Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia-East Kazakhstan)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5397457 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jiri Chlachula (0000-0002-7887-2496, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 2215-2236 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12520-018-0664-0 |
| OpenAlex | W2811496212 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 48 |
The Altai Mountains are well-known for their unique archaeological records, with rich, chronologically sequenced Palaeolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze Age (late fourth-early first millennium BC) sites and, in particular, the Iron Age Scytho-Siberian and early historical monuments represented by burial sites, ritual structures, and rock-art. The Altai prehistoric archaeological localities are distributed across a broad range of topographic and ecological settings, encompassing altitudinal zones from 800 m asl in the lower reaches of glacial river valleys up to 2500/3000 m asl on the high mountain plateaus. The partial spatial overlap of these (often multi-component) geoarchaeological loci over time suggests that similar adaptive strategies were employed by countless generations of hunter and later nomadic communities-their actions constrained by the locally specific forms of (palaeo-)relief and the associated ecosystems. The dynamics of the initial occupation of the boreal and alpine Altai landscapes and subsequent processes of (re-)colonisation during the Final Pleistocene-Holocene transition are directly linked to transformations in the regional hydrological systems after the LGM. The principal settings for early pastoral settlements were the xerothermic grasslands that formed on the flat glacio-lacustrine terraces which rise above the modern fluvial floodplains-the remains of ice-dammed wastage lake basins drained at the end of the Pleistocene (15,000-13,000 year BP). Marked climatic changes, evidenced by regional variations in temperature and humidity across the territory, are well attested in the geological, biotic and archaeological records. The initial Sub-Boreal aridification correlated with the beginnings of the Altai Bronze Age traditions continued until the early Iron Age-causing an expansion of parkland-steppe in the main valleys and a forest retreat in the foothills. Mountain steppes constituted the most essential food-procurement habitat for the Holocene prehistoric and historical settlements of Southern Altai. The current degradation of insular alpine permafrost poses an imminent threat to preservation of the region's most precious archaeological monuments-the frozen burial mounds of the Pazyryk culture (sixth-third century BC) belonging to the UNESCO World cultural heritage
Archaeology · Arid · Aridification · Boreal · Context (archaeology · Fluvial · Geoarchaeology · Geography · Glacial period · Holocene · Physical geography · Pleistocene · Prehistory · Structural basin · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Paleontology
Deer or Horses with Antlers? Wooden Figures Adorning Herders in the Altai
A Distinct Form of Socio-Political and Economic Organization in the Pazyryk Culture
Studying the Development Potential of Tourism Industries in the South Altai by Hydrological, Climatic, Geomorphological Way and Visualization Using Gis
Decadal high-resolution multi-proxy analysis to reconstruct natural and human-induced environmental changes over the last 1350 cal. yr BP in the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, western Mongolia
Mapping human mobility and analyzing spatial memory
Frozen tombs of Siberia
The Origin of the Indo-Iranians
Correlation and synchronisation of Lateglacial continental sequences in northern central Europe based on annually laminated lacustrine sediments
The Northern Frontier in Pre–Imperial China
Altai
Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data
Glacier changes in the Siberian Altai Mountains, Ob river basin, (1952–2006) estimated with high resolution imagery
Pleistocene climate change, natural environments and palaeolithic occupation of the Altai area, west-central Siberia
Glacier-dammed lakes and geological work of glacial superfloods in the Late Pleistocene, Southern Siberia, Altai Mountains
Pleistocene climate change, natural environments and Palaeolithic occupation of East Kazakhstan
Vanishing iron-smelting furnaces of the South Eastern Altai, Russia – Evidences for highly developed metallurgical production of ancient nomads
Glacier dynamics, palaeohydrological changes and seismicity in southeastern Altai (Russia) and their influence on human occupation during the last 3000 years
Climate and environmental dynamics of the mid- to late Holocene settlement in the Tobol–Ishim forest-steppe region, West Siberia
The neolithic and early bronze age of the Lake Baikal Region
Archaeological Sites as Markers of Hydrosystem Transformation in the Kurai and Chuya Basins, Southeastern Altai, in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Summary of Findings and Paleogeographic Reconstructions
The spread of agriculture into northern Central Asia
Climatic change in the Russian Altai, southern Siberia, based on palynological and geomorphological results, with implications for climatic teleconnections and human history since the middle Holocene
An Archaeological Survey of the Kalanegir Valley (Kosh-Agach Region, Altai Republic)
Climate change and the expansion of the Scythian culture after 850 BC
Current State of the Altai Glaciers (Russia) and Trends Over the Period of Instrumental Observations 1952–2008
Chronology and environments of the Pleistocene peopling of North Asia
Empires of the Silk Road
Floating Larch Tree-Ring Chronologies from Archaeological Timbers in the Russian Altai Between about 800 BC and AD 800
International conference “Frozen tombs in the Altai mountains
A Genetic Analysis of Human Remains from the Bronze Age (2nd Millennium BC) Cemetery Bertek-56 in the Altai Mountains
Ancient agriculture in Western Siberia
An Archaeological Landscape in the Dzhazator Valley (Altai Mountains)
Absolute and relative chronology and cultural attribution of neolithic sites in the Kulunda steppe of the Altai
Human occupation of South Eastern Altai highlands (Russia) in the context of environmental changes
The emergence of the Scythians
The Neolithization of Siberia and the Russian Far East
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,83 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |