essay
The material culture of the Saka and historical reconstruction
nomads of the eurasian steppes in the early iron age • Berkeley, Calif. • Published In 1995 • Pages: 199-239
By: IAblonskii, L. T. (Leonid Teodorovich).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Yablonsky describes the material culture of the Saka. As with most of the Early Nomads, what is known about the Saka comes from excavations of their kurgans or cemeteries. Described are grave construction and some funerary rites, and mortuary artifacts such as weapons, tools, tack for horses (horse trappings), food offerings found in the graves, mirrors, portable altars, spoons, bronze cauldrons, pottery, ornaments, and art syles. Yablonsky also briefly touches upon differences in male and female graves and their possible status differences and on the physical appearance of the Saka (such as, '… some skulls of the Saka Period display Mongoloid admixture, particularly prominent among the female skulls.' [page 214]).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cultural participation
- Metallurgy
- Weapons
- General tools
- Animal transport
- Visual arts
- Burial practices and funerals
- Ethnozoology
- Chronologies and culture sequences
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Early Nomad
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry ; 2000
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 2800 BP-2200 BP (8th through 3rd centuries B.C.)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Saka; China, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turmenistan, and Uzbekistan
- NotesAdditional notes
- Leonid T. Yablonsky
- For bibliographical references see source number 18: Anonymous
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 95060805
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Asia, Central--Antiquities