Altai

I argue that the general epistemological conservatism, typical for the post-socialist “transition,” taken together with the imagined or experienced feeling of radically limited spatial choices, gave rise to a series of interesting symbolic shifts. An urgent search for a “new beginning,” a perceived state of semantic “indeterminacy” and “cognitive vacuum,” a recognition of the loss of all meaningful bearings was often represented as a disintegration of speech, as a deficiency of symbolic forms that could no longer express essential qualities of the current condition. The absence of comprehensive cognitive “maps” capable of representing the trajectory of development led to a pronounced preoccupation with the domain of minutiae, with tangible yet fragmented context. Also, this “being at a dead end” precipitated a move from the symbolism of space to the symbolism of time: “geography” gave place to “history.”

Ukrašavanje tela bio je značajan oblik izražavanja tokom različitih perioda ljudske istorije. Tetoviranje tela imalo je vitalnu ulogu u mnogim drevnim društvima, a razlozi su bili brojni i, pre svega, lični. Arheološki dokazi su nam pokazali da je tetoviranje drevni oblik umetnosti koji seže najmanje 6.000 godina u prošlosti. Među najlepšim i najsloženijim primerima izdvajaju se ostaci tetovaža drevnih ljudi koji su živeli tokom gvozdenog doba na planinama Altaja u Sibiru, pre više od 2000 godina. Zahvaljujući hladnim vremenskim uslovima u Sibiru, koji su omogućili da se očuvaju mumifikovana tela tadašnjih žitelja, arheolozi su mogli da detektuju najspektakularnije tetovaže na njihovim telima. Uglavnom su to bile tetovaže sa prikazima mitskih i stvarnih životinja u različitim pozama.

The article concerns results of radio-carbon dating of the horse bones found during excavation of funeral complexes in Altai dated by II century BC – V century AD. It is part of system studying of ancient and medieval horses from archaeological sites. This work is carried out for two last decades with involvement of different experts from the natural-science sphere of knowledge. The analysis of osteological materials from the necropolises Yaloman-II and Stepushka-I relating to various stages of Bulan-Koby culture is so far carried out. The received data have essential value not only for definition of date of creation of each object and specification of a chronological framework of certain animal populations existence. It also gives the chance for consideration of the fixed objective information in a historical context with an exit to private and general reconstruction.

200 pages, 187 colour illustrations, 2 geographical maps, published by the Fondation culturelle Musée Barbier-Mueller and Somogy, 2015

The Altai Republic is located in a mountainous region on the outer reaches of Siberia, on the border of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. It is home to the Turkic Altaians, a small population group, renowned in ethnography for its shamanism and for the development in the early twentieth century of Burkhanism, a large-scale millenarian movement. Within the current post-Soviet context, the Altaians are reviving their religious practices. These have diversified, now ranging from “neoshamanism” to “neo-Burkhanism” and also include Buddhism and evangelical Christianity. Major collective ceremonies based on the cycle of the seasons have resurfaced, while throat singing, formerly used for the ritual recitation of epic poems, now resonates well beyond the borders of this small territory, paradoxically spreading the image of traditions exempt from any external influence.
This book, while emphasizing the social, political and environmental issues the Altaians now face, sheds new light on that complex and composite religious situation, fuelled by multiple tensions, which until now has not received the attention it deserves.

200 pages, 187 illustrations couleur, 2 cartes géographiques, édité par la Fondation culturelle Musée Barbier-Mueller et Somogy, 2015

4e de couverture :
La République de l’Altaï est située dans une région montagneuse des confins de la Sibérie, à la frontière de la Chine, de la Mongolie et du Kazakhstan. Elle abrite le petit peuple turc des Altaïens, réputé dans l’ethnographie pour son chamanisme, et pour avoir développé au début du XXe siècle un mouvement millénariste de grande ampleur, le bourkhanisme. Dans le contexte post-soviétique actuel, les Altaïens renouvellent leurs pratiques religieuses, qui se sont diversifiées, allant du « néo-chamanisme » au « néo-bourkhanisme », en passant par le bouddhisme et le christianisme évangélique. De grandes cérémonies collectives, fondées sur le cycle saisonnier, ont refait surface, tandis que le chant de gorge, autrefois employé dans la récitation rituelle de poésies épiques, résonne maintenant bien au-delà des frontières du petit territoire, et véhicule paradoxalement l’image de traditions exemptes de toute influence extérieure.
Cet ouvrage, tout en faisant ressortir les enjeux sociaux, politiques et environnementaux auxquels les Altaïens doivent aujourd’hui faire face, apporte un nouvel éclairage sur cette situation religieuse à la fois complexe et composite, alimentée par de multiples tensions, et qui n’avait pas retenu jusqu’à présent toute l’attention qu’elle mérite.

