secondary compositions); 4) the most revered objects are altars, bonfires, images, structures made of stones and steles, water springs, mountain peaks, important for understanding the main purpose of the ancient sanctuary; 5) ancient knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, geometry, embedded in large and small objects. An integral approach allows you to combine ancient knowledge into a single whole

Calibration curves and the chronology of key monuments at Sayan-Altai

Studies of the chronology of the elite barrows at Sayan-Altai are of a great importance for the determination of the origin and development of the cultures of the Scythian period. In this work dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating have been combined. Statistical calculations were used to obtain the best fit of the radiocarbon dates for the tree-ring series to the bidecadal calibration curve and thus to determine the zero point of the floatin g tree-ring chronology on the calendar time scale. The results obtained position the zero point of the floating tree-ring series in the calendar time period 380–420 BC with the confidence probability of 0.95. The goodness of fit can be improved by shifting the Arzhan tree-ring dates relative to the other tree-ring scale by 40 years. For all cases the age of the Arzhan barrow lies in the limit of 800 years BC. The results from chronological investigations of the constructions at the elite barrows of Sayan-Altai are summarised

A tree-ring and C-14 chronology of the key Sayan-Altai monuments

We present a radiocarbon chronology of key Sayan-Altai monuments from the Scythian period, based on a statistical analysis of dates produced in the 1980s and now supplemented with new dates. These new C-14 dates were produced for samples from the Tuekta-1 barrows (burial mounds) and were measured both in St. Petersburg and Groningen. These tree-ring samples were fitted to the calibration curve. Chronologies were established for the Arzhan, Tuekta-1 and Pazyryk-5 barrows. The time of the construction of the Arzhan and Pazyryk-5 barrows is the 9th and late 5th-4th centuries BC, respectively, and agrees with archaeology. According to new data obtained, the time of the Tuekta-1 barrow construction is some years older than has been accepted thus far by archaeologists.</p