Burial of a Hunnic Period Noblewoman at Karakabak, Mangystau, Kazakhstan
Burial of a Hunnic Period Noblewoman at Karakabak, Mangystau, Kazakhstan
doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.4.057-068
A.E. Astafyev1 and E.S. Bogdanov2 1Mangystau State Historical and Cultural Reserve, 3rd Microdistrict 66, Aktau, 130001, Republic of Kazakhstan 2Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
This study continues a series of publications describing the findings of excavations at the Karakabak cemetery on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, dating to the Hunnic period. Burial 11 was that of a girl dressed in an outfit imitating a royal vestment. The reconstructed headdress consisted of a cape decorated with round, gold plaques and a diadem-type headband of red cloth with mask-shaped plaques. The central forehead plaque is a replica of Hellenistic gorgoneia. Similar masks were found in the Volga basin and the Northern Black Sea region. Temporal mask-plaques, carved of wood and covered with gold foil, have no parallels but follow the archaic Scythian tradition. Belt and shoe buckles were not attached to belts and were not used in everyday life. In terms of style and technique, the gold casing with an embossed geometric design on a wooden base belongs to a series of artifacts of the so-called Shipovo horizon. The buckle frames are shaped as stylized birds of prey with spread wings. The forehead plaque and details of the shoe straps are paralleled by those from Altynkazgan. The Karakabak artifacts are unique for the Aral-Caspian region, providing yet another indication of close cultural ties with the Hunnic world. All details of the outfit were likely manufactured at a nearby workshop (the Karakabak settlement) in the second half of the 5th or first half of the 6th century for the burial of a nomadic noblewoman.
