View source for Seima-Turbino phenomenon

'''Seima-Turbino phenomenon''' refers to a pattern of [[burial site]]s dating around [[1500 BC]] found across northern [[Eurasia]], from [[Finland]] to [[Mongolia]], which has suggested a common point of cultural origin, advanced metal working technology, and unexplained rapid migration.  The buried were [[nomad]]ic warriors and metal-workers, travelling on [[horseback]] or two-wheeled [[chariot]]s.  The name derives from the Seima (Sejma) cemetery at the confluence of the [[Oka River]] and [[Volga River]], first excavated around 1914, and the Turbino cemetery in [[Perm]], first excavated in 1924.<ref>A Dictionary of Archaeology, edited by Ian Shaw, Robert Jameson, page 517</ref>

These cultures are noted for being nomadic forest and steppe societies with metal working, sometimes without having first developed agricultural methods.<ref name=Anthony2007/> The development of this metalworking ability appears to have taken place quite quickly.<ref name = Chernykh2008/>

The [[Altai Mountains]] in what is now southern [[Russia]] and central [[Mongolia]] have been identified as the point of origin of the cultural enigma of Seima-Turbino Phenomenon.<ref name = Anthony2007>{{cite book|title = The Horse, the Wheel, and Language|last = Anthony|first = David|year = 2007|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nLIufwC4szwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref><ref name=BBCKeys>
{{Cite journal
  | last = Keys
  | first = David
  | author-link = David Keys (author)
  | last2 =
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  | title = Scholars crack the code of an ancient enigma
  | journal = [[BBC History (magazine)|BBC History Magazine]]
  | volume = 10
  | issue = 1
  | page = 9
  | date = January 2009
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</ref>  The culture spread from these mountains to the west.<ref name = Chernykh2008>{{cite journal|title = Formation of the Eurasian "Steppe Belt" of Stockbreeding cultures|last = Chernykh|first = E.N.|journal = Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia | volume = 35|issue=3|year=2008|pages=36–53|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S156301100800069X|doi=10.1016/j.aeae.2008.11.003}}</ref> Artefact types such as spearheads with hooks, single-bladed knives and socketed axes with geometric designs traveled west.<ref>E. N. Chernykh, Ancient Metallurgy in the USSR, The Early Metal Age, 220-21, figs. 74, 75. As referenced in Steppe Weapons in Ancient China and the Role of Hand-to-hand Combat. Jessica Rawson. School of Archaeology. University of Oxford. https://www.academia.edu/20315661/Steppe_Weapons_in_Ancient_China_and_the_Role_of_Hand-to-hand_Combat Accessed 7 Feb 2016.</ref>

Although they were the precursor to the much later [[Mongol conquests|Mongol invasions]], these groups were not yet strong enough to attack the important social sites of the [[Bronze Age]].<ref name=Christian1998>{{Cite book
 | title = A history of Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia
 | year = 1998
 | author = Christian, David
 | isbn = 0-631-20814-3
}}</ref>

It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region around 2000 BC and the ensuing ecological, economic and political changes triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China and southward into [[Vietnam]] and [[Thailand]] across a frontier of some 4,000 miles.<ref name=BBCKeys/> This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east employing the same metal working technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding.<ref name=BBCKeys/> However, further excavations and research in [[Ban Chiang]] and [[Ban Non Wat]], Thailand argue the idea that Seima-Turbino brought metal workings into southeast Asia is based on inaccurate and unreliable radiocarbon dating, and remains a hotly debated theory among archaeologists.<ref>Higham, C., Higham, T., & Kijngam, A. (2011). Cutting a Gordian Knot: the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia: origins, timing and impact. Antiquity, 85(328).</ref>

It is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] group of languages across Europe and Asia: some 39 languages of this group are still extant, including [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[Sami language|Sami]].<ref name=BBCKeys/>
However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and [[Kazakhstan]] ([[Andronovo]] horizon) would rather support a spreading of the bronze technology via [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] migrations eastwards, as this technology was well known for quite a while in western regions.<ref>[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1691686] C. Lalueza-Fox et al. 2004. ''Unravelling migrations in the steppe: mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central Asians''</ref><ref>[http://www.springerlink.com/content/4462755368m322k8/] C. Keyser et al. 2009. Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people. Human Genetics.</ref> Although this more likely fact does not affect the possibly Uralic identity of the (Seima-Turbino) culture in question.

==See also==
* [[Qijia culture]]

==References==
<references/>

{{Prehistoric Asia}}

[[Category:Burials]]
[[Category:Eurasia]]
[[Category:Altai Mountains]]
[[Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Central Asia]]