Bone Arrowheads of the Altai Northern Foothills Population in the Turkic Khaganates Period (On the Materials from the Gorny-10 Necropolis)

The article presents the analysis and interpretation of the bone arrowheads from the objects of the Gorny-10 necropolis. At this site, located in the Krasnogorsk region of the Altai Territory, the expeditions of the Altai State University and the Research and Production Center “Heritage” studied 75 ground burials of the Turkic Khaganates period (the late 6th – early 8th centuries AD) in 2000–2002. The studied collection includes 65 bone arrowheads. These items were part of the grave goods of 12 male, 2 female, 2 children, and 1 teenager buried individuals. Morphological and classification analysis of the formed sample of the finds made it possible to identify 14 types of objects. The results obtained demonstrate significant standardization of bone arrowheads with a petiole, which was expressed in an almost identical degree of distribution of triangular and diamond-shaped specimens, having predominantly elongated-hexagonal, hexagonal, and less often elongated-rhombic and rhombic feather outlines. The determining influence on the genesis of the considered category of products among the population of the northern foothills of Altai in the era of the Turkic Khaganates was exerted by the local traditions of bone carving of the representatives of the Maima and Odintsovo archaeological cultures. Single specimens with a socketed and clamping attachment reflect the influence of the subject complex of the Bulan-Koby culture; in this aspect, practically did not find a continuation in the traditions of the early medieval Altai Turks. Most of the identified types of arrowheads from the objects of the Gorny-10 necropolis are dated within a broad framework, mainly the late 3rd – early 8th centuries AD, or the late 4th – early 8th centuries AD.