The study of ancient Turkic antiquities in the Altai is of particular significance since this region is considered to have been the native land of the ancient Turks. According to genealogical legends, the Altai is connected to the early history and to the origin of the Turkic community. The Altai period of ancient Turkic history is important, also, as the period during which the Turks developed their own statehood. As a result of the creation of an extended empire, the ancient Turks influenced and transmit-ted elements of their material culture (e.g., caftan, belt plaque decorations, stirrups) and aspects of their political structure to other nomads of the Eurasian steppe. They also had a significant influence on the settled people of China, Sogd, Sassanian Iran and Byzantium.
Ancient Turkic antiquities in the Altai include mound burials, stone sculptures and enclosures, rock paintings - graffiti and runic inscriptions, associated with them. These antiquities also include set-tlements and objects of iron metallurgy. Burials offer the most interesting and informative source for the history of the ancient Turks. At present at least 187 burials have been investigated in the Altai region. Forty-three of them - represented in this book for the first time - were excavated by the East-Altaic Group of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, under the leadership of V.D. Kubarev. These burials are located mostly in central and south-eastern Altai.
Despite voluminous publications on ancient Turkic archaeology, many research problems remain. These include problems in the correlation of archaeological and written records relating to burial ritual; the problematic lack of ancient Turkic monuments relating to the First Turkic Qaghanate in comparison with materials from a later period; and questions regarding the actual and detailed reconstruction of composite artifacts such as armor, caftan, saadak belt and others. In this book, using new and informative ancient Turkic burials, we attempt to address some of these problems. In the interpretation of ancient Turkic burials other sources were used: materials from other ancient Turkic monuments, written records, ethnographical data, and information provided by epic literature.
The ancient Turks created an original material and spiritual culture. This culture had an appreciable influence on neighboring peoples; at the same time it absorbed elements of those foreign cultures. Analyzing the complex of different sources, and first of all, the materials derived from burials, it is possible to confirm the complex nature of ancient Turkic culture. This culture included elements of the earlier Pazyryk culture and of the Xiong-nu period, on the other hand, on the other hand, ancient Turkic culture had genetic connection to the modern Turkic-speaking populations in South Siberia.

В монографии публикуются материалы новой, представительной серии древнетюркских погребений, исследованных на территории Российского Алтая. В научный оборот вводится археологическая коллекция, содержащая как широко распространенные и массовые категории предметов, так и редкие и уникальные находки. К числу последних принадлежит защитный доспех, набранный из металлических пластин, остатки кафтанов из китайского узорчатого шелка, предметы из органических материалов.
Материалы погребений древних тюрок Алтая анализируются автором с привлечением данных по другим древнетюркским памятникам (оградкам, изваяниям, граффити), а также с использованием письменных источников и этнографических свидетельств. Это позволило всесторонне охарактеризовать материальную и духовную культуру древних тюрок Алтая, включая погребальную обрядность, военное дело, костюм и целый ряд других вопросов.

В настоящий том вошли ранее не публиковавшиеся статьи и полевые этнографические заметки по истории и культуре шорцев и других тюркоязычных народов Саяно-Алтая одного из крупнейших отечественных тюркологов XX века Надежды Петровны Дыренковой (1899–1941).
Книга снабжена биографическим очерком о Н.П. Дыренковой, библиографическим списком ее работ, а также указателями и иллюстрациями из сибирского собрания МАЭ РАН.
Для этнологов, лингвистов, фольклористов, культурологов, религиоведов, всех интересующихся абори- генными культурами Сибири.

В монографии подробно представлены результаты фиксации и изучения археологических памятников в урочище Уркош, расположенном на левом берегу Катуни в Онгудайском районе Республики Алтай (Россия). Проведенные исследования и полученные материалы позволяют охарактеризовать основные этапы разработанной культурно-хронологической схемы и рассмотреть традиционную систему жизнеобеспечения, сформировавшуюся в ходе освоения Центрального Алтая древними, средневековыми и современными животноводами.

Por Georgeos Díaz-Montexano

Nota aclaratoria: éste artículo es un apretado resumen muy simplificado para uso divulgativo. Quien desee conocer todo el proceso de desciframiento, detalles, datos, fuentes, y bibliografía, puede leer los artículos y capítulos liberados en mi página de facebook o bien el libro: IBÉRICO EUROASIÁTICO. Descifrando la lengua de los íberos, Lulu Press, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-326-23858-2.

