Kok-Pash culture

Kok-Pash Culture

Geographical range	Altai Mountains
Dates	3rd to 5th centuries CE
Major sites	Kok-Pash, Kuraika
Preceded by	Bulan-Koba culture
Followed by	First Turkic Khaganate

The Kok-Pash culture (3rd to 5th centuries CE) is an archaeological culture flourishing in the so-called Hunno-Sarmatian period in the Altai Mountains. ^[1] The Kok-Pash monuments appeared in Altai Mountains in the second half of the 3rd century AD and coexisted with the Bulan-Koba culture. ^[2]

Archaeology and Anthropology

Contrary to the Europoid groups such as Pazyryk and Bulan-Koba culture, the Kok-Pash skeletal remains exhibit pronounced East Asian (Mongoloid) features, ^[3] marking a new population influx in Altai mountains from the East in the 3rd century CE.

The Kok-Pash burials share similarities to the Kokel culture in Tuva. ^[4] in the 3rd century CE the Kok-Pash people annexed parts of territories of the Bulan-Koba culture in south and southeastern parts of the Altai Mountain of Russia and coexisted with the remnants of the Bulan-koba culture in the north and northwestern parts of the Altai Mountains until the 5th century CE. ^[5] The burials of Kok-Pash culture consists of wooden coffins in narrow pits beneath rectangular mounds with a north–south orientation. ^[6] grave goods are no different from Bulan-Koba culture. ^[6] the Kok-Pash and Bulan-koba cultures were both replaced by Turkic burial traditions in Altai mountains.

References

1. Konstantinov et al. 2018.
2. Konstantinov et al. 2018, page 12: "The radiocarbon dating of the objects attributes them to the end of the 3rd – beginning of the 3th century".
3. Konstantinov et al. 2018, page 12: "The anthropological study of human remains revealed that the population has a pronounced Asian anthropological type, characteristic to the population of Mongolia and referred to as ‘the Central Asian race’(Mongoloid). The population who left monuments of the Kok-Pash type was the first wave of settlers, who brought the Central Asian(Mongoloid) anthropological component to the Altai; this component became characteristic for the region in the Middle Ages and subsequent periods.".
4. Khudjakov 2005.
5. Konstantinov et al. 2018, page 29.
6. Konstantinov et al. 2018, page 12.

Sources

• Konstantinov, Nikita; Soenov, Vasilii; Trifanova, Synaru; Svyatko, Svetlana (29 June 2018). "History and culture of the early Türkic period: A review of archaeological monuments in the Russian Altai from the 4th–6th century AD". Archaeological Research in Asia. 16: 103–115. doi: 10.1016/j.ara.2018.06.002 .
• Khudjakov, Julij S. (1 July 2005). "Armaments of Nomads of the Altai Mountains (First Half of the 1st Millennium AD)". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 58 (2): 117–133. doi: 10.1556/aorient.58.2005.2.1 .