View source for Karasuk culture

{{Short description|Archaeological culture}}
{{Other uses|Karasuk (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
| name        = Karasuk culture
| map         = Karasuk culture.jpg
| mapalt      =
| mapcaption  = Area of the Karasuk culture.<ref name="JPM325">{{cite book |last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |last2=Adams |first2=Douglas Q. |title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |date=1997 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-884964-98-5 |page=325 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA325 |language=en}}</ref>
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| altnames    =
| horizon     =
| region      = [[South Central Siberia]]
| period      = [[Bronze Age]]
| dates       = ca. 1500–800 BC
| typesite    =
| majorsites  =
| extra       =
| precededby  = [[Andronovo culture]], [[Seima-Turbino phenomenon]], [[Afanasievo culture]], [[Okunev culture]], [[Karakol culture]]
| followedby  = [[Arzhan culture]], [[Pazyryk culture]], [[Tagar culture]], [[Irmen culture]]
| definedby   =
| antiquatedby=
| module      =
}}
The '''Karasuk culture''' ({{langx|ru|Карасукская культура|Karasukskaya kul'tura}}) describes a group of late [[Bronze Age]] societies who ranged from the [[Aral Sea]] to the upper [[Yenisei River|Yenisei]] in the east and south to the [[Altai Mountains]] and the [[Tian Shan]] in ca. 1500–800 BC.<ref name="Mallory">{{harvnb|Mallory|1997|pp=325–326}}</ref>

==Overview==

The distribution of the Karasuk culture covers the eastern parts of the [[Andronovo culture]], which it appears to replace.<ref name="Mallory"/><ref name="Genetics"/> It is considered that the Karasuk culture primarily formed out of the Andronovo culture with influences from the [[Okunev culture|Okunevo culture]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/39252/chapter/338799181 |access-date=22 January 2024  |date=2021 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190945961.003.0008 |quote=It is commonly accepted that Karasuk culture represents the continuation and transformation of the Okunevo and Andronovo cultures, along with invasion of new migrants. |last1=Karafet |first1=Tatiana M. |last2=Osipova |first2=Ludmila P. |last3=Hammer |first3=Michael F.  |title=Human Migration |chapter=A Genetic Perspective on the Origin and Migration of the Samoyedic-Speaking Populations from Siberia |pages=83–98 |isbn=978-0-19-094596-1 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The remains of settlements are minimal, and entirely of the mortuary variety.<ref name="Mallory" /> At least 2000 burials are known.<ref name="Mallory" /> The Karasuk period persisted down to c. 700 BC. From c. 700 to c. 200 BC, culture developed along similar lines. Vital trade contact is traced from northern [[China]] and the [[Lake Baikal|Baikal]] region to the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Urals]], influencing the uniformity of the culture.<ref name="EB_Stone_Age">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/567232/Stone-Age/52383/European-cultures |title=Stone Age: European cultures |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=15 February 2015}}</ref> The Karasuk was succeeded by the [[Tagar culture]].<ref name="Genetics" /><ref name="EB_Art">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102325/Central-Asian-arts/60300/Neolithic-and-Metal-Age-cultures |title=Central Asian arts: Neolithic and Metal Age cultures |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=15 February 2015}}</ref>

{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=600|caption_align=center
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| image1   = Karasuk_culture_diffusion.png
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| image2   = Distribution of small swords or daggers along the arc between the eastern steppe and China (3300-700 BCE).png
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| footer=Karasuk culture diffusion,{{efn|{{harvnb|Chernykh|2008|p=91, fig.18}}}} and distribution of small swords or daggers along the arc between the eastern steppe and China (3300-700 BCE).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rawson |first1=Jessica |title=China and the steppe: reception and resistance |journal=Antiquity |date=April 2017 |volume=91 |issue=356 |page=Figure 4 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2016.276}}</ref>
}}