This edition is the outcome monograph on the results of the study of the Altai population’s adornments in the 2ad centuries BC and first half 6th centuries AD. A thematic review of the studies was carried out in the monograph. The authors have drawn up the set of adornments and a unified clas-sification system for analyzing items. The monograph presented the questions of the chronology and gender and age characteristics of jewelry and options for the reconstruction of individual complexes. In the work data from published and unpublished information conducted into scientific circulation. This publication is designed for students and others interested in ancient and medieval history of the Altai. The study was supported by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science («Economic and social adaptation of human to climate conditions of the Altai Mountains in the second half of Holocene», №33.1971.2017/4.6).

Настоящее издание является итоговой монографией по результатам изучения авторами украшений населения Алтая II в. до н.э. – первой половины VI в. н.э. В работе осуществлен тематический обзор исследований, приведен свод украшений, предложена унифицированная классификационная система для анализа предметов, рассмотрены вопросы хронологии и особенностей половозрастной принадлежности категорий украшений, предложены варианты реконструкции отдельных комплексов. Также водятся в научный оборот изделия из неопубликованных или частично опубликованных памятников. Издание адресовано археологам, этнографам, историкам, студентам и всем интересующимся древней и средневековой историей Алтая. Работа подготовлена и издана в рамках научно-исследовательского проекта ПЧ госзадания Минобрнауки Российской Федерации «Хозяйственная и социальная адаптация человека к природно-климатическим условиям Алтайских гор во второй половине голоцена», №33.1971.2017/4.6.

Approaching Monument of Kol Tigin as an Epic
The texts on the Bengu Stones dating from the period of Kokturk Khanate II (VIII century), are acknowledged as the first literary works of Turkish. Of the inscriptions of the era with miscellaneous dimensions, the inscriptions of Kol Tigin, Bilge Khagan and Bilge Tonyukuk are texts in whole representing the language structure of the period. Of these three, the text with 66 lines, prepared for Kol Tigin, was written by Bilge Khagan.
A product of an era in which verse and prose were not distinguished in exact lines, the style of these texts to which tradition of Turkish epic gave form were mentioned by many researchers. While telling the wars the heroes (Kol Tigin, and Bilge Khagan) fought and the achievements they won are told, the characteristics of epics such as epithets, parallel expressions, repetitions, alliterations, assonances, reduplication, idioms, similes, and expressions were used. Mythological envisions, not only the ones related with both the human-beings’ and the animals’ starting to live on earth but also the ones related with the creation of world prior to the adventures of heroes, show great resemblance to the epics of Altai-Sayan.
The most characteristic feature of these epics is that they prioritise the type of Khagan hero who rescues and protects the lineage of whom he is a member from enemy. On the monuments of Kol Tigin and Bilge Khagan, the fact is highlighted that Khagan who saves motherland from enemy and regulates the ethics is divined himself by God. Monuments present us each of these individuals as a hero of epic.
In this paper, first, by drawing attention to the organic relation between monument of Kol Tigin and Altai epics, the fact that these monuments are the main source of these epics will be shown; then, as a consequence, the claim will be put into words that the text on the monument of Kol Tigin is the first Turkish epic to have been written on account of the epical characteristics which the text on the monument of Kol Tigin bears.

Altai Turks, who has located within the Russian Federation so far, have lived with many different communities throughout the history and have remained under the influence of many other belief systems. Having kept their traditional belief systems alive, Altai Turks on the other side have also adopted the nuances, which were taken from the new cultures they have already met. As a result they have a very rich oral tradition. Their epics, tales, legends are the primary creations that reflect this tradition. Some unnatural creatures in the belief system are used as “leitmotif” in the above mentioned
genres. Celbegen, who generally has seven heads and eats people in the narratives, is also one of unnatural creatures. Celbegen, who makes people to be frighten or to be loathen due to its physical and characteristic properties, appears in the narratives either by supporting the evildoers or directly by being the evildoers itself. This situation is actually related to its existence in Erlik’s vassal, because according to Altai Turks’ belief system defective creatures such as snake, bear, camel, etc. and bad spirits such as alkarısı, şulmus, Celbegen were created by Erlik. These creatures are used to live in underground with Erlik and they are being sent to the Earth to do evil on all occassions. This defective soul, which are named as “Celbegen”, “Elbegen” or “Celven” by Altai Turks, takes places in their epics, tales and legends very often. Thus, in this paper the forms of Celbegen’s existences in the above-mentioned narratives will be analyzed, the common characteristics of this type will be defined and evaluated and finally its role in the narratives will be discussed.

