TASMOLA CULTURE: THE FIRST RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF THE COMPOSITION OF PAINTS ON THE OBJECTS FROM BARROWS

Abstract

In a modern study of the issues of Tasmola culture the settlement materials made it possible to begin the developing aspects of population economic activity. The work with materials from the settlements showed the need for a new approach concerning the barrow finds. Among them the grave goods with remains of paint have survived. In the previous period the use of paints among the Tasmola population did not become the subject of special studies. In 2013—2015 three burials were excavated on the territory of the Karaganda region: barrows 3 and 7 in the Baike 2 burial ground and barrow 4 in the Kiziltu 3 burial ground. All burials have been looted in antiquity. A bone hairpin was found in barrow 3 of the Baike 2 burial ground, a bone case was found in barrow 7, and a small stone altar was preserved in barrow 4 of the Kiziltu 4 burial ground. There are red paint residues on the side ledge and the top of the hairpin. Figures of 16 animals are carved on the surface of the bone case. The composition is made in the Saka animal style and painted with red and green paint. The oval stone altar has four legs. On the back side of this object, between the legs, remains of yellow-red paint have survived. According to the results of chemical (elemental) analysis these paints were obtained from mercury sulfide or cinnabar as well as ocher and malachite. The barrows belong to the early Saka period and date back to the 7th—6th centuries BC. The discovered burial mounds are made of earth and stone. The diameters of the mounds are 8.5—12.5 m, the height is 0.35—0.4 m. These mounds are undoubtedly the burial places of the ordinary population and are not related to aristocrats. The authors believe that these are the female burials. All these minerals were found in the depths of Kazakhstan and there is reason to believe that these paints were made locally. Paints from ocher, cinnabar and malachite have been known in different parts of the world since ancient times. The available materials show that starting from the early Saka period these paints were widespread among the population of Kazakhstan and the Sayan-Altai.