BRONZE ARROWHEAD FROM A MAN’S SPINE, BURIED IN TASMOLA KURGAN KOYTAS
Beisenov A.Z. Tishkin A.A.
13 July 2022Altai State University
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research
2022#34Issue 2172 - 185 pp.
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.
Central Kazakhstan , Early Saka time , Koytas kurgan , radiocarbon dating , Tasmola culture , trapped arrowhead vertebra , X-ray fluorescence analysis
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Research Center for History and Archeology “Begazi-Tasmola”, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Altai State University, Barnaul, Russian Federation
Research Center for History and Archeology “Begazi-Tasmola”
Altai State University
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