Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-qks25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-07T01:36:15.236Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Chronology of the Schurovo Burial Mound Cremation Complex (Viking Times, Middle Oka River, Russia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

A S Syrovatko ,
N E Zaretskaya ,
A A Troshina  and
A V Panin
A S Syrovatko*
Affiliation:
Kolomna Archaeological Service, Kolomna, Russia
N E Zaretskaya
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
A A Troshina
Affiliation:
Kolomna Archaeological Service, Kolomna, Russia
A V Panin
Affiliation:
Faculty of Geography, Moscow University, Russia
*
Corresponding author. Email: sasha.syr@rambler.ru
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Excavation of the Schurovo archaeological site, located on a ∼12-m river terrace, has revealed 3 occupation periods: 1) as a dwelling site of the Migration period (4th–5th centuries AD); 2) as local burial mounds (termed “houses of the dead” in Russian); 3) and as a ground burial period, which left a cremation layer directly on the ground and is now covered by the Little Ice Age overbank alluvium. The latter 2 periods contain few artifacts, which makes radiocarbon dating more appropriate for establishing their chronology. The burial mounds were dated to the mid-6th to mid-7th centuries AD. The accumulation of colluvium in mound ditches points to a rather long (at least a century) pause between the construction of burial mounds and the appearance of ground burials. Dates from the cremation layer (ground burials) span a wide range from the 8th to 13th centuries AD. As the younger dates do not correspond to regional historical and archaeological contexts, we believe them to be “rejuvenated” due to their long exposure before burial to the young alluvium. The ground burials are dated to the mid-8th to mid-10th centuries AD, the so-called “dark ages” in the Moscow region characterized by very few archaeological data. An isolated ancient branch of the Oka River near the archaeological site was radiocarbon dated and found to be active until the mid-10th to later-12th centuries AD, meaning that it was likely used as a local harbor on the transit river route throughout the site's occupation.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 771 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krenke, NA. 2011. Dyakovo hillfort: the culture of the population of the River Moskva Basin in the 1st millennium BC–1st millennium AD. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology RAS. 546 p. In Russian.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, TJ, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111–50.Google Scholar
Syrovatko, AS. 2009a. South-east Moscow region during the Iron Age: studying local versions of the Dyakovo culture. Moscow: CheBuk. 352 p. In Russian.Google Scholar
Syrovatko, AS. 2009b. Absolute dating of the Iron Age ceramics from the Middle Oka River region. In: Kiriushin, JuF, Tishkin, AA, editors. Rol' estestvennonauchnikh metodov v archeologicheskikh issledovaniyakh. Barnaul: Altai State University Publishers. p 160–1.Google Scholar
Syrovatko, AS, Todorova, AA. 2009. Glass beads from the Schurovo burial ground (preliminary study). Vestnik KGPI 8(2):7–11. In Russian.Google Scholar
Syrovatko, AS, Troshina, A. 2010. Composition of glass beads from the Schurovo burial ground. Vestnik MGOSGI 10(2):9–16. In Russian.Google Scholar
Vybornov, A, Kovaliuch, NN, Skripkin, VV. 2008. On radiocarbon chronology of the Neolithic Age in the middle Volga region, western part. Rossiyskaya Archeologiya 2008(4):64–7. In Russian.Google Scholar
Zaretskaya, NE, Ponomareva, VV, Sulerzhitsky, LD, Zhilin, MG. 2001. Radiocarbon studies of peat bogs: an investigation of South Kamchatka volcanoes and Upper Volga archaeological sites. Radiocarbon 43(2):535–43.Google Scholar
Zaretskaya, NE, Ponomareva, VV, Sulerzhitsky, LD. 2007. Radiocarbon dating of large Holocene volcanic events within South Kamchatka (Russian Far East). Radiocarbon 49(2):1065–78.Google Scholar