Religious and regional studies specialists took part in expedition

1 September 2016 Asian Expert-Analytical Center of Ethnology and International Educational Cooperation

In July and August 2016 ASU master’s degree students majoring in Religious Studies and Russian Regional Studies, lecturers of ASU Department of Political History, National and Religious Relations participated in ethno-archaeological expedition.

The expedition was supervised by head of the department, Doctor of History, Professor Petr K. Dashkovskiy. The research was carried out in a picturesque region of Altai, on the left bank of the Inya River.

The expedition was literally conducted on the protected territory of Tigirekskiy Nature Reserve. P.K. Dashkovskiy has been carrying out his research there for more than 15 years. His study is focused on ethnocultural history, peculiarities of religious worldview of different nationalities that used to live in Altai region bordering Kazakhstan. This year the students of ASU Faculty of History joined the expedition and worked under the guidance of Doctor of History, Professor Mikhail A. Demin.

In the course of the work students learned more about ancient history and aspects of material and intellectual culture of Altai peoples, ethnical and religious processes on the territory of South Siberia from ancient to modern times. They also got acquainted with ethno-archaeological work methods, the basics of field records maintenance.

The expedition participants paid special attention to the burial mounds of Chineta village, where the objects of Afanasievo, Pazyryk, Turkic, Kyrgyz and Srostri cultures were discovered and partially studied.

Last summer interesting materials were found in the course of studying the burial ground in Khankarinskiy Dale of 6th–5th centuries B.C., which had not been devastated by thieves. The outcome of the excavation was discovery of 22 unique ancient objects: a combat dagger, a torque, a mirror, hairpins, quivers, a belt buckle, a knife, etc. Especially significant are 12 objects for saddling made of horns. Another object of interest was psalium decorated with Scythian figures of animals.

Importantly, the expedition was also aimed at cultivating positive attitude towards cultural multinationalism of Altai among the youth, prevention of extremist activities and prevocational training. The field research was conducted under the support of Russian Foundation for the Humanities grant. The research is supposed to be continued next year with the growing number of participants that will include both master’s and bachelor’s degree students majoring in Russian Regional Studies and Religious Studies.

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