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46-571: The Slab-grave culture is an archaeological culture of Late Bronze Age (LBA) and Early Iron Age Mongolia . The Slab-grave culture formed one of the primary ancestral components of the succeeding Xiongnu , as revealed by genetic evidence. The ethnogenesis of Turkic peoples and the modern Mongolian people is, at least partially, linked to the Slab-grave culture by historical and archaeological evidence and further corroborated by genetic research on Slab-grave remains. The Slab-grave culture

92-427: A complex of associated traits we shall call a "cultural group" or just a "culture". We assume that such a complex is the material expression of what today we would call "a people". The concept of an archaeological culture was crucial to linking the typological analysis of archaeological evidence to mechanisms that attempted to explain why they change through time. The key explanations favoured by culture-historians were

138-465: A culture, rather a combination of traits are required. This view culture gives life to the artifacts themselves. "Once 'cultures' are regarded as things, it is possible to attribute behavior to them, and to talk about them as if they were living organisms." Archaeological cultures were equated separate 'peoples' (ethnic groups or races ) leading in some cases to distinct nationalist archaeologies. Most archaeological cultures are named after either

184-470: A distinction between material cultures that actually belonged to a single cultural group. It has been highlighted, for example, that village-dwelling and nomadic Bedouin Arabs have radically different material cultures even if in other respects, they are very similar. In the past, such synchronous findings were often interpreted as representing intrusion by other groups. The concept of archaeological cultures

230-619: A growing interest in ethnicity in 19th-century Europe. The first use of "culture" in an archaeological context was in Christian Thomsen 's 1836 work Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed ( Norwegian : Guide to Northern Antiquity ). In the later half of the 19th century archaeologists in Scandinavia and central Europe increasingly made use of the German concept of culture to describe the different groups they distinguished in

276-529: A hundred graves formed circles and rectangles. They are usually located at higher elevation, and exposed to sun. Monumental burials mark the greatness of the people who once lived there. They became an integral part of the East Baikal steppes cultural and historical landscape. Slab-grave burials frequently reused stone material from nearby Deer stones culture sites. The replacement of the Deer stones culture by

322-456: A new group migrating in with this new style. This idea of culture is known as normative culture . It relies on the assumption found in the view of archaeological culture that artifacts found are "an expression of cultural norms," and that these norms define culture. This view is also required to be polythetic , multiple artifacts must be found for a site to be classified under a specific archaeological culture. One trait alone does not result in

368-671: A rag-tag assemblage of ideas." Archaeological culture is presently useful for sorting and assembling artifacts, especially in European archaeology that often falls towards culture-historical archaeology. Tripods A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads as well as horizontal shear forces , and better leverage for resisting tipping over due to lateral forces can be achieved by spreading

414-511: A specific designation for prehistoric cultures. Critics argue that cultural taxonomies lack a strong consensus on the epistemological aims of cultural taxonomy, The use of the term " culture " entered archaeology through 19th-century German ethnography , where the Kultur of tribal groups and rural peasants was distinguished from the Zivilisation of urbanised peoples. In contrast to

460-424: A stable mount for the weapon when firing. Tripods are generally restricted to heavier weapons where the weight would be an encumbrance. For lighter weapons such as rifles , a bipod is more common. However, in recent times tripod saddles have become popular for precision rifle shooting sports, with the weapon placed in a vise -like rest which is mounted to a tripod head or with the weapon mounted directly to

506-578: A substructured genetic makeup, a differentiation based on social class is possible: While retainers of low status mainly displayed ancestry related to the Chandman/Uyuk culture or various combinations of Chandman/Uyuk and Ancient Northeast Asian Ulaanzuukh/Slab Grave profiles, high status Xiongnu individuals tended to have less genetic diversity, and their ancestry was essentially derived from the Ulaanzuukh / Slab Grave culture . The ruling clan of

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552-556: Is dated from 1300 ( Transbaikal ) resp. 700 (Mongolia) to 300 BC. The origin of the Slab-grave culture is not definitively known, however, genetic evidence is consistent with multiple hypotheses of a local origin dating back to at least the Bronze Age. In particular, the people of the Ulaanzuukh culture and the Slab-grave culture are closely linked to the westward expansion of Neolithic Amur ancestry associated with Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA). The genetic profiles of individuals from