Özet
Bugün, Rusya Federasyonu içerisinde yaşayan Altay Türkleri, tarih boyunca pek çok halkla bir arada bulunmuşlar ve pek çok inanç sisteminin etkisi altında kalmışlardır. Altay Türkleri, bir taraftan geleneksel inanç sistemlerini muhafaza ederlerken diğer taraftan karşılaştıkları yeni kültürlerden aldıkları unsurları da benimsemişler ve tüm bunların neticesinde çok zengin bir sözlü geleneğe sahip olmuşlardır. Onların
destanları, masalları, efsaneleri bu geleneği aksettiren ürünlerin başında gelmektedir. Altay Türklerinin inanç sistemi içinde bazı olağanüstü varlıklar, yukarıda saydığımız türler içinde “leitmotif” olarak kullanılmaktadır. Anlatmalarda genellikle yedi başlı ve insan eti yiyen “Celbegen” de bunlardan biridir. Sahip olduğu fiziksel ve karakter özellikleriyle insanda ürküntü ve tiksinti uyandıran Celbegen, genellikle kötü olanın yanında ya da kötülük yapan taraf olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu durum, aslında onun Erlik’in tebaasından olmasıyla alakalıdır; çünkü Altay Türklerinin inanç sistemine göre, yılan, ayı, deve gibi kusurlu sayılan varlıklar ile alkarısı, şulmus, Celbegen
gibi kötü ruhlar Erlik tarafından yaratılmıştır. Bu varlıklar Erlik ile birlikte yeraltında yaşamakta ve kötülük yapmak için her fırsatta yeryüzüne gönderilmektedir. Altay Türkleri tarafından “Celbegen”, “Elbegen” ya da “Celven” olarak adlandırılan bu kötü ruh, destan, masal ve efsanelerde sıkça karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu makalede de Celbegen’in söz konusu anlatmalardaki yer alış biçimleri incelenecek ve bu tipin ortak özellikleri tespit edilip, değerlendirilerek anlatmalardaki rolleri tartışılacaktır.

The Altai Mountains stand at the crossroads between the four nations of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. Whilst its location means that it has been conceptualised as a locus for interaction in prehistory, language barriers and sensitivities towards national borders mean that holistic research on archaeology here is difficult to conduct. By integrating Russian, English, and Chinese language data, with reference to Kazakh and Mongolia publications, this paper analyses theories of interaction in the 2nd–1st millennium BCE. Paths of least-cost modelled between a grid of points in GIS were used to create an accessibility map of the Altai, which was then compared with the locations of rock-art sites, themselves purportedly created along major routes by people practising mobile lifeways. The analyses show that movement in the Altai was likely concentrated at higher altitudes, with the majority of main paths running north-west to south-east. A large number of paths also traverse the modern borders, such as one that coincides with a modern Mongolian–Chinese pass. Its prehistoric usage is supported by the large number of comparable, contemporary rock-art at either end on both sides of the border. Rock-art sites overall are located either on or near routes that experienced medium to high frequency traffic. Though rock-art seems more likely to have been created along frequented routes, not all major routes have sites located nearby, lending support to theories that rock-art was created after significant experiences embedded in the variable political, social, and spiritual factors governing the physical act of its creation.

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 Pazyrykgroups 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).

В монографии рассматриваются особенности алтайского текста как формы представления культуры чувствования Алтая, проявляющей себя в процессе создания духовной и художественной среды. Своеобразие алтайского текста Г.Д. Гребенщикова раскрывается в особом дизайне словесной формы, идеологии заполнения пространства семантически значимыми элементами, конструкциях страстного дискурса.

This paper describes the geographical, historical and cultural context of the Chalkan people group living in the Altai Republic, Russia. The paper then looks at the points of conflict and contact with the personal cultural background of the author of the paper, and finally discusses potential points of contact with the gospel and strategies to aid the communication of the gospel to the Chalkans.

В данной работе автором рассматривается образ «роженицы» и семантический блок «роженица-тотем» на петроглифах Евразии времён палеолита – бронзового века. На основе метода проецирования данных этнографии на археологические источники, сравнительно-религиоведческого метода с учетом историко-генетических и культурных связей между этносами автором строятся параллели между мало-азиатскими, европейскими и саяно-алтайскими представлениями о божественных первопредках Вселенной и человека. Расширив доказательства чатал-хююкских и сибирско-монгольских аналогий,  установив твердую мифологическую и этнографическую тэнгри-камскую почву для интерпретации сюжетов чатал-хююкских неолитических памятников и энеолитических петроглифов на Юге Западной Сибири, Байкале, Алтае, Монголии; с опорой на вулканическую гипотезу возникновения тэнгри-камства; с учётом данных археологии о присутствии древнего человека в период древнего палеолита на территории Тувы, а также в связи с локализацией географами и историками «царства Ямы», «дома Ямы» на территории Саяно-Алтайской горной системы автор приходит к выводу о древности (период палеолита-неолита) и распространённости на территории всей Евразии тэнгри-камского мировоззрения.

