Russian Federation: Tartas

Tartas-1, Western Siberia: A multi-period burial site in the forest-steppe zone

Investigation of a prehistoric cemetery with main focus on the transitional period between Early and Middle Bronze Age.

Location

Excavation trench

The burial site Tartas-1 is situated c. 250 km east of Omsk in the northern part of the Baraba forest-steppe. It occupies a flat promontory on the bank of the river Tartas close to its confluence with the Om´.

Objectives

The site contains numerous burials from the transitional period between the Early and Middle Bronze Age and is expected to yield important information about the chronological and cultural relations between the Late Krotovo and Andronovo cultures in the first half of the 2nd mill. calBC which are not yet understood sufficiently. In addition, it has already become clear that burials and settlement finds from other periods are present in Tartas-1 as well. The excavation results will thus also contribute to the reconstruction of the cultural development from the Late Neolithic to the Iron Age in the Western Siberian forest-steppe. 

History of Research

The site which has no archaeological features visible above-ground was entirely unknown until recently. First graves were discovered by accident in 2003. In the vicinity, however, a number of prehistoric burial grounds such as Ust´ Tartas and Sopka-2 have been investigated in earlier years, and the new results are expected to complement and deepen the understanding and interpretation of these sites. 

Previous Activities

	Field drawing of a crouched burial

In the summer of 2003 a number of inhumation burials were investigated during a rescue excavation, fieldwalking and first geophysical surveys were carried out on the promontory.

After the the extent of the site and the nature of the archaeology (rows of inhumation burials) was determined, larger areas were opened in 2004 and 2005 with geophysical surveys providing detailed information on the distribution of archaeological features beforehand. Just beneath the surface 130 graves, a ring ditch as well as several pits and settlement structures were found. A geophysical survey provided additional information about the distribution of archaeological features on the promontory. Most of the burials contained sub-adults. Grave goods consisted of pottery vessels, bronze ornaments, bronze daggers, "gaming pieces" (horse phalanges and sheep astragals) and bone arrowheads, a special find was a four-sided stone mould for casting ear rings and pendants. Large ritual pits associated with the burials contained animal bones, bone and bronze artefacts, but also, for example, a well preserved casting mould for a large socketed axe. 

Current Work

	Half-sunken Early Bronze Age house

During a short field campaign in late summer 2006 the excavation area was enlarged towards the west to investigate the situation on the promontory´s interiour. A total of 19 inhumations and one cremation burial were found which in layout and inventory fit well into the spectrum of graves excavated in previous years.

A surprise was the discovery of a half-sunken house which can be attributed to the oldest phase of the Early Bronze Age (Odino culture), according to the material found in it. The house depression had a slightly trapezoidal shape with an entrance on its eastern side and measured c. 9 x 8 m. Inside, a ring of postholes was documented with a central fireplace within it. It is not yet completely clear whether this structure, which contains a number of unique structural features, has been used as a dwelling. An interesting detail is the fact that the later burials seem to have avoided to area of the house. 

Results

	Child burial of the late Krotovo culture
	Bronze dagger and bone arrowheads from a male burial

One of the most important results is a series of radiocarbon dates from burials and pits, providing reliable fix points in the absolute chronology of the cultural groups and their relations. They also prove that the transitional period from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age must indeed - as had already been suggested by a number of scholars - be placed half a millenium early than generally thought.

Apart from one grave dating to the older Early Bronze Age (c. 27th/26th cent. calBC), the burials belong to the transitional horizon between the early Bronze Age Krotovo and the Middle Bronze Age Andronovo cultures (c. 19th-17th cent. calBC). Three different types of inhumation burials are distinguishable. The characteristic late Krotovo graves (type 1) consist of extended skeletons in shallow oval pits which are orientated more or less East-West and grouped together in short rows. Some of them contain a rich array of grave goods such as bronze daggers and beads, bone arrowheads and stone tools, while pottery is entirely absent. The type 2 graves show the same shallowness, orientation and arrangement in rows as the late Krotovo variant, whereas the crouched position of the dead and associated pottery vessels already represent Andronovo elements. A small number of North-South orientated child burials (type 3) as well as the few cremations can be regarded as typical Andronovo graves. This indicates that in the burials rites, in the grave inventories and in the pottery production for some time hybrid forms prevailed in which elements of both cultural traditions were united, thus enabling detailed conclusions about character and chronological development of the acculturation process.

The type 1 and 2 burials regularily show traces of having been opened again not long after the initial internment (the graves must have still been visible above-ground) which mostly concentrated on the upper body region. It is not yet clear whether the reason for this was robbing (searching bronze grave goods) or some otherwise motivated ritual. 

Cooperation

The project is carried out by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science in Novosibirsk (Prof. Dr. V.I. Molodin, Dr. A.E. Grisin) in cooperation with the Berlin Head Office of the German Archaeological Institute (Prof. Dr. H. Parzinger, H. Piezonka).  

Contact

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hermann Parzinger

Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Telefon: 01888-7711-0
Telefax: 01888-7711-190
Email: hp@dainst.de

 Henny Piezonka, M.A.

Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Telefon: 01888-7711-140
Telefax: 01888-7711-191
Email: hep@dainst.de

Bibliography

V.I. Molodin, H. Parzinger u. a., Issledovanie mogil´nika bronzovogo veka Tartas-1. Problemy archeologii, ėtnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel´nych territorij 10, 2004, 358-364.

V.I. Molodin, H. Parzinger u. a., Polevye issledovanija na mogil´nike Tartas-1 v 2005 godu. Problemy archeologii, ėtnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel´nych territorij 11, 2005, 412-417.