BRONZE ARROWHEAD FROM A MAN’S SPINE, BURIED IN TASMOLA KURGAN KOYTAS

DOI_disc_logo https://doi.org/10.14258/tpai(2022)34(2).-10
Keywords: Central Kazakhstan, Tasmola culture, Koytas kurgan, rapped arrowhead vertebra, radiocarbon dating, X-ray fluorescence analysis, Early Saka time

Abstract

In 2011 excavations of the Koytas emergency burial mound in Central Kazakhstan (in Karkaraly district of Karaganda region) recorded features of a burial structure characteristic of the early stage of the Tasmola culture. It turned out that the studied site had been repeatedly exposed to looting. The mound contained a dromos leading to a burial mound. The parameters of the embankment (diameter 22.5 m, height 2.5 m) are reconstructed, a circular crepice and a ditch are identified. In the burial chamber, some bones from a human skeleton have been preserved. The body of the only surviving vertebra, belonging to the lower thoracic region, was found to contain a trapped metal petiole arrowhead. As previous studies have shown (Tur et al., 2016), the severe wound did not immediately result in death. The signs of healing are clearly visible. This represents a very rare case for the ancient era. X-ray fluorescence analysis showed that the arrowhead was made of a quality bronze alloy, which contributed to a certain extent to prolonging the man’s life. According to the funerary rites and the features of the arrowhead, as well as on the basis of radiocarbon dates, the Koytas barrow dates back to the period of the 8th to 6th centuries B.C.

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Author Biographies

A.Z. Beisenov, Research Center for History and Archeology “Begazi-Tasmola”

Candidate of Historical Sciences, director, Begazy-Tasmola Research Center of History and Archaeology

A.A. Tishkin, Altai State University

Doctor of History, Professor, Altai State University, Head of Department of Archaeology, Ethnography and Museology,

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Published
2022-07-12
How to Cite
Beisenov A., Tishkin A. BRONZE ARROWHEAD FROM A MAN’S SPINE, BURIED IN TASMOLA KURGAN KOYTAS // THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 2022. Vol. 34, № 2. P. 172-185 DOI: 10.14258/tpai(2022)34(2).-10. URL: https://journal.asu.ru/tpai/article/view/11680.
Issue
Vol 34 No 2 (2022)
Section
FOREIGN ARCHAEOLOGY

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