Case Study
Krasnyi-Yar
A Chalcolithic Botai Culture Site, Kazakhstan
Archaeo-Physics, LLC was contracted by the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History to perform a geophysical investigation
of Krasnyi-Yar, an Eneolithic (Chalcolithic) Botai Culture site
located in Northern Kazakhstan.
The objective of the investigation was to identify
and map subsurface archaeological features using non-invasive prospection
methods. Of particular interest was the identification of possible
stockades or corrals, as these may provide evidence that Krasnyi
Yar was a locus for early horse domestication. The geophysical data
collected during this investigation will be used to target specific
archaeological features for excavation, and as primary data for
the study of intra-site patterning at Krasnyi Yar.
The investigation consisted of electrical resistance
and magnetic field gradient survey over 24,300 m2 of the site. Data
collection took place in July, 2001.
See also: Horse Domestication in the Botai Culture, Eneolithic Kazakhstan, University of Exeter, Department of Archaeology.
Principal Investigators:
Dr. Sandra Olsen (Carnegie Museum of Natural History)
Dr. Bruce Bradley (Pritech Inc. and the Smithsonian Institution)
Senior Associate: Dr. Alan Outram (University of
Exeter)
Reference:
Olsen, S., Bradley, B., Maki, D. and Outram, A. (2006) Community organization among Copper Age sedentary horse pastoralists of Kazakhstan. In D. Peterson , L. M. Popova and A.T. Smith (ed.) Beyond the Steppe and the Sown: Proceedings of the 2002 University of Chicago Conference on Eurasian Archaeology. Leiden: Brill, pp89-111.
This investigation was sponsored the National Science
Foundation (grant # BCS-9816476).