In 2017, archaeological studies of the Pleistocene deposits in the South Chamber of Denisova Cave have been resumed. The deposits constituting the upper part of the Pleistocene strata have been examined at the mouth of the cave on the lines forming grids Е and Ж, including lithological layers 9 and 11. Layer 11, containing the deposits accumulated during the first half of MIS 3, has yielded lithic artifacts that can be attributed to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Primary flaking in this industry is characterized by radial and sub-prismatic cores. The analysis of flakes suggests that the parallel and Levallois reduction strategies were employed. The tool assemblage also reveals the combination of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic elements. Archaeological evidence from layer 9, whose deposits were accumulated during the Last Glacial Maximum, reflects the ​further development of blade technology.

Биобиблиографический справочник кандидата исторических наук, доцента, главного научного сотрудника, руководителя Научно-исследовательского центра истории и культуры тюркских народов Горно-Алтайского  государственного  университета Соенова Василия Ивановича, подготовленный к 55-летнему юбилею.

Переиздание справочника подготовлено в рамках научно-исследовательского проекта госзадания Министерства науки и высшего образования Российской Федерации «Хозяйственная и социальная адаптация человека к природно-климатическим условиям Алтайских гор во второй половине голоцена» (№ 33.1971.2017/4.6).

In the article, some Tangrian-Biblical, Sayanid-Semitic parallels are considered based on the methods of hermeneutics and comparativism, comparative analysis of myths, texts, clarifying the meanings of individual words, phrases of the biblical text and Tengri-Kama mythology. The purpose of the study is to resolve the issues: first, was there a profound penetration of biblical concepts, legends, symbols into the Turkic-Mongolian TengriKama worldview as a result of the proselytism of Christianity; Second, did the reverse influence of the Scythian-Cimmerian Sayanid civilization take place on the formation of ancient
oral Jewish mythology and its textual fixation in the first biblical books during the VIII-VII centuries BC? As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the mountain taiga cult of Tengri, which originated in the Altai-Sayan Sayanid Mountains, had a direct profound impact on the formation of the whole complex of theological representations reflected in biblical texts.

From the end of the 4 th millennium BC, a new proto-Caucasian population that characterized the Afanasyevo culture spread in the interior regions of Asia. This contrasted with the intermediate Mongoloid-Caucasoid anthropological appearance of the local Asian populations. The Afanasyevo bearers from Altai and Khangai are distinguished by the largest body stature among the ancient human groups of Eurasia. The craniological and osteometrical differences of the Afanasyevo populations are likely related with the adaptation of the migrant people to the harsh bio-climatic conditions of the mountainous regions of the Southern Siberia and Central Asia, which resulted in greater increase of the head and body size. A statistical comparison of the Afanasyevo craniological series and the Eneolithic ancestral groups (more than 150 crania), Early and Early Middle Bronze Age (about 520 crania) from the south of Eastern Europe allowed to discover a complex of traits that distinguish the Yamnaya population from the previous Eneolithic groups. The Afanasyevo bearers from the low-mountain regions of Altai, the Minusinsk Basin and Khangai mountain are most similar to the Yamnaya people of the forest-steppe and steppe regions of the Volga and Urals, which thus determines the origins of the Afanasyevo population. The craniological series of the Afanasyevo population from the Altai highlands are morphologically combined with the Eneolithic Eastern European groups (Sredny Stog and Repin cultures, Berezhnovka type), which suggests that their descendants could contribute towards the formation of the Afanasyevo population.

In Greek myth, Amazons were fierce women of exotic lands who gloried in hunting and war. The greatest Greek heroes, Heracles and Achilles, proved their valor by killing Amazon queens. But were Amazons mere fantasy? Thanks to archaeology, we now know they were modeled on real steppe nomads of Eurasia. The Greeks were not the only ones to describe warlike females. Amazons appear in other ancient cultures, but with a twist. Non-Greeks desired the warrior women as allies and companions. This paper describes the archaeology of warrior women and recounts Amazon tales of the Caucasian steppes, Greece, Persia, Egypt, the Caucasus, and Central Asia featuring Penthesilea, Tirgatao, Tomyris, Sparethra, Amage, Zarina, Valdusa, Blue Lotus, Saikal, and Gulaim.