On the lunula stone pendants and their taiga counterparts

Abstract

The paper provides brief information about crescent-shaped or moon-shaped stone pendants from the Bronze Age sites of Southern and Western Siberia. These artifacts belong to the category of rather rare finds. Across the vast territory from Cisbaikalia in the east to the Middle Irtysh Basin in the west only about 50 such items are known from the complexes of Glazkovo, Okunevo, Elunino, Odino, Krotovo, and Stepanovo archaeological cultures. In most cases, lunula pendants originate from the burial complexes. Particular attention is paid to the items associated with the archaeological cultures of the taiga zone of Western Siberia (Kulyegan, Polymyat, and Vary-Khadyta). The context of 13 finds, their raw material and shape has been characterized in detail. The items of the forest series feature small dimensions: a length from 4.7–5 to 8.5 cm and a thickness from 0.17 to 0.45 cm. In comparison with the larger artefacts of the Glazkovo, Krotovo, and Odino Cultures, the taiga pendants look like their miniature imitations. Most of the items were found in the settlements. The Eneolithic — Early Bronze Age archaeological sites of the taiga Ob Basin, whose materials contain lunula pendants, belong to the 3rd — early 2nd mil. BC. This chronological range coincides with the presence of such artifacts in the forest-steppe zone. The peculiar stone pendants are interpreted as an attribute of a new symbolism in the cultures of the forest communities, introduced by the Seima-Turbino groups of the population. Migrations of the Seima-Turbino populations along the Ob and Irtysh Rivers were accompanied by the mass distribution in the taiga zone of large fortified dwellings, new types of metal tools and weapons, advanced metal production technologies, and the widespread use of tin bronzes. They explain the similarity of the pottery materials and stone inventory of the taiga and the forest-steppe sites. The discovery of stone pendants in various forest zone regions, including its Arctic outskirts, allows one to interpret them as a characteristic Siberian symbolic attribute of the Palaeometal Period.

Keywords

• bronze age
• west siberia
• taiga
• seima-turbino
• symbolism