The [[economy]] was mixed [[agriculture]] and [[stockbreeding]].<ref name="Mallory"/> Its culture appears to have been more mobile than the Andronovo.<ref name="Mallory"/> The Karasuk were farmers who practiced metallurgy on a large scale.<ref name="Genetics"/> Arsenical bronze artefacts are present.<ref name="Mallory"/> Their settlements were of [[dugout (shelter)|pit house]]s and they buried their dead in stone [[cist]]s covered by [[kurgans]] and surrounded by square stone enclosures.<ref name="Mallory"/> Industrially, they were skilled metalworkers, the diagnostic [[artifact (archaeology)|artifact]]s of the [[archaeological culture|culture]] being a bronze knife with curving profiles and a decorated handle and horse bridles.<ref name="Mallory"/> The pottery has been compared to that discovered in Inner Mongolia and the interior of China, with burials bronze knives similar to those from northeastern China.<ref name="Reinhardt">Geraldine Reinhardt: [http://home.earthlink.net/~waluk/Alekseev/Lecture13.doc%20home.earthlink.net/~waluk/Alekseev/Lecture13.doc Bronze Age in Eurasia, Lecture 13 delivered 5 August 1991]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref> Their realistic animal art probably contributed to the development of the [[Scythians|Scytho]]-Siberian animal art style ([[Scythian art]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keyser |first1=Christine |last2=Bouakaze |first2=Caroline |last3=Crubézy |first3=Eric |last4=Nikolaev |first4=Valery G. |last5=Montagnon |first5=Daniel |last6=Reis |first6=Tatiana |last7=Ludes |first7=Bertrand |date=16 May 2009 |title=Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people |journal=[[Human Genetics (journal)|Human Genetics]] |volume= 126|issue= 3|pages= 395–410|doi= 10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0|pmid=19449030 |s2cid=21347353 |quote=The Karasuk culture is a Late Bronze Age culture that succeeded the Andronovo culture in southern Siberia (late second millenium BC.). Karasuk people were farmers who practiced metallurgy on a large scale. They produced a realistic animal art, which probably contributed to the development of the later Scytho-Siberian animal art style. The Karasuk culture was replaced by the early Iron Age [[Tagar culture]] (1st millenium BC.) which flourished in [[Khakassia]] (southern part of the Krasnoyarsk Krai) producing an art of animal motifs related to that of the Scythians of southern European Russia. On the Yenisey River, the Tagar culture was replaced by the [[Tashtyk culture]], dating from the first to fourth century AD}}</ref>

The origins of the Karasuk culture are complex, but it is generally accepted that its origins lie both with the Andronovo culture and local cultures of the Yenisei.<ref name="Mallory"/> The [[ethnicity|ethnic]] identity of the Karasuk is problematic, as the Andronovo culture has been associated with the [[Indo-Iranians]] while the local cultures have been considered as unconnected to the steppe.<ref name="Mallory"/> Nevertheless, a specifically [[Proto-Iranian language|Proto]]-[[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] identity has been proposed for the Karasuk culture.<ref name="Mallory"/> The Karasuk tribes have been described by archaeologists as exhibiting pronounced [[Europoid|Caucasoid/Europoid]] features.<ref name="Genetics"/> [[George van Driem]] has suggested a connection with the [[Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]] and [[Burushaski]] people, proposing a [[Karasuk languages]] group.<ref>{{cite book|last=van Driem|first=George|editor-last=Brenzinger|editor-first=Matthias|chapter=Endangered Languages of South Asia|title=Language Diversity Endangered|place=Berlin and New York|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|year=2007|page=304}}</ref>

The contemporary [[Deer stones culture]] to the southeast may have been built in part by nomads from the Karasuk culture.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Mysterious Steles of Mongolia |url=https://news.cnrs.fr/slideshows/the-mysterious-steles-of-mongolia |website=CNRS News |language=en}}</ref>

==Chariots==
[[File:Karasuk culture bronze rein holders (horizontal).png|thumb|upright=1|Bronze [[rein holder]] for chariots.<ref name="VM"/>]]