598-423: Is itself a divisive subject within the archaeological field. When first developed, archaeologic culture was viewed as a reflection of actual human culture. ...in the traditional view we translate present into past by collecting artifacts into groups, and naming those groups as archaeological cultures. We then make the equation between an archaeological and a human culture by making the assumption that artifacts are

644-427: Is needed to concisely explain why such an increase took place. Slab-grave maternal lineages were more diverse, with 64-72% being of East Eurasian origin (such as A , B , C , D , F , M , G , and Z ), while approximately 28-36% were of West Eurasian origin (such as K , J , and H ). East Eurasian maternal lineages in the Slab-grave population can be easily traced to Transbaikalian neolithic agriculturalists. On

690-825: The Pazyryk culture and the Aldy-Bel culture for a period of several centuries. The Slab-grave culture was superseded by the Xiongnu culture, which formed a vast empire stretching across much of the Eurasian world, and saw the hybridization of Scytho-Siberian and Eastern Steppe populations and cultures. Slab-grave cultural monuments are found in northern, central and eastern Mongolia , Inner Mongolia , Northwest China ( Xinjiang region , Qilian Mountains etc.), Manchuria , Lesser Khingan , Buryatia , southern Irkutsk Oblast and southern and central Zabaykalsky Krai . The name of

736-602: The Turkic peoples , the Ashina tribe , was found to display close genetic affinities with the Slab Grave and Ulaanzuukh culture remains. All eight currently sequenced Slab-grave males have been identified as belonging to East Eurasian paternal haplogroups . The predominant Y-DNA haplogroup in Slab-grave males has been identified as Q (5/8 Q-M120 and 1/8 Q-L330), with a minority belonging to N-M231 (2/8). The transition from

782-478: The diffusion of forms from one group to another or the migration of the peoples themselves. A simplistic example of the process might be that if one pottery-type had handles very similar to those of a neighbouring type but decoration similar to a different neighbour, the idea for the two features might have diffused from the neighbours. Conversely, if one pottery-type suddenly replaces a great diversity of pottery types in an entire region, that might be interpreted as

828-404: The 7th and 8th millennia BC. Sacrificial tripods were found in use in ancient China usually cast in bronze but sometimes appearing in ceramic form. They are often referred to as " dings " and usually have three legs, but in some usages have four legs. The Chinese use sacrificial tripods symbolically in modern times, such as in 2005, when a "National Unity Tripod" made of bronze was presented by

874-512: The Khövsgöl herders harbored only limited Western admixture (4-7%) from Sintashta or Afanasievo sources, it is argued that the adaption of dairy pastoralism was via cultural transmission rather than by admixture. Genetic data indicates that the Slab Grave culture, in conjunction with the Chandman culture , gave rise to the succeeding Xiongnu confederation. Although early Xiongnu displayed

920-644: The Slab-grave culture in central and eastern Mongolia around 700 BCE might mark a replacement of Caucasoid physical types by Mongoloid ones in the region. To the west, the Deer stone culture was replaced by, or evolved into, the various Saka cultures, such as the Uyuk culture and the Chandman culture and the Pazyryk culture . Autosomal genetic evidence from several Slab-grave remains suggests that they were largely derived from Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA), specifically from Neolithic Amur populations. They largely replaced

966-547: The Slab-grave culture period to the Xiongnu period was characterized as a massive increase of West Eurasian paternal ancestry, rising from 0% to 46%, which was not accompanied by increased West Eurasian maternal ancestry. This may be consistent with an aggressive expansion of males with West Eurasian paternal ancestry, or possibly marriage alliances that favored such people. According to Rogers and Kaestle (2022), these two scenarios are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but more data

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1012-402: The Slab-grave population makes it difficult to pinpoint their exact origin. Archaeological culture Different cultural groups have material culture items that differ both functionally and aesthetically due to varying cultural and social practices. This notion is observably true on the broadest scales. For example, the equipment associated with the brewing of tea varies greatly across

1058-576: The Ulaanzuukh LBA and the Slab-grave culture are identical, which is in agreement with the archaeological hypothesis that the Slab-grave culture emerged from the Ulaanzuukh. To the west and northwest, the Slab-grave culture was adjacent to, and essentially contemporaneous with, the Deer stones culture of primarily Khövsgöl LBA ancestry, and various Saka cultures such as the Tagar culture ,

