Reporters learned on the 12th from the Silk Road Archaeological Cooperation and Research Center (Northwest University) that the joint archaeological team consisting of faculty and students from the Center and Altai State University has launched this year’s joint archaeological program. At present, the joint team has arrived at the Qileta Village Cemetery Complex in Krasnoshchyokovsky District, Altai Krai, and commenced fieldwork. This year’s joint field archaeology not only continues the two sides’ previous cooperation, but also marks the maiden project following the launch and operation of the Altai Branch of the Silk Road Archaeological Cooperation and Research Center, signifying that bilateral archaeological collaboration has entered a new phase of institutionalized and regularized cooperation.

Professor Shao Huiqiu serves as the Chinese team leader, and Lecturer Mu Jinshan acts as the executive team leader, while Professor P. K. Dashkovsky heads the Russian side. Excavations this year will take place at Qileta Cemetery No.1 and No.2 along the Qileta River, with plans to unearth three Early Iron Age tombs (dating roughly from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC), including one medium-to-large grave and two small ones. The excavation aims to clarify the correlations between tomb structures, assemblages of burial artifacts and social hierarchy. Systematic sampling will also be conducted to reconstruct the environmental backdrop, resource utilization and subsistence patterns of that era.

Beyond excavation work, the archaeological team will carry out a 12-day thematic survey focusing on the Bulan-Koba Culture and nomadic settlements. Dating from approximately the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, the rise and fall of the Bulan-Koba Culture largely coincided with the successive reigns of three nomadic regimes—the Xiongnu, Xianbei and Rouran. It mirrors the militarized transformation of local societies and the integration of diverse ethnic groups under the influence of external powers.

The research team led by Professor Wang Jianxin, Chief Scientist of the Silk Road Archaeological Cooperation and Research Center, has uncovered numerous nomadic settlements in the eastern Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, revealing a tripartite spatial pattern combining residential ruins, tombs and petroglyphs. However, no definitive nomadic settlement sites have yet been identified in the Altai region of Russia. For this reason, the team will conduct intensive surveys of large-scale burial mounds and petroglyph sites in Russian Altai, striving to achieve breakthroughs in the research on local nomadic settlements.

Spanning China, Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, the Altai region constitutes a core zone for the study of early nomadic civilizations and East-West cultural exchanges. Balancing excavation and regional survey, this year’s archaeological work seeks to elaborate on the archaeological cultures and social evolution of the Early Iron Age in Russian Altai, laying a solid foundation for further research on interactions between this region and other inland Asian zones including northern China. (Outlook New Era)