The Karasuk culture had horse-drawn [[Spoked wheel|spoke-wheeled]] [[Chariot|chariots]], a technology first attested in the [[Sintashta culture]] (c. 2000 BC) which spread eastwards with the Andronovo culture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chechushkov |first1=I.V. |last2=Epimakhov |first2=A.V. |date=2018 |title=Eurasian Steppe Chariots and Social Complexity During the Bronze Age |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10963-018-9124-0 |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=435–483 |doi=10.1007/s10963-018-9124-0 |s2cid=254743380|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Although no Karasuk chariots have been found, their existence is indicated by [[petroglyph]] drawings, chariot equipment, [[Bridle|horse bridles]] and 'charioteer burials'.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/3742220 |title=Ancient Indo-Europeans |date=2002 |publisher=Chelyabinsk Scientific Centre |last1=Grigoriev |first1=Stanislav |journal=Chelyabinsk: Rifei, 2002 |quote=An important feature characterising Karasuk culture, is the widespread occurrence of chariots. In Mongolia an enormous number of rock depictions with representations of chariots has been found; the representations of Karasuk-type weapons link them reliably with that culture. [...] The broad use of chariots by Karasuk tribes is indicated also by so-called ‘models of a yoke’ found in graves, which most scholars interpret as hooks for fixing reins. |pages=294 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/3000-year-old-untouched-burial-of-charioteer-discovered-in-siberia |title=3,000-year-old untouched burial of 'charioteer' discovered in Siberia |website=LiveScience |date=18 July 2023}}</ref> These have close similarities to chariots and equipment from the [[Shang dynasty]] in [[China]] (c. 1200 BC), such as the use of wheels with numerous spokes and bow-shaped [[Rein hook|rein holders]].<ref name=":1">{{cite book |url=https://www.barpublishing.com/chariots-in-early-china.html |title=Chariots in Early China: Origins, cultural interaction, and identity |date=2013 |publisher=BAR Publishing |last=Wu |first=Hsiao-yun |isbn=9781407310657}}</ref> Both Karasuk and Shang chariots also have close similarities to chariots from [[Lchashen]] in [[Armenia]], dating from c. 1500 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wu |first=Hsiao-yun |url=https://www.barpublishing.com/chariots-in-early-china.html |title=Chariots in Early China: Origins, cultural interaction, and identity |date=2013 |publisher=BAR Publishing |isbn=9781407310657 |quote=It is generally understood that the chariots found at the Sintashta site in the Urals and at the Lchashen site in the Caucasus are the ancestors of the Chinese chariot, as examples from these sites are extremely similar to those of the Shang state. [...] As Stuart Piggott has pointed out, the similarities of the complex structure of the chariot box and wheels between the Shang and Lchashen chariots are particularly significant. Both of them had a straight railed, small box which could carry two to three people. Their complex spoked wheels were composed of around 20 spokes, a central nave, and bent felloes. All of these indicate that they were made by similar technologies following similar models. As we do not have any earlier evidence on the presence of horses and spoked wheels in the Yellow River basin, the sudden emergence of this kind of complex structure must almost certainly have been introduced from the steppe areas.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC&pg=PA70 |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations |last=Higham |first=Charles |date=2004 |isbn=0816046409 |pages=70 |publisher=Infobase |quote=The Chinese words used to describe the chariot, parts of the wheel, and the axle were borrowed from Indo-European sources. Even the word for “horse”, a cognate in Mongolic, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, suggests a single origin, possibly during one wave of contact across the steppes. Archaeologically, the evidence for Western sources is overwhelming, for it is now possible to compare dated chariots from China with those excavated in Western sites. Foremost among the latter is the site of Lchashen in Armenia, between the Caspian and Black Seas. Dated to about 1500 BCE, a burial at Lchashen hold the remains of two chariots. Their distinctive design features include wooden wheels one metre across, lined with two bent wooden felloes. Each wheel had 28 wooden spokes and turned on a fixed axle that supported the chariot box in the center.[…] Numerous rock engravings of chariots found across central Asia depict a similar vehicle; while not precisely dated, they nevertheless illustrate the widespread presence of horse-drawn chariots. The similarity between the Chinese chariot and those seen in Armenia is so precise as to rule out any likelihood of an independent invention. […] Both the linguistic and the archaeological evidence concur that the chariot was of Western origin.}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Grigoriev |first1=Stanislav |date=2023 |title=Horse and Chariot. Critical Reflections on one Theory |url=https://austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576%200x003e31cb.pdf |journal=Archaeologia Austriaca |volume=107 |quote=Stuart Piggott was the first to draw attention to the similarity of the Shang chariots to the chariot from Lchashen in Armenia, and now this idea has been developed in works by Chinese authors. The main difference in these chariots is the large number of spokes. It is significant that, at the same time, chariots with a large number of spokes appeared in the Karasuk Culture of southern Siberia. On the Karasuk petroglyphs, they have 7, 14 and 17 spokes. In the same period, on the northern periphery of the Shang civilization, the so-called Northern Complex formed, which reflects the Shang interactions with the Karasuk Culture. The similarity of the Shang chariots with the chariot from Lchashen in Armenia may be explained by the fact that the Karasuk Culture was formed as a result of the influence of alien tribes on the local Andronovo substrate. There are many inclusions in the culture with parallels in the Transcaucasia and Iran.