DETACHABLE DECORATIONS OF WESTERN SIBERIA BRONZE AGE

Abstract

The paper presents a systematization of the complex of metal adornments from the Bronze Age and reveals some regularities in distribution of these artifacts. The areas of the adornment types and their chronological attribution are defined. For the territory of Kuznetsk-Salair mountain region during the Developed Bronze Age, the most specific feature is the almost complete absence of bronze production in the burial assemblage (apart from the bronze beads located usually next to the ankle joints of the buried). On the territory of the steppe and forest-steppe Altai the main types of metal and bimetal adornments are recorded, which are typical for the Eastern area of the Andronovo (Fedorovo) complexes. On the territory of Baraba forest-steppe and in the Ob basin in Novosibirsk region, the so called earrings with bell mouth are not known in the Krotovo complexes. Analysis of the Andronovo adornments from the sites in the Ob basin in Tomsk region revealed a presence of analogies to the assemblage of the Krotovo period in the Baraba foreststeppe zone and of the Andronovo culture at the Altai: bracelets and rings with spiral finials. A characteristic feature for the burial assemblage of the Irmen culture is the presence of removable adornments which were not widely spread in the west areas, such as grooved bracelets and rings with the same design for the surface. The distinctive feature is a presence of rings “with a shield”, which are typical for the Karasuk culture of the Middle Yenisei basin. The typological-morphological analysis of removable adornments allowed revealing the objects that are specific for the Irmen culture such as nail-shaped pendants and bracelets which endings decorated with “pearls”.

Keywords

• bronze age
• western siberia
• burials
• adornments