The Altai Mountain Interactive Zone From Bronze Age To Early Iron Age

The concept of the Altai Mountain interactive zone was proposed by Shui Tao.In September 2013,Shui Tao attended the International Conference"Research Methods of Key Issues of Eurasian Archaeology"at the Altai State University in Russia,and presented the conference paper "The Formation of the Bronze Age Altai Mountains Interactive zone",which was later translated into Chinese publication.Shui Tao proposed this concept mainly according to the recent uncovered materials of Altay in Xinjiang and the past research of the Russian Altai region.However,he did not systematically explain the detailed characteristics of this cultural zone because of the restricted length of the article.Following the view of "Altai Mountains Interactive Zone",this paper systematically sorts out the archaeological materials of Altai Mountains and the surrounding regions,which includes parts of Russia,Kazakhstan and Mongolia.Based on this work,the paper analyzes the newly uncovered materials from the Altay region of Xinjiang which leads to the establishment of a complete cultural sequence in the Altay region of Xinjiang.This paper chronologically divides the archaeological culture of the Altai Mountains from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age into six successive periods.The early four periods are the Bronze Age,dating from the late fourth millennium BC to the early first millennium BC,while the latter two periods belong to the early Iron Age,which was roughly from the early first millennium BC to the second century BC.This paper conducts detailed analysis of the archaeological culture of each region in each period,comparing the interactions among the various regions,and trying to put the Altai region into a larger space-time framework of the Eurasian Steppe to discuss its cultural evolution and interaction.This research demonstrates that there is no continuous cultural tradition in the Altai Mountains.Instead,the formation and development of Altai Mountain Interactive Zone is under the influence of the influx of immigrants.The formation of the first and second period of the Bronze Age is benefited from the eastward and localization of the Afanasievo culture.In the third period,there is no unified interactive zone in the Altai Mountains as a result of the confrontation between the Andronovo culture in the west and the Mengheer Khan culture in the Mongolian part of the Altai Mountains.The fourth phase of the interaction of cultures in the Altai Mountains is mainly derived from the westward spread of the factors of Karasuk culture.The fifth period enters the early Iron Age,during which the interactive movements are closely related to the frequent conflicts and communications among various cultures from the Minusinsk Basin to the central mountainous part of Kazakhstan.The Pazyryk culture developing in the sixth period is a regional complexity that formed after the nomadic stage.This culture manipulates the entire Altai Mountains,and the reason for this situation is probably the expansion of Achaemenid Empire.There are also some innovations in research methods and conclusions in this study.In the research method,Russian written materials are widely used,which is rarely cited in the research of Chinese scholars in the past.Meanwhile,this paper breaks through the Altai mountains archaeological research model based on administrative regions,and replaces with multinational archaeological materials to study the Altai mountains as a consolidated geographic unit.The first innovation in conclusion is the establishment of the cultural sequence in the Altay region of Xinjiang.This paper points out that there is a cultural gap in the period from 1800 BC to 1500(1400)BC in Xinjiang,which should be filled by the Andronovo culture.Then after 1400(1300)BC,Xinjiang is occupied by the Beyzen-Dandengbeyev culture in the late Bronze Age,rather than the Karasuk culture which is widely recognized by previous scholars.The second innovative view is the attribution of the Chemurchek culture in Xinjiang.Based on the new materials,this paper corrects the stereotype about Chemurchek culture,pointing out that this culture is a continuation of the Afanasievo culture after combining the local factors from the culture of Stone Age.In the course of development Chemurchek culture is closely interacted with the neighbouring Karakari culture,Yalunino culture and Okunev culture,which can be clearly reflected in the archaeological materials.In addition,this paper attempts to explain the influx of foreign cultural factors by combining the study of paleoenvironment and the study of the Eurasian Metallurgical Province.Simultaneously,the research is expanded from the Altay Mountains to its east and west,trying to find a wider range of cultural interactions.Despite the efforts,these issues cannot be elaborated due to the limitation of paper length and lack of comprehensive knowledge mastery.These are the shortcomings of this paper,while they can also provide an important guidance for the revision and supplement of the archaeological research in Altai Mountains in the future.