Metal clasps (kostyl’ki) from the Saka burial sites in the upper reaches of the Ili River (Xinjiang)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2026.2.297.309Keywords:
archaeology, early Iron Age, Scytho-Saka period, upper reaches of the Ili River, Saka culture of Tian-Shan region, clasps (kostyl’ki), warrior beltsAbstract
The article analyzes metal clasps from burial sites in the upper reaches of the Ili River. This area represents a distinct local variant within the Tian-Shan Saka cultural region. A representative series of these clasps has been revealed here, where they formed an integral component of warrior belt sets. They served as ends of auxiliary straps of the main belt, and thus are frequently found in pairs. Typologically, they are divided into two sections – with solid and openwork rods, each of them is also divided into several types depending on the finial. Chronologically, these clasps were in use in the upper Ili region from VI to III centuries BC. Their emergence in this area, as elsewhere within the Tian-Shan Saka cultural zone, is linked to cultural relationship with the Tasmola cultural community. However, the formation of the group of clasps with an openwork rod can be associated with the Upper Ili region and Jetisu , which determines their local specificity. From this area, some of these items also spread into the forest-steppe zone of the Altai. Clasps with a single rod from the upper Ili River basin exhibit close parallels with analogous artifacts from the western Tian-Shan and southern Kazakhstan. This shows that clasps as an attribute of warrior belts were widespread across the Tian-Shan Saka cultural region during the VI-V centuries BC, while the Upper Ili region retains some local specifics.
References
Amirov, E. Sh. 2015. In: Kalysh, A.B. (ed.). VIII Orazbaevskie chteniya (VIII Orazbaev readings). Almaty: Kazakh University, 163–165 (in Russian).
Bernshtam, A. N. 1952. Istoriko-arkheologicheskie ocherki Tsentral'nogo Tian'-Shania i Pamiro-Altaya (Historical and Archaeological Essays on the Central Tien Shan and Pamir-Altai). Series: Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii (Materials and Studies in the Archaeology) 26. Moscow; Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR (in Russian).
Golovchenko, N. N. 2019. In Vestnik Novosibirskogo Gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriia, filologiya (Bulletin of the Novosibirsk State University: History, Philology) 18 (3), 90–99 (in Russian).
Dobzhanskiy, V. N. 1990. Nabornye poyasa kochevnikov Azii (Typesetting belts of the nomads of Asia). Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk University Publ. (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2012. In Kalysh, A.B. (ed.). IV Orazbaevskie chteniya (IV Orazbaev readings). Almaty: Kazakh University, 170–174 (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2016. In Chorotegin, T. (ed.). Kyrgyzskiy and Kharakhanidskiy kaganaty (Kyrgyz and Qarakhanid Khaganates). Bishkek: “MaxPrint” Publ., 332–336 (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2018. In Bukharin, M. D. (Ed.). SCRIPTA ANTIQUA. Voprosy drevnei istorii, filologii, iskusstva i material'noi kul'tury (SCRIPTA ANTIQUA. Issues of Ancient History, Philology, Arts and Material Culture). Vol. VII. Moscow: “Sobranie” Publ., 11–23 (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2019. In Malyshev, A. A. (ed.). SCYTHIA et SARMATIA. Moscow: “Maks Press” Publ., 71–78 (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2024. Stratum plus (3), 15–27 (in Russian).
Kiryushin, Yu. F., Frolov, Ya. V. 1996. In Kiryushin, Yu. F., Kungurov, A.L. (eds.). In Drevnie poseleniya Altaya (Ancient settlements of the Altay). Barnaul: Altai State University, 110–136 (in Russian).
Kungurov, A. L., Tishkin, A. A. 1996. In Kiryushin, Yu. F. (Ed.). Arkheologiia, antropologiia i etnografiia Sibiri (Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography of Siberia). Barnaul: Altai State University, 124–144 (in Russian).
Martynov, G. S. 1955. In Udal’tsov, A. D. (ed.). Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta istorii material’noi kul’tury (Brief Communications of the Institute for the History of Material Culture) 59. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 150–156 (in Russian).
Ploskikh, V. V. 2013. Zatonuvshie pamiatniki Issyk-Kulia (Issledovanie «Atlantidy» Tsentralnoi Azii na Velikom Shelkovom puti). (Underwater sites of Issyk-Kul (Study of the "Atlantis" of Central Asia along the Great Silk Road)). Bishkek: KRSU (in Russian).
Singaevskii, A.T. 2007. In Izvestiia Altaiskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Seriia «Istoriia, politologiia» (Izvestiya of Altai State University History, Political Science Series) 4–3, 161–173 (in Russian).
Spasskaya, E. Yu. 2017. In Dzumabekova, G. S., Bazarbaeva, G. A. (eds.). Metallicheskie kotly rannikh kochevnikov Zhetysu (Metal cauldrons of early nomads of Jetisu). Almaty: Institute of Archeology named after. A.Kh. Margulan, 33–53 (in Russian).
Tashbaeva, K. I. 2011. Kul’tura rannikh kochevnikov Tyan’-Shanya i Alaya (I tys. do n.e.) (Culture of early nomads of the Tian Shan and Alai (I millennium BC)). Bishkek: “Ilim” Publ. (in Russian).
Shulga, P. I. 2010. Sintszian v VIII–III vv. do n.e. Pogrebalnye kompleksy. Khronologiia i periodizatsiia (Xinjiang in the VIII–III centuries BC (Sepulchral complexes. Chronology and periodization)). Barnaul: Altai State University (in Russian).
In Xinjiang wenwu (Cultural relics of Xinjiang) (2), 1–15 (in Chinese).
In Xinjiang kaogu (Archaelogy of Xinjiang) (1), 200–242 (in Chinese).
In Kaogu (Archaeology) (12), 3–20 (in Chinese)
In Kaogu (Archaeology) (9), 30–36 (in Chinese)
In Xinjiang wenwu (Cultural relics of Xinjiang) (2), 11–24 (in Chinese).
In Xinjiang wenwu (Cultural relics of Xinjiang) (1), 4–14 (in Chinese).
In Xinjiang wenwu (Cultural relics of Xinjiang) (1), 1–40 (in Chinese).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 S.S. Ivanov
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
