Afanasievo culture
 | |
| Alternative names | Afanasevo culture; Afanasevans |
|---|---|
| Geographical range | South Siberia |
| Period | Eneolithic |
| Dates | 3300 BCE — 2500 BCE |
| Major sites | Minusinsk Basin |
| Followed by | Okunev culture, Andronovo culture[1] |
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
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The Afanasievo culture, or Afanasevo culture (Russian Афанасьевская культура Afanas'yevskaya kul'tura; "[the] Afanasevan culture"), is the earliest known archaeological culture of south Siberia, occupying the Minusinsk Basin and the Altai Mountains during the eneolithic era, c. 3300 to 2500 BC. It is named after a nearby mountain, Gora Afanasieva (Russian: Гора Афанасьева, lit. 'Afanasiev's mountain') (also known as Bateni).[2]
David W. Anthony believes that the Afanasevans were descended from people who migrated c. 3700–3300 BCE across the Eurasian Steppe from the Repin culture of the Don-Volga region (and possibly members of the neighbouring Yamna culture).[3] Because of its geographical location and dating, Anthony and earlier scholars such as Leo Klejn, J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair have linked the Afanasevans to the Proto-Tocharian language.[4][5][6][7]
Dating
Conventional archaeological understanding tended to date at around 2000–2500 BC. However radiocarbon gave dates as early as 3705 BC on wooden tools and 2874 BC on human remains.[8] The earliest of these dates have now been rejected, giving a date of around 3300 BC for the start of the culture.[9]
Culture
Mass graves were not usual for this culture.[10] Afanasevo cemeteries include both single and small collective burials with the deceased usually flexed on his back in a pit. The burial pits are arranged in rectangular, sometimes circular, enclosures marked by stone walls. It has been argued that the burials represent family burial plots with four or five enclosures constituting the local social group.
The Afanasevo economy included cattle, sheep, and goat. Horse remains, either wild or domestic, have also been found. The Afanasevo people became the first food-producers in the area. Tools were manufactured from stone (axes, arrowheads), bone (fish-hooks, points) and antler. Among the antler pieces are objects that have been identified as possible cheek-pieces for horses. Artistic representations of wheeled vehicles found in the area has been attributed to the Afanasevo culture. Ornaments of copper, silver and gold have also been found.[4]
Biological anthropology
At Afanasevo Gora, two strains of Yersinia pestis have been extracted from human teeth. One is dated 2909–2679 BCE; the other, 2887–2677 BCE. Both are from the same (mass) grave of seven people, and are presumed near-contemporary.[10] This strain's genes express flagellin, which triggers the human immune response; so it was not a bubonic plague.[11]
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Possible links to other cultures
Because of its numerous traits attributed to the early Indo-Europeans, like metal-use, horses and wheeled vehicles, and cultural relations with Kurgan steppe cultures, the Afanasevans are believed to have been Indo-European-speaking.[4] According to Allentoft et al. (2015) and Haak et al. (2015), Afanasevo were genetically indistinguishable from Yamnaya people,[12][1] putative Proto-Indo-Europeans under the Kurgan hypothesis. Only three Afanasevo male samples have had their paternal lineage results published, and all three, like most Yamna males, belong to haplogroup R1b, with two of them belonging to subclade M269, the most numerous among both the Yamna people and in modern Western Europe.[13]
Numerous scholars have suggested that the Afanasevo culture was responsible for the introduction of metallurgy to China.[14][15]
The Afanasevo culture was succeeded by the Okunev culture, which is considered as an extension of the local non-Indo-European forest culture into the region.[4] The region was subsequently occupied by the Andronovo, Karasuk, Tagar and Tashtyk cultures, respectively.[16][17]
Allentoft et al. (2015) study also confirms that Afanasevo culture was replaced by the second wave of Indo-European migrations from Andronovo culture during late Bronze Age and early Iron Age.[1][note 1] Tarim mummies were also found to be genetically closer to Andronovo culture[1] than to Yamnaya culture or Afanasevo culture.[1][12]
Notes
- ^ Accoridng to Allentoft et al (2015): "Afanasievo culture persisted in central Asia and, perhaps, Mongolia and China until they themselves were replaced by fierce warriors in chariots called the Sintashta (also known as the Andronovo culture)".
