Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:59:31.895Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Adunqiaolu: new evidence for the Andronovo in Xinjiang, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

Peter W. Jia
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and China Studies Centre, Old Teachers College, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Alison Betts*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and China Studies Centre, Old Teachers College, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Dexin Cong
Affiliation:
Archaeological Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Science, 27 Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing 100010, China
Xiaobing Jia
Affiliation:
Archaeological Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Science, 27 Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing 100010, China
Paula Doumani Dupuy
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

Bronze Age social and cultural interconnections across the Eurasian steppe are the subject of much current debate. A particularly significant place is occupied by the Andronovo Culture or family of cultures. Important new data document the most easterly extension of Eurasian Bronze Age sites of Andronovo affinity into western China. Findings from the site of Adunqiaolu in Xinjiang and a new series of radiocarbon dates challenge existing models of eastward cultural dispersion, and demonstrate the need to reconsider the older chronologies and migration theories. The site is well preserved and offers robust potential for deeper study of the Andronovo culture complex, particularly in the eastern mountain regions.

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allentoft, M., Sikora, M., Sjögren, K.-G., Rasmussen, S., Rasmussen, M., Stenderup, J., Damgaard, P., Schroeder, H., Ahlström, T., Vinner, L., Malaspinas, A.-S., Margaryan, A., Higham, T., Chivall, D., Lynnerup, N., Harvig, L., Baron, J., Della Casa, P., Dabrowski, P., Duffy, P., Ebel, A., Epimakhov, A., Frei, K., Furmanek, M., Gralak, T., Gromov, A., Gronkeiwicz, S., Grupe, G., Hajdu, T., Jarysz, R., Khartanovich, V., Khokhlov, A., Kiss, V., Kolar, J., Kriiska, A., Lasak, I., Longhi, C., McGlynn, G., Merkevicius, A., Merkyte, I., Metspalu, M., Mkrtchyan, R., Moiseyev, V., Paja, L., Palfi, G., Pokutta, D., Pospieszny, T., Douglas Price, T., Saag, L., Sablin, M., Shishlina, N., Smrčka, V., Soenov, V., Szeverényi, V., Tóth, G., Trifanova, S., Varul, L., Vicze, M., Yepiskoposyan, L., Zhitenev, V., Orlando, L., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Brunak, S., Nielsen, R., Kristiansen, K. & Willerslev, E.. 2015. Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia. Nature 522: 167–72. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14507 Google Scholar
Archaeological Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bortala Museum and Wenquan Bureau of Relics. 2013. Adunqiaolu settlement site and cemetery in Wenquan County, Xinjiang, China. Kaogu 2013 (7): 2430.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865 Google Scholar
Chernikov, S. 1960. Vostochnyy Kazakhstan v Epokhu Bronzy. Moskva: Nauk.Google Scholar
Chernykh, E. 2009. Formation of the Eurasian steppe belt cultures, in B. Hanks & K. Linduff (ed.) Social complexity in prehistoric Eurasia: 115–45. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chernykh, E., Avilova, L. & Orlovskaya, L.. 2000. Metallurgical provinces and radiocarbon chronology. Moscow: Nauk.Google Scholar
Dangyu . 2012. The earrings found in northern China. Unpublished MA dissertation, Inner Mongolian University.Google Scholar
Doumani, P. 2014. Bronze Age potters in regional context: long-term development of ceramic technology in the eastern Eurasian steppe zone. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Washington University.Google Scholar
Doumani, P., Frachetti, M., Beardmore, R., Schmaus, T., Spengler, R. & Mar'yashev, A.. 2015. Burial ritual, agriculture, and craft production among Bronze Age pastoralists at Tasbas (Kazakhstan). Archaeological Research in Asia 1–2, January–April 2015: 1732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2015.01.001 Google Scholar
Epimakhov, A. & Krause, R.. 2013. Relative and absolute chronology of the settlement Kamennyi Ambar, in Krause, R. & Koryakova, L. (ed.) Multidisciplinary investigations of the Bronze Age settlements in the southern Trans-Urals (Russia): 129–43. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt.Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. 2008. Pastoralist landscapes. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. 2011. Migration concepts in central Eurasian archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology 40: 195212. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145939 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frachetti, M. 2012. Multiregional emergence of mobile pastoralism and nonuniform institutional complexity across Eurasia. Current Anthropology 53: 238. https://doi.org/10.1086/663692 Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. 2013. Bronze Age pastoralism and differentiated landscapes along the inner Asian mountain corridor, in Abraham, S., Gullapalli, P., Raczek, T. & Rizvi, U. (ed.) Connections and complexity: 279–98. Walnut Creek (CA): Left Coast.Google Scholar
