This article presents the zooarchaeological evidence from two horse burials at the royal cemetery of el-Kurru, Sudan. The skeletons, whose survival after excavation was unknown, were recently ...rediscovered in storage in the Sudan National Museum. The article outlines the archaeological context of these specimens, their importance for research on equids in the ancient Nile valley and the first results of their zooarchaeological analysis.
U zaštitnim istraživanja nalazišta Šarengrad – Klopare otkriveno je kosturno groblje na redove koje se, na osnovi pronađenih nalaza, može datirati u kasnoavarski period. Groblje je smješteno na ...strmoj padini visoke lesne grede koja se od Dunava spušta prema surduku Klopare. Na tom je položaju 2006. godine pri eksploataciji zemlje za uređenje obale Dunava uništen nepoznati broj grobova iz kojih su sačuvane samo dvije keramičke posude. Pokojnici su položeni u iznimno duboko ukopane grobne rake te su uz njih pronađeni predmeti nošnje i nakita te za svakodnevnu uporabu, dok popudbini pripadaju nalazi keramičkih posuda i nalazi životinjskih kostiju. Veličinom grobnih raka izdvajaju se tri ukopa konjanika s konjima te njihovom opremom. Na osnovi pronađenih nalaza, istraženi dio groblja Šarengrad – Klopare može se datirati u 8. stoljeće te predstavlja prvo arheološki istraženo kasnovarodobno groblje na prostoru Hrvatskoga Podunavlja, odnosno radi se o jednom od najistaknutijih avarodobnih nalazišta u južnoj Panoniji.
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•First genetic mother-daughter burial evidence in Roman Austria.•Integrated scientific and archaeological approach.•Revised historical interpretations through modern techniques.•Roman ...burial unveils familial and emotional relationships.•Interdisciplinary work advances Roman archaeological findings.
A human double burial combined with a horse interment, discovered in 2004 in the eastern cemetery of the Roman town of Ovilava (today Wels/AUT), has been the subject of a comprehensive interdisciplinary study. This burial was remarkable for two reasons: firstly, the arrangement of the two individuals, with individual 1 having an arm around individual 2, and secondly, the presence of equine skeletal remains in the same burial pit directly below the human remains. Based on this finding, an initial assessment suggested a mixed-sex pair buried together with a horse. The horse burial was interpreted as an indicator of an early medieval date. The position of the two human skeletons suggested that a male and female individual had been buried together. A thorough examination of both the human and horse skeletons disproved these initial interpretations. Radiocarbon dating of the human and horse skeletons dated them to the Roman period. In addition, ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of the human remains corrected the earlier sex assumption, revealing that the individuals were two biological females who were first-degree relatives. The age difference of 15 to 25 years between the two suggests a probable mother-daughter relationship. Thus, the application of scientific methods confirmed a rare, combined human-horse burial from Roman antiquity and established the first genetically documented mother-daughter burial from this period in present-day Austria.
The presented article is dedicated to such an element of funeral rites of various Turkic cultures as the accompanying burial of a horse and the use of horses in the funeral rites of nomadic and ...settled peoples of Central Asia. According to the author’s hypothesis, based on source study and own research, the presence of a horse in funeral rites is one of the ethnocultural markers uniting Turkic cultures, starting from the ancient Turkic time and ending in the late Middle Ages. Thus, the purpose of the article is to investigate the transformation of the Turkic funeral rite in the Middle Ages in order to substantiate the ritual of horse burial as a common cultural marker of the Turkic peoples. The research results propose a comprehensive periodisation of this phenomenon, critically analysing the unique attributes of each period. The materials under study span across several cultures from the Middle Ages to the New Age. Each period is scrutinized to elucidate its features and peculiarities that shaped its evolution and exerted influence on the subsequent progression of traditions. The research underscores the key determinants driving the trajectory of these traditions within specific historical epochs for each of the investigated peoples.
Permafrost layers under the stone kurgans at Berel Valley located at the southwestern slopes of Altai Mountains, was initially discovered by Wilhelm Radloff in 1865. It had been revealed that there ...was a deep pit with the burial chambers made of timbers at the center of a kurgan with permafrost layers. Burial chambers, where wooden sarcophagus carved from a single piece of log were placed, had also contained human remains and many horse burials. However, the human and horse burials could not be preserved due to the insufficient technological and methodological conditions in excavation and protection of the findings at that time. Berel Kurgans had not extensively excavated and studied for nearly 150 years until Prof. Zainolla Samashev leading East Kazakhstan Archeological Expedition, initiated large-scale excavations at Berel in 1998. As a result, permafrost layers were detected in the 10th and 11th kurgans. Organic artifacts along with the remains of human beings and horses that cannot be preserved in ordinary kurgans reached nowadays and provided an opportunity to examine them. The purpose of the current research is to examine the kurgans of the Scythian, Hsiung-nu, Xianbei and Turkic khaganate periods in the Berel within the context of burial rites and customs. Some similarities in burial rites determined as a result of anthropological evaluations presents evidence of cultural continuity from the Scythian to the Turkic khaganate periods.
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