Korgantas culture

Korgantas culture
The Korgantas culture within the Saka realm ( ), and contemporary Asian polities c. -325.[1]
Geographical rangeSouth Central Siberia
PeriodIron Age
Datesca. 400–113 BCE
Preceded byTasmola culture
Followed byXiongnu Empire

The Korgantas culture (c. 400-113 BCE) replaced the Tasmola culture in Central Kazakhstan.[2][3][4] It is used sometimes termed as the "Korgantas period" of the Tasmola culture.[3]

The tombs of the Korgantas period differ significantly from those of the earlier Tasmola, lacking dromos passageways, and being smaller, with animal sacrifices arranged near the head.[3] The burials are often covered with a chaotic assemblage of stones, and the dead were oriented to the East or the Northeast.[4] Many characteristics of these burials, especially the heads of sacrificed animals, are similar to those of early Hunnic burials.[4] In a recent study, various Korgantas period graves were carbon-dated to between 400 and circa 100 BCE cal.[4]

Genetically, the Korgantas period seems to mark an influx of Ancient Northeast Asians (Devils_Cave_N profile) in Central Asia.[5] Of four Korgantas individuals analysed in a recent study, three had about 50% Ancient Northeast Asians (Devils_Cave_N) ancestry combined with about 50% Central Saka ancestry (Tasmola_Pazyryk), while only one had a traditional Central Saka profile.[6] The Korgantas people may have resulted from immigrations from the eastern regions of Central Asia, and may have come from the Ordos region of northern China.[7]

The end of the Korgantas period is marked by the expansion of the Xiongnu. The Korgantas period is sometimes presented as the "later Korgantas phase of the early Hun period".[4]

  1. ^ Ivanov, Sergei Sergeevich (2023). "Asia, Steppe, East: Early Iron Age Pastoralist Cultures". Reference Module in Social Sciences: Fig.1. doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-90799-6.00253-6. ISBN 978-0-443-15785-1.
  2. ^ Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, "Korgantas culture that replaced the Tasmola in central Kazakhstan.".
  3. ^ a b c Chang, Claudia (16 August 2017). Rethinking Prehistoric Central Asia: Shepherds, Farmers, and Nomads. Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-351-70158-7. Korgantas phase dates between 397 and 113 BC cal BC (2 sigma). These burials lack the dromos passageway of Tasmola burials, are usually smaller in size...
  4. ^ a b c d e Beisenov et al. 2016.
  5. ^ Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021, Fitting models for the main IA groups using LBA sources, the major genetic shift with the “new” East Asian influx (DevilsCave_N-like) observed in the Middle IA outliers and Korgantas. (...) From the second half of the first millennium BCE, we detect a major genetic shift in a number of outliers that are interestingly linked with the emergence of the Korgantas culture that replaced the Tasmola in central Kazakhstan..
  6. ^ Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2021.