Early Medieval Child Burial with a Composite Belt from the Gorny-10 Necropolis (Northern Altai)

This article presents the evidence from the excavation of grave 22 at the Gorny-10 necropolis. This site, located in Krasnogorsk District of the Altai Krai, was investigated in 2000–2003 and can now be considered a basic complex for studying various aspects of the history of the population living in the Southwestern Siberia in the Initial Middle Ages, including specific features of their ritual practices. The published object is a child burial with the accompanying inventory which included a distinctive composite belt and some elements of the outfit. The analysis of the artifacts provided grounds for dating the construction of grave 22 to the second half of the 6th–first half of the 7th centuries AD. The most significant find was bronze belt tip with cast convex body of spoon-like shape and studs for attaching to the leather base. Taking into account a number of the dated parallels and specific aspects of distribution of such objects, this find can be considered a relatively reliable chronological indicator of complexes belonging to the time of the First Turkic Khaganate. This conclusion is supported by radiocarbon dating of grave 22. Some observations on social interpretation of this burial object are presented. The composite belt is an important indicator of a relatively high “ascribed” status of the child buried in grave 22 as a representative of a specific social group of the population which left the Gorny-10 necropolis

Bronze · Bronze Age · Excavation · Grave goods · Population · Radiocarbon dating · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Collembola Taxonomy and Ecology Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks