Женщина и ритуал в культуре ранних кочевников: по материалам кургана Тасарык в Казахстане
Woman and Rituals in the Early Nomadic Culture: with Reference to Finds from the Tasaryk Kurgan in Kazakhstan

Summary/Abstract: Basing on comprehensive analysis of finds from the Tasaryk kurgan (5th–4th centuries BC), the authors present their ideas on the status of the buried woman. The archaeobotanical analysis of the plant remains accompanying the buried woman allowed producing a list of identifiable plants and their use in medicine and everyday life. In the attempt to define preliminarily the cultural and chronological features of the site, the authors point to the combination of traditions explicit in the Tasaryk kurgan as a result of mixed rituals and universalization of the implements. The mixed character of the site, located in the contact zone, is manifested through pottery types, earrings, as well as elements of headdress, all of which show common patterns of decoration and arrangements characteristic to early nomads of Jetysu, Tarbagatai, and Sayan-Altai. It is assumed that the woman buried in the Tasaryk kurgan was familiar with mysteries of birth and death, that she was guarding the sacred hearth; being capable of penetrating the adjacent mythical realms, she had a ritual status of a “transcendence marker”, that is reflected in the nature of the burial and the accompanying assemblage. Her headdress, as well as the accompanying set of items and plant remains suggest that she was keeper of the hearth, healer, priestess and sorcerer.

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