}}</ref> According to Wu (2013) Shang chariots and their associated equipment originated from the Karasuk culture and can be understood as "a local version of the Karasuk set."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.barpublishing.com/chariots-in-early-china.html |title=Chariots in Early China: Origins, cultural interaction, and identity |date=2013 |publisher=BAR Publishing |last=Wu |first=Hsiao-yun |isbn=9781407310657 |quote=whether we base our arguments on artistic style, typology, or chronology, we can suggest that the Shang chariot weapon/tool set originated from the Karasuk culture. And, their close association with chariots in the Shang context suggests that, in the Karasuk culture, there possibly was a new advance, mainly represented by the emergence of bow-shaped objects, developed on the earlier chariot “driving and fighting skill set” seen in the Sintashta and the Andronovo cultures. This new development of the “driving and fighting skill set” and the Karasuk innovations of bowshaped objects, knives and sharpening stones, probably also including bows, as a set of items accompanied male, were transmitted to Anyang as aspects of chariots. [...] The Shang chariot weapon/tool set with Shang patterns is probably most satisfactorily understood as a local version of the Karasuk set.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/chariots-in-early-china-origins-cultural-interaction-and-identity-by-hsiaoyun-wu-bar-international-series-2457-pp-135-oxford-archaeopress-2013/F0836CFBAA566F56C256704397260298 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=26 |issue=3 |date=2013 |title=Chariots in Early China – Origins, cultural interaction and identity. By Hsiao-yun Wu. (BAR International Series 2457). pp. 135. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2013 |last=Lymer |first=Kenneth |pages=534–535 |doi=10.1017/S1356186315000619 |s2cid=164364769 |quote=The precursors to the Chinese chariot can be seen in a handful of burials associated with the Sintashta culture of the southern Urals (circa 2000–1750 bce) and there is circumstantial evidence of their continuity into the later Karasuk culture of southern Siberia (circa 1400–1000 bce), though no chariots have been found as of yet. It is argued the Karasuk could have been the most likely source of influence upon the Shang of China as the introduction of chariots were, perhaps, the result of political and economic interactions between these two neighbouring regions. [...] The Shang embraced a Eurasian prototype that required carpentry and engineering skills which were hitherto unknown to them. It was taken on as a ‘flat pack’ of military technology without making any innovations to it; however, the Shang did embellish their chariots with ornaments created from their renowned bronze casting expertise. Additionally, during the final phase of the Shang period (late twelfth to eleventh century bce) there was less weaponry found in chariot burials indicating the chariot had become a significant indicator of social status among the high-ranking elite as they ritually accompanied them into the afterlife.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Metallurgy==
[[File:Shang dynasty curved bronze knives with turquoise inlays and animal pommel. 12th-11th century BCE.jpg|thumb|[[Shang dynasty]] curved bronze knives with animal pommel. 12th-11th century BCE. Such knives were the result of contacts with the northern people of the Mongolian steppe.{{sfn|Rawson|2020}}<ref name="BM">{{cite web |title=Shang knife British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1973-0726-30 |website=www.britishmuseum.org |language=en |quote=In subsequent centuries such knives were more popular with peoples of the northern zone than with the Shang and Zhou inhabitants of Shaanxi and Henan. It is, therefore, possible that even in the Erlitou period such knives illustrate contact with northern peoples. Alternatively, the spread of Erligang culture may have taken such knives from central Henan to the periphery.}}</ref><ref name="JFS">{{cite book |last1=So |first1=Jenny F. |last2=Bunker |first2=Emma C. |title=Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier: 19 November 1995 - 2 September 1996, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery |date=1995 |publisher=Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Inst. [u.a.] |location=Seattle |isbn=978-0295974736 |pages=35–36 |url=https://ia601307.us.archive.org/28/items/tradersraiderson00soje/tradersraiderson00soje.pdf |quote=Enough northern bronze knives, tools, and fittings have been recovered from royal burials at the Shang capital of Anyang to suggest that people of northern heritage mingled with the Chinese in their capital city. These artifacts must have entered Shang domain through trade, war, intermarriage, or other circumstances.}}</ref>]]
The metallurgy of the Karasuk culture may have derived from the earlier [[Seima-Turbino tradition]]. It expanded on this tradition, and became the core of a regional hub in metallurgy, sometimes called the "East Asian Metallurgical Province".{{efn|{{harvnb|Chernykh|2008|p=90}}: "The East Asian Metallurgical Province [EasAsMP]. (...) As mentioned above, the EasAsMP’s earliest phase was associated with the striking Seima-Turbino transcultural phenomenon, and subsequently it seems to continue the Seima-Turbino traditions of metallurgy and metal processing. The most important materials characteristic of the early EasAsMP come from burials of the widely known Karasuk cultures (Chlenova 1972; Chernykh 1992: 264-271) (13). The numerous metal finds come from graves, most of which have been destroyed by recent tillage."}}