Frachetti, M. & Mar'yashev, A.. 2007. Long-term occupation and seasonal settlement of east Eurasian pastoralists at Begash, Kazakhstan. Journal of Field Archaeology 32: 221–42. https://doi.org/10.1179/009346907791071520 Google Scholar
Gryaznov, M. 1953. Zemlyanki bronzovogo veka bliz khutora Lyapicheva na Donu. Moskva: Kratkie soobshcheniya Instituta istorii material'noy kul'tury.Google Scholar
Hanks, B., Epimakhov, A. & Renfrew, C.. 2007. Towards a refined chronology for the Bronze Age of the southern Urals, Russia. Antiquity 81: 353–67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00095235 Google Scholar
Jia, P., Betts, A. & Wu, X.. 2009. Prehistoric archaeology in the Zhunge'er Basin, Xinjiang, China. Journal of Eurasian Prehistory 6: 167–98.Google Scholar
Kiryushin, Y. & Solodovnikov, K.. 2011. The origins of the Andronovo (Fedorovka) population of southwestern Siberia. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 38: 122–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeae.2011.02.011 Google Scholar
Koryakova, L. & Epimakhov, A.. 2007. The Urals and western Siberia in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618451 Google Scholar
Kuz'mina, E. 1986. Drevneishie skotovody ot Ural do Tian’-Shania. Frunze: Ilim.Google Scholar
Kuz'mina, E. 1994. Otkuda prishli indoarii? Material'naia kul'tura plemen andronovskoi obshchnosti i proiskhozhdenie indoirantsev. Moskva: MGP ‘Kalina’.Google Scholar
Kuz'mina, E. 2004. Historical perspectives on the Andronovo and early metal use in Eastern Asia, in Linduff, K. (ed.) Metallurgy in ancient eastern Eurasia from the Urals to the Yellow River: 3784. New York: Lewiston.Google Scholar
Kuz'mina, E. 2007. The origins of the Indo-Iranians. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuz'mina, E. 2008. The prehistory of the Silk Road. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Maksimenkov, G. 1978. Andronovskaya Kul'tura na Enisee. Leningrad: Academy of Science SSSR.Google Scholar
Margulan, A. 1998. Begazy-Dandybaevskaya kultura tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana. Almaty: Nauki.Google Scholar
Molodin, V., Mylynikova, L., Novikova, O., Durakov, I., Koveleva, L., Efrmova, N. & Soloviev, A.. 2011. Periodization of Bronze Age cultures in the Ob–Irtysh forest-steppe. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 39: 4056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeae.2011.11.003 Google Scholar
Molodin, V., Marchenko, Z., Kuzmin, Y., Grishin, A., Van Strydonck, M. & Orlova, L.. 2012a. C14 chronology of burial grounds of the Andronovo period (Middle Bronze Age) in Baraba forest steppe, western Siberia. Radiocarbon 54: 737–47. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200047391 Google Scholar
Molodin, V., Pilipenko, A., Romanaschenko, A., Zhuravlev, A., Trapezov, R., Chikisheva, T. & Pozdnyakov, D.. 2012b. Human migrations in the southern region of the West Siberian Plain during the Bronze Age, in Kaiser, E., Burger, J. & Schier, W. (ed.) Population dynamics in prehistory and early history: 93112. Berlin: Topoi.Google Scholar
Panyushkina, I., Mills, B., Usmanova, E. & Li, C.. 2008. Calendar age of Lisakovsky timbers attributed to Andronovo community of Bronze Age in Eurasia. Radiocarbon 50: 459–66. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200053558 Google Scholar
Panyushkina, I., Chang, C., Clemens, A. & Bykov, N.. 2010. First tree-ring chronology from Andronovo archaeological timbers of Bronze Age in Central Asia. Dendrochronologia 28: 1321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2008.10.001 Google Scholar
Potemkina, T. 1995a. Problemy Svyzzei i smeny kul'tur naseleniya Zaural'ya v Epokhu Bronzy (ranni i srednii Etapy). Russkaya Arkheologiya 1: 1427.Google Scholar
Potemkina, T. 1995b. Problemy Svyzzei i smeny kul'tur naseleniya Zaural'ya v Epokhu Bronzy (pozdnii i final'ny Etapy). Russkaya Arkheologiya 2: 1120.Google Scholar
Reimer, P., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J., Blackwell, P., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C., Cheng, H., Edwards, R., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P., Guilderson, T., Haflidason, H., Hajdas, I., Hatté, C., Heaton, T., Hoffman, D., Hogg, A., Hughen, K., Kaiser, K., Kromer, B., Manning, S., Niu, M., Reimer, R., Richards, D., Scott, E., Southon, J., Staff, R., Turney, C. & van der Plicht, J.. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogozhinskiy, A. 1999. Mogil'niki epokhi bronzy urochisha tamgaly, in Istoriya i Arkheologiya Semirech'ya: 742. Almaty: Nauki.Google Scholar
Ruan, Q. 2013. Studies on the discoveries of Andronovo affiliation found in Xinjiang, China. Western Archaeology 7: 125–54.Google Scholar
Sharma, A. 2009. The Bakkarwals of Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi: Niyogi.Google Scholar
Sitnikov, S. 1998. Poselenie Sovetskii Put’-1 i nekotorye voprocy proiskhozhdeniya i kyl'turno-istoricheskikh kontaktov sargarinsko-alekseevskogo naseleniya, in Kiryushina, F.Yu. & Kungurova, A.L. (ed.) Ancient settlements of the Altai: 125–44. Barnaul: Barnaul State University.Google Scholar
Tkacheva, N. & Tkachev, A.. 2008. The role of migration in the evolution of the Andronovo community. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 35: 8896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeae.2008.11.007 Google Scholar
Zubova, A. 2011. The dentition of the Alakul people, with reference to their origin. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 39: 143–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeae.2011.11.013 Google Scholar