1104-446: The archaeological culture found. Accusations came that archaeological culture was "idealist" as it assumes that norms and ideas are seen as being "important in the definition of cultural identity." It stresses the particularity of cultures: "Why and how they are different from the adjacent group." Processualists , and other subsequently critics of cultural-historical archaeology argued that archaeological culture treated culture as "just

1150-462: The archaeological record of particular sites and regions, often alongside and as a synonym of "civilisation". It was not until the 20th century and the works of German prehistorian and fervent nationalist Gustaf Kossinna that the idea of archaeological cultures became central to the discipline. Kossinna saw the archaeological record as a mosaic of clearly defined cultures (or Kultur-Gruppen , culture groups) that were strongly associated with race . He

1196-485: The back, with the head to the east. The fences vary from 1.5 m to 9.6 m, a height of the slabs vary from 0,5 m to 3 m. The grave pits under some kurgan mounds are covered with slabs that often are of considerable sizes. The depth of the burial pits vary from 0,6 m to 2,5–3 meters, in deep graves the side slabs were stacked and covered with several slab layers. In places within the fence sometimes were installed deer stones , single slabs with images of deer, less frequently of

1242-484: The broader use of the word that was introduced to English-language anthropology by Edward Burnett Tylor , Kultur was used by German ethnologists to describe the distinctive ways of life of a particular people or Volk , in this sense equivalent to the French civilisation . Works of Kulturgeschichte (culture history) were produced by a number of German scholars, particularly Gustav Klemm , from 1780 onwards, reflecting

1288-418: The central Chinese government to the government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to mark its fiftieth birthday. It was described as a traditional Chinese sacrificial vessel symbolizing unity. In ancient Greece, tripods were frequently used to support lebes , or cauldrons, sometimes for cooking and other uses such as supporting vases. Tripods are commonly used on machine guns to provide

1334-420: The culture is derived from the main typology of the graves, its graves have rectangular fences ( chereksurs ) of vertically set slabs of gneiss or granite , with stone kurgans inside the fence. There were also found settlements, burial and ritual structures, rock paintings, deer stones , and other remains of that culture. The most recent graves date from the 6th century BC, and the earliest monuments of

1380-405: The expressions of cultural ideas or norms. (...) This approach (...) was termed "culture history" by many (...). This view of culture would be "entirely satisfactory if the aim of archaeology was solely the definition and description of these entities." However, as the 1960s rolled around and archaeology sought to be more scientific, archaeologists wanted to do more than just describe artifacts, and

1426-561: The graves were looted. The buried clothing and footwear is colorful, with various ornaments of bronze, bone and stone: plaques, buttons, necklaces, pendants, mirrors, cowrie shells. The accompanying tools are rare: Needles and needle beds, knives and axes-celts. Even less common are weapons: arrowheads, daggers, bow end caps. In some graves are horse harnesses, whip handles. There are bronze objects, fewer iron and precious metals. Jars are round-bottom earthenware, some tripods . Vessel ornament are impressions, rolled bands, indentations. The art of

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1472-507: The horses, accompanied with solar signs and armaments. A burial complex on the Lami mountain in the Nerchinsk area consisted of graves about 30 meters in length, divided into 4 sections. Not plundered fence was covered by several slabs each weighing up to half a ton. Under cover slabs was an altar with skulls of horses, cows and sheep. Below were five burial chambers for inhumation. Most of

1518-593: The legs away from the vertical centre. Variations with one, two, and four legs are termed monopod , bipod , and quadripod (similar to a table ). First attested in English in the early 17th century, the word tripod comes via Latin tripodis ( GEN of tripus ), which is the romanization of Greek τρίπους ( tripous ), "three-footed" ( GEN τρίποδος , tripodos ), ultimately from τρι- ( tri- ), "three times" (from τρία , tria , "three") + πούς ( pous ), "foot". The earliest attested form of

1564-468: The more general " culture history " approach to archaeology that he began did replace social evolutionism as the dominant paradigm for much of the 20th century. Kossinna's basic concept of the archaeological culture, stripped of its racial aspects, was adopted by Vere Gordon Childe and Franz Boas , at the time the most influential archaeologists in Britain and America respectively. Childe, in particular,

1610-412: The next in time Xiongnu culture belong to the 2nd century BC. The slab graves are both individual and collective in groups of 5–8 to large burials with up to 350 fences. Large cemeteries have a clear plan. In Aga Buryat District were found more than three thousand fences. Most of the graves are burials, some are ritual fences – cenotaphs . Graves are oriented along west-east axis. Deceased are laid on

