Karasuk
With the beginning of the 1st
millennium BC the mutual relation between the culture
of the Minusinsk steppes and the ways of its development have changed. The change
is
traced in the monuments of the so-called Karasuk type, named so after the r. Karasuk
in the area of the village Bateney in the Minusinsk territory (37).
The continuity of
the development of the Karasuk culture from the previous Afanasiev culture is clearly
traced by the design of the kurgan and by the tiling of the tombs, though they
are distinct, for example, with a rectangular fence of stone
slabs staked vertically into the ground.
The over-the-tomb structure of the
Karasuk type, as a rule, includes a single
burial with the same type of inventory as in the Andronov monuments.
The Karasuk type, however, stands out in the finesse of the finish and technique
of the manufacture. Typical are spherical vessels with a convex bottom of very good
craftsmanship and firing . Their surface was glossed, was sometimes painted and
completely covered with a geometrical ornament, always in the top part of
the vessel. Variety of forms and a character of the finish of the Karasuk type
vessels obviously shows extraordinary technical skills of the
masters, probably craft experts. The craftsmanship of the bronze also bares a character of
artisanship, shown by a multitude of
forms, and by a variety of their function and manufacturing technique. A special place
have various forms of the knifes (38). The art of the bronze works also
shows in the figurines of the animals,
frequently decorating knife handles (39).
An extremely important step in the development of the
Karasuk's economy was the use of cattle not only for meat production, but also for
milk. Sheep became a main supplier of meat (40). Burials contain only its bones, while
the dairy cattle probably was saved and not slaughtered for the burial of
a relative. The ram, whose cultivation became almost a main form of
economic activity, simultaneously becomes a cult animal documented
by finds of its images carved in stone, frequently bound with image of the
sun (41).
The image of the clan pra-mother also continues, this image (complete
or a bust) is also observed on stone monuments (42). From the Minusinsk steppes come vessels for milking cattle, made in
a
form of an animal udder (43). All accessories of dairy farming
were connected with women.
Abundance of meat and dairy
produce, development of the economy as
a whole, positively affected the growth of the population and its density.
It is evidenced by numerous and compact clan cemeteries of the Karasuks,
within which the archeologists can precisely define separate individual
structures corresponding to the family units. The growth of the role of separate
patriarchal family and its property is connected with the appearance of the
tamgas,
i.e. the property marks (44) (A.N.Bernshtam, citing
M.Gryaznov, testifies about appearance of tamgas in the Karasuk culture dated 1,000 BC - 500 BC - Translator's Note).
The Karasuk culture covers the area of the Minusinsk steppes. In the central Kazakhstan (aul Dyndybay
in the Karaganda area) (45) was investigated one Karasuk burial, and that one
had specifically local features. The closest to the Minusinsk's Karasuk are similar
monuments in the upper course of Ob and Tomsk with strongly pronounced
local differences, leading archeologists to classify these monuments as
distinct variations (Tomsk and Upper Ob) of the Karasuk culture (46).
This
separation of the Karasuk stage from the territory occupied previously by the Andronov culture
resulted from a shift of the centre of gravity of cultural connections to the east.
The Karasuk type objects are found in the west not farther than Tomsk, and in the
east and the
south are found in the Tuva republic (47), in the basin of r. Selenga (48) and in China (49).
In particular, the Karasuk knee knife originated the
knife
coins of China (50) (A.N.Bernshtam erroneously
confused cause and effect, taking credit away from the Karasuk steppe people - Translator's Note).
We do not have materials to explain the reasons for disintegration of the Andronov union and
the eastern
"orientation" of the Karasuk. It is difficult
to uncover the reasons in the materials of this preliterate
period. Doubtlessly, however, that the connections between Southern Siberia
and Central Asia that started
to be clearly traced in the 3rd century BC did not arise accidentally, and they were preceded
by a period of
the first acquaintance (perhaps by a way of exchange) still in the 1,000 years
before our era. The split of the
Andronov tribal union marked by the Karasuk stage is linked with the formation of the
Scythian culture west from the Minusinsk territory, and a Hunnish culture to the
east couple of
centuries later. To a certain
extent the territory of the Minusinsk area, by virtue of its position and development of
its culture and economy, was
at some time a neutral strip, when there was developing the so-called Minusinsk Kurgan, or
in
other terminology, Tagar culture
(Thus, the roots of all three, the Scythian, and Eastern Hun,
and Tochar cultures
are defined by A.N.Bernshtam both geographically and historically, as branching
off of the Karasuk people from the area west of Yenisey, in the period from the
1,000 BC to 500 BC, into Scythian, and Hun, and Tochar subgroups.
The antique Huns of the Eastern Europe must have belonged to the Scythian branch. The
Tocharian culture is defined as a parental culture of both the Scytho-Sakian and
Eastern Hunnic peoples - Translator's Note).
It is telling that while in
the Altai and Jeti-Su the iron was already firmly established as a commonplace,
the bronze still dominates in the Minusinsk
territory. The Minusinians were experiencing an influence of the western Scythian culture, and only with their inclusion in the system of the Great Hunnish State
they occupy again, together with the Huns, a leading position in the historical
process of that area. But before addressing that development comes a brief characteristic
of the Minusinsk Kurgan culture.
