The Tashtyk culture was a Late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

archaeological culture that flourished in the Yenisei valley in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

from the 1st century CE to the 4th century CE. Located in the Minusinsk Depression, environs of modern

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

, eastern part of

Kemerovo Oblast Kemerovo Oblast (, ), also known as Kuzbass (, ), after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Kemerovo is the administrative center and largest city of the oblast. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Rus ...

, it was preceded by the Tagar culture and the Tesinsky culture.

History

The Tashtyk culture was first surveyed by the Russian archaeologist Sergei Teploukhov. Teploukhov suggested that it had been initially

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

dominated, only to become overcome by the Yenisei Kirghiz around the 3rd century AD. The Yenisei Kirghiz are often associated with the Tashtyk culture. Tashtyk settlements and hill-forts have been unearthed throughout the Yenisei region, particularly the Sayan canyon area. Their most imposing monuments were immense barrows-crypt structures; these have yielded large quantities of clay and metal vessels and ornaments. In addition, numerous petrographic carvings have been found. Some of the graves contained leather models of human bodies with their heads wrapped in tissue and brightly painted. Inside the models there were small leather bags probably symbolising the stomach and containing burned human bones. Scaled-down replicas of swords, arrows and quivers were placed nearby. The animal motifs of the Tashtyk belonged to the Scytho-Altaic style, while they were also under significant Chinese influence. During his excavations of the Oglahty cemetery south of

Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...

, Leonid Kyzlasov discovered a number of mummies with richly decorated plaster funerary masks showing Western Eurasian features, though this would not rule out some East Asian admixture, as revealed by ancient DNA (see below). There were also intact fur hats, silk clothes, and footwear (now in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, St. Petersburg).

Datation

Oglakhty is considered as "the key site of stage I of the Tashtyk culture." From the early 20th century, various dates have been proposed for the Tashtyk burials: 1st century BC-1st century CE, 1st-2nd century CE. From the 1990s, new proposals were made dating the Tashtyk burials to the 3rd–4th centuries CE. C-14 Wiggle-matching datation techniques, applied to wooden logs of tomb 4 at Oglakhty have confirmed a datation to the 3rd–4th centuries CE. Other post-

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

cultures, such as the Kokel Culture have also been recorded nearby. File:Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum Tashtyk culture exhibit (mask).jpg, Tashtyk culture mask File:Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum Tashtyk culture exhibit (pottery).jpg, Tashtyk culture pottery File:Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum Tashtyk culture exhibit (daggers).jpg, Tashtyk culture daggers

Genetics

In 2009, a genetic study covering specimens from the Tashtyk culture was published in

Human Genetics Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in Human, human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, populatio ...

. Six Tashtyk remains of 100–400 AD from Bogratsky region, Abakano-Pérévoz I,

Khakassia Khakassia (), officially the Republic of Khakassia, is a republic of Russia located in southern Siberia. It is situated between Krasnoyarsk Krai to the north and the Altai Republic to the south. The capital city of Khakassia is Abakan, and the ...

were surveyed, of which 5 yielded genetic ancestry and pigmentation alleles. All specimens examined were determined to be female. Extractions of

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

from three individuals resulted in their assignment to the Western Eurasian haplogroups HV, H, and T1, while the other two carried the

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n haplogroups haplogroup C and N9a. Of the Tashtyk specimens which yielded pigmentation data, the majority (4) were predicted to have blue eyes and blond or light brown hair, including those with an Asian haplogroup. All specimens were determined to be of primarily European ancestry based on the analysis of 10 SNPs. A full genome analysis on two Tashtyk mummies revealed high genetic affinity to the

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

Tagar culture, which derives around 70% from the

Sintashta culture The Sintashta culture is a Middle Bronze Age archaeological culture of the Southern Urals, dated to the period 2200–1900 BCE. It is the first phase of the Sintashta–Petrovka complex, –1750 BCE. The culture is named after the Sintashta ...

, 5% from the

Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) is the modern archaeological designation for a particular Middle Bronze Age civilisation of southern Central Asia, also known as the Oxus Civilization. The civilisation's urban phase or In ...

, and 25% from Ancient Northeast Asian hunter-gatherers ( Baikal_EBA). File:Tashtyk culture mask reconstruction.jpg, Tashtyk culture mask reconstruction File:Tashtyk culture mask.jpg, Tashtyk culture mask, Khakassia National Museum. Image:Tashtyk culture01.jpg, A funerary mask from Tashtyk in Moscow State Historical Museum. File:Tashtyk culture02.jpg, More masks in Moscow File:Màscares funeràries de la cultura Tashtik, república de Khakàssia, segles V-VI dC, argila.JPG, Later masks, dated to the 5th-6th century. File:Masks from near Minusinsk (A ribbon of iron, 1901).jpg, Funerary masks excavated near Minusinsk, photographed in 1901.

Notes

References

External links