Unearthing East Kazakhstan's Early Saka Combat Belt: A New Archaeological Discovery

Abstract

The publication presents the results of archaeological excavations and materials found in burial mound 3 of Object No. 6, located in East Kazakhstan during the Early Iron Age. Among the discoveries was an Early Saxon bronze belt set, which has expanded the existing typology and provided new insights into the culture of the region. The excavation also revealed a series of five belt sets with similar morphology and technology, but made from different materials such as bronze, silver, and gold. These belt sets were classified into two independent groups based on their clip plates. The first group consists of belts with non-cut and slotted X-shaped clip plates with a curly contour and narrow crosshair, with loops and without loops. This group includes the eastern burial of mound 3 of Object No. 6, the burial mound near the village of Pyaniy Yar, burial between the villages of Vavilonka and Zarechnoye, burial mound 5 of the Taldy-II burial mound in Kazakhstan, and grave 9 of the Chinge-Tey I burial mound in Tuva, Russia. The second group includes belts with slotted clip plates with a classic X-shaped contour and an expanded ring-shaped crosshair, found in mound 1 of the Tasmola II burial ground, mound 2 of the Alypkash burial ground, mound No. 8 of the Bayke-2 burial ground, burial No. 2 in burial mound No. 4a of the Aksuat-I burial ground in Kazakhstan, and grave 3 of the Ching-Tei I funeral and memorial complex in Tuva, Russia. The presence of similar materials in the eastern burial of mound 3 allowed researchers to date the non-cut "X-shaped" clips with a curly contour and narrow crosshair, as well as the burial itself, to the VII-VI centuries BC. However, it is also possible that the date is narrower, ranging from the end of the VII to the beginning or middle of the VI century BC.