Altay Mountains

Abstract Geometric stone settings are one of the striking monuments in the Altaian landscape. A lot of structures have been recorded, but no function or date has been defined for them. In the literature, they are known under very different names and dates. We suggest calling them ‘virtual dwellings’. Several arguments have proposed a date, varying from the Late Bronze Age to the medieval period. The monument type is recorded mainly in the higher Altai Mountains (esp. Kosh-Agatch rayon), in Western Mongolia and in Tuva. A recent detailed survey in the valley of Yustyd and its surroundings allowed to set up a basic description of the type and some related types. Recent excavation suggests a date in the Early Bronze Age. According to E. Jacobson-Tepfer's suggestion, we propose that these monuments are ritual monuments, in a funerary context, possibly as location for exposition of the body or sky burials.

Abstract In this article we present a preliminary study discussing new perspectives for future research and interpretation of the Bronze and Iron Age monuments and monumental landscapes in terms of their social dynamic in these early complex societies. Archaeological landscape research in the last decades is characterized by a significant paradigmatic separation, resulting in often one-dimensional treatments of landscapes. Using certain concepts developed by Henri Lefebvre and Martina Low, we address social landscape as a three-dimensional social space , which enabled us to integrate multiple approaches. This triadic framework is discussed using a case study which focuses on data of the Karakol and Yustyd valley in the Russian Altai. Our study shows that the general transitions in the use and structure of monuments during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age can be variously interpreted. These interpretations are not necessarily exclusive but may each reflect a partial rendition of the triadic model of social space, or monumental space .

Abstract Geometric stone settings are one of the striking monuments in the Altaian landscape. A lot of structures have been recorded, but no function or date has been defined for them. In the literature, they are known under very different names and dates. We suggest calling them ‘virtual dwellings’. Several arguments have proposed a date, varying from the Late Bronze Age to the medieval period. The monument type is recorded mainly in the higher Altai Mountains (esp. Kosh-Agatch rayon), in Western Mongolia and in Tuva. A recent detailed survey in the valley of Yustyd and its surroundings allowed to set up a basic description of the type and some related types. Recent excavation suggests a date in the Early Bronze Age. According to E. Jacobson-Tepfer's suggestion, we propose that these monuments are ritual monuments, in a funerary context, possibly as location for exposition of the body or sky burials.