New finds of fibulae from the Altynkazgan microdistrict (Mangyshlak peninsula)
Gavritukhin I. Astafiev A. Bogdanov E.
30 June 2024Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Kazakhstan Archeology
2024#2024Issue 2100 - 123 pp.
This work is a continuation of our 2019 article about 20 brooches from the Karakabak settlement (2nd – 6th centuries). New finds are represented by 24 specimens from the same settlement and three from other points of the Altynkazgan microdistrict. Fibulae 1–7 correspond to period of the first economic activity at the Karakabak settlement (second half of the 2nd/first half of the 3rd – first quarter of the 4th century). They indicate contacts with the North Caucasus, and to a lesser extent with the east of the Late Sarmatian culture. The analogue in Jetyasar culture is an indicator of direct connections or a common source of innovation. The originality of brooches 2–4, 6 can be explained by their local production. The remaining brooches are comparable to the period of the second economic activity at the settlement of Karakabak (fourth quarter of the 4th – mid-6th century). Fibulae 10–12 reflect the interregional “fashion” of the Hunnic era. Fibulae 8 and 9 could belong to this or a later context. Fibulae 13–26 date back no earlier than the mid-5th century, i.e. mainly the post-Hunns (Shipovo) time, which accounted for the highest economic and cultural flourishing of the Altynkazgan microdistrict. They belong to the subgroup of two-plate fibulae known in the North Caucasus, the Kama region and the Jetyasar culture. At the same time, the collection from Karakabak is the largest of those originating from a single site, and the stands of brooches 21, 22 and three more from earlier finds allow us to speak about local production (for the rest, this question is open). Analysis of fibulae confirms the conclusion that the settlement of Karakabak (the largest for its era in the Aral-Caspian region), associated with the port area on the Mangyshlak peninsula, was an important trade and craft center on the routes connecting the Bosporus (and through it the Roman Empire) and the North Caucasus with a number of regions of Asia, with branches into the steppe, to the Kama region in the north.
2nd–6th centuries , Altynkazgan microdistrict , archaeology , cultural contacts , fibula , Karakabak , Mangyshlak , trade and craft center
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Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Aktau, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography
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