Early Turkic Enclosure from the South-Eastern Altai

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of the materials obtained during excavations of the early Turkic enclosure at the Chichke-I site. Th is multi-temporal archaeological complex, located 13 km southwest of the Kurai village of the Kosh-Agach district of the Altai Republic, studied in 1982–1983 by the Ongudai detachment of the Altai archaeological expedition of Altai State University. Enclosure 159, located in the northeastern part of the site, was one of the studied objects. During the excavations it was found out that the basis of this structure is a quadrangular enclosure, the sides of which consisted of 18 vertically installed slabs. In the central part of the object, at a depth of 0.35 m from the surface, an iron bit, a stirrup, a knife with the remains of a wooden handle, and an animal bone were found. An analysis of the fi xed structures and a few accompanying inventory made it possible to date the enclosure to the end of the 5th — 6th centuries AD, with a possible narrowing of the indicated chronology to the framework of the fi rst half of the 6th century AD. Th e materials obtained during the excavations of this object expand the range of sites of the initial stage in the history of the Turks of Central Asia, and also supplement the still rather fragmentary information about the features of the ritual practice and material culture of the nomads of the indicated period.