1656-459: The other hand, West Eurasian maternal lineages are believed to have complex origins, with many tracing back to ancient hunter gatherers who mixed with early agriculturalists in the early Holocene period, or to middle eastern agriculturalists who expanded eastward after the advent of sheep herding. Others could be linked to much later Bronze Age populations such as Afanasievo or Scythians . The complex diversity of West Eurasian ancestral lineages in

1702-560: The previous Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers, although geneflow between them has been proposed, particularly between a Neolithic Eastern Mongolian population (East_Mongolia_preBA) with primarily Amur_N-like ancestry and a local Late Bronze Age population (Khövsgöl_LBA) associated with the Deer stones culture . While the majority of Slab Grave remains were of primarily Neolithic Amur ancestry, some Slab Grave remains displayed admixed ancestry between Neolithic Amur and pre-existing Khövsgöl/Baikal hunter-gatherers, consistent with

1748-464: The proposed expansion of Ulaanzuukh/Slab Grave ancestry north and westwards and archaeological evidence. Local Neolithic to Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers and Khövsgöl herders associated with the Deer Stones culture themselves were of primarily Ancient Northern East Asian ancestry, and are inferred to have expanded prior to the dispersal of Neolithic Amur-associated groups from further East. As

1794-428: The slab-grave culture belongs to the "animal style" art that depicts domesticated and wild animals, daily life and main occupations. The slab-grave culture art has many common features with cultures of Southern Siberia: Karasuk , Tagar , and others. Thousands of graves can now be seen in the southern Baikal area. In some cases they form a cemetery, with a clear plan and a strict order. For example, at lake Balzino about

1840-487: The type artifact or type site that defines the culture. For example, cultures may be named after pottery types such as Linear Pottery culture or Funnelbeaker culture . More frequently, they are named after the site at which the culture was first defined such as the Hallstatt culture or Clovis culture . Since the term "culture" has many different meanings, scholars have also coined a more specific term paleoculture, as

1886-602: The word is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀴𐀪𐀠 , ti-ri-po , written in Linear B syllabic script. Many cultures, including the ancient peoples of China and Greece , used tripods as ornaments , trophies , sacrificial altars , cooking vessels or cauldrons, and decorative ceramic pottery. Tripod pottery have been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since the earliest Neolithic cultures of Cishan and Peiligang in

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1932-665: The world. Social relations to material culture often include notions of identity and status . Advocates of culture-historical archaeology use the notion to argue that sets of material culture can be used to trace ancient groups of people that were either self-identifying societies or ethnic groups . Archaeological culture is a classifying device to order archaeological data, focused on artifacts as an expression of culture rather than people. The classic definition of this idea comes from Gordon Childe : We find certain types of remains – pots, implements, ornaments, burial rites and house forms – constantly recurring together. Such

1978-641: Was believed to be a monolithic culture is shown by further study to be discrete societies. For example, the Windmill Hill culture now serves as a general label for several different groups that occupied southern Great Britain during the Neolithic . Conversely, some archaeologists have argued that some supposedly distinctive cultures are manifestations of a wider culture, but they show local differences based on environmental factors such as those related to Clactonian man. Conversely, archaeologists may make

2024-576: Was particularly interested in reconstructing the movements of what he saw as the direct prehistoric ancestors of Germans, Slavs, Celts and other major Indo-European ethnic groups in order to trace the Aryan race to its homeland or Urheimat . The strongly racist character of Kossinna's work meant it had little direct influence outside of Germany at the time (the Nazi Party enthusiastically embraced his theories), or at all after World War II. However,

2070-435: Was responsible for formulating the definition of archaeological culture that is still largely applies today. He defined archaeological culture as artifacts and remains that consistently occur together. This introduced a "new and discrete usage of the term which was significantly different from current anthropological usage." His definition in particular was purely a classifying device to order the archaeological data. Though he

2116-551: Was sceptical about identifying particular ethnicities in the archaeological record and inclined much more to diffusionism than migrationism to explain culture change, Childe and later culture-historical archaeologists, like Kossinna, still equated separate archaeological cultures with separate "peoples". Later archaeologists have questioned the straightforward relationship between material culture and human societies. The definition of archaeological cultures and their relationship to past people has become less clear; in some cases, what

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