Karasuk Culture
The Karasuk Culture is a significant archaeological culture that flourished during the Bronze and early Iron Ages, primarily in southern Siberia and Kazakhstan, with origins traced to the Karasuk River, a tributary of the Yenisey. It is associated with the movement of Indo-European peoples eastward, alongside related cultures such as Andronovo and Afanasievo. Notable burial practices included grave sites marked by stone slab facings, with corpses typically oriented south and accompanied by bowls of food, indicating a complex relationship with death and afterlife beliefs. The Karasuk people engaged in metallurgy, particularly in bronze, and were known for their advancements in tool-making, including copper tools and distinctive sword-length daggers. They practiced pastoralism, raising livestock such as goats, and also had some agricultural knowledge. Their pottery, often spherical-bottomed and high-necked, reflects connections to earlier cultures, while their ceramics display a rich artistic tradition. The Karasuk Culture also had interactions with neighboring regions, including China and the Caucasus, which influenced their development. However, during the period of 1000-800 B.C.E., competition for resources from both nomadic and settled societies limited population growth. The genetic links between the Karasuk and their successors, the Tagar culture, highlight the continuity and transformation of cultural practices in the region.
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Subject Terms
Karasuk Culture
Related civilizations: Kelteminar, Afanasievo, Andronovo.
Date: 1250-700 b.c.e.
Locale: South Siberia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan
Karasuk Culture
Karasuk (kah-rah-suhk) culture chronology spans the Bronze and early Iron Ages. Their obscure origins are traced to the Karasuk River, a tributary of the Yenisey, and the culture spread throughout southern Siberia and Kazakhstan. The Karasuk, Andronovo, and Afanasievo cultures together indicate the movement of Indo-Europeans eastward across Siberia to Xinjiang.
Their grave sites contained stone slab facings and fences, and corpses faced south, with bowls of food nearby. Cremation was practiced in some areas. Near the end of the first millennium, the Karasuk of Siberia engaged in metallurgy, working in bronze. They also practiced raising stock , especially goats, and had some knowledge of farming. Their clay pottery included spheric-bottomed and high-necked vessels, and their ceramics in general reveal ties to the earlier Andronovo culture. They had more copper tools, rings, and pendants than the Andronovo, and by the ninth century b.c.e., they had tools of bronze. Sword-length daggers with hollow handles and animal heads were typical weapons found in these grave sites.
The Karasuk were linked with China, with Transbaikal and Cisbaikal regions to the east, and with the Caucasus to the west. During the period 1000-800 b.c.e., population growth was hampered by competition for pasture lands from the steppe nomads and for irrigation networks by the settled societies to the south. Their Tagar successors in the Minusinsk Basin were genetically linked to the Karasuk, as the latter were to the Andronovo.
Bibliography
Dani, A. H., and V. M. Masson, eds. The Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 b.c. In Vol. 1 of History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Paris: UNESCO, 1992.
Davis-Kimball, Jeannine, Vladimir A. Bashilov, and Leonid T. Yablonsky. Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age. Berkeley, Calif.: Zinat Press, 1995.