References
- ^ a b c d e Allentoft 2015.
- ^ The set sites of the Afanasievo culture. Barnaul: Azbuka. 2014.
{{cite book}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter|authors=(help) - ^ Anthony 2010, p. 307-310.
- ^ a b c d Mallory 1997, pp. 4–6
- ^ Anthony 2010, pp. 264–265, 308
- ^ Mallory & Mair 2000
- ^ Клейн Л. С. Миграция тохаров в свете археологии // Stratum plus. Т. 2. С. 178—187.
- ^ [1] S. Svyatko et al. 2009. New Radiocarbon Dates and a Review of the Chronology of Prehistoric Populations from the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia, Russia. Radiocarbon 2009.1, 243–273 & appendix I p.266
- ^ D. W. Anthony, Two IE phylogenies, three PIE migrations, and four kinds of steppe pastoralism, The Journal of Language Relationship, vol. 9 (2013), pp. 1-21.
- ^ a b Rasmussen, S15-16. These samples are marked "RISE509" and "RISE511".
- ^ Rasmussen, 575.
- ^ a b Haak 2015.
- ^ Clémence Hollard (2014). Peuplement du sud de la Sibérie et de l'Altaï à l'âge du Bronze : apport de la paléogénétique (phd) (in French). University of Strasbourg.
- ^ Baumer 2012, p. 122
- ^ Keay 2009
- ^ "Central Asian Arts: Neolithic and Metal Age cultures". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
- ^ "Stone Age: European cultures". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
Sources
- Allentoft, Morten; Sikora, Martin (2015), "Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia", Nature, 522 (7555): 167–172, Bibcode:2015Natur.522..167A, doi:10.1038/nature14507
- Anthony, David W. (July 26, 2010). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 1400831105. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Baumer, Christoph (11 December 2012). The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1780760604.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - H. P. Francfort, The Archeology of Protohistoric Central Asia and the Problems of Identifying Indo-European and Uralic-Speaking populations (review) in : Persée 2003: Archéologie de l'Asie intérieure de l'âge du bronze à l'âge du fer
- Haak, W.; Lazaridis, I. (2015). "Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe". Nature. 522 (7555): 207–211. arXiv:1502.02783. Bibcode:2015Natur.522..207H. doi:10.1038/nature14317. PMC 5048219. PMID 25731166.
- Keay, John (1 October 2009). China: A History. Basic Books. ISBN 046502002X.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Haywood, Antohny (2 May 2012). Siberia: A Cultural History. Andrews UK Limited. ISBN 1908493372.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Kozshin, P (1970). "O psaliach is afanasievskih mogil". Sovetskaya Archeologiya. 4: 189–93.
- Einführung in die Ethnologie Zentralasiens Marion Linska, Andrea Handl, Gabriele Rasuly-Paleczek (2003) (.doc version)
- Mallory, J. P. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1884964982. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Mallory, J. P.; Mair, Victor H. (2000), The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, London: Thames & Hudson
{{citation}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Sinor, Denis (1 March 1990). The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521243041.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Zvelebil, Marek (13 November 1986). Hunters in Transition: Mesolithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and Their Transition to Farming. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521268680.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
- Nomadic groups in Eurasia
- Chalcolithic cultures of Asia
- Bronze Age cultures of Asia
- Archaeological cultures of China
- Archaeological cultures in Kazakhstan
- Archaeological cultures in Mongolia
- Archaeological cultures in Russia
- Archaeological cultures of Northern Asia
- Indo-European archaeological cultures
- Tocharians