Bone (Antler) Details of Whips in the Artifact Complex of the Altai Population of the Rouran Period (on the materials of the Choburak-I necropolis)

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of one of the rather rare groups of findings – bone (antler) parts of whips, revealed during the excavations of the objects of the Rouran period necropolis on the Choburak-I burial site. This complex, studied by the Altai State University expedition, is located in the Chemal district of the Altai Republic. The details of the whips, that make up the most numerous series of such items from the published objects of the Bulan-Koby culture, come from the burials of four men and one teenager (barrows 29a, 30a, 31, 32, 38). The morphological analysis of the finds, their classification and comparison with materials from the sites of North and Central Asia of the early Iron Age and the Middle Ages made it possible to determine the functional characteristics of the objects, among which parts of handles and ends of whips, as well as knobs (end-pieces) of crops were identified. The chronology of different types of items within the first half of the I millennium AD has been specified. It was found that crops with knobs (end-pieces) in the form of massive tubes were material culture indicative elements of the Altai nomads in the second half of the IV – the first half of the V centuries AD. The thesis that whips were a stable marker of the burial set of the male population of the region under consideration in the Great Migration period is confirmed.

Keywords

• archaeology
• altai
• great migration period
• rouran periodchronology
• bulan-koby culture whip
• burial