Seima-Turbino had a westward expansion, encountering the [[Abashevo culture|Abashevo]] and [[Sintashta culture|Sintashta]] cultures during the 2200-1700 BCE period.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|p=90|loc="We have shown that the aggressive wave of Seima-Turbino populations was definitely aimed westwards. We saw that its chronological range, established by contacts with the Abashevo-Sintashta community is the five centuries from 2200 to 1700 BC."}} On the contrary, the expansion of the Karasuk metallurgical culture was eastward.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|p=90}} Karasuk styles were copied throughout Central and Eastern Asia, reaching [[China]] where numerous bronze objects on the Karasuk model have been excavated.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|p=90|loc="Even more indicative is the rapid spread of Karasuk forms mainly eastward, which differed diametrically from the Seima-Turbino movement westward (Fig. 18). A rather significant number of imitations of Karasuk metal forms are currently known from Ancient China. These imitations are well represented even in the “royal” complexes of Anyang cemetery, dated on the basis of written documents to the XIII to XI centuries BC, the period of the late Shang dynasty (Chang and Pingfang 2005: 150-176)."}} In particular the royal complex of the [[Anyang Cemetery]] from the 13-11th centuries BCE during the [[Shang dynasty]] period is known for numerous such imitations.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|p=90}}

It is thought that these metallurgical innovations from the Karasuk culture were transmitted by steppe nomads, within a context of rather conflictual relations between China and its northern neighbours. The Shang mainly imitated the curved one-edged knives with animal handles, and placed them in their tombs among other bronze paraphernalia.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|p=90|loc="It is probable just at this time that active opposition between the most ancient Chinese civilizations and the steppe world begins. There is no doubt that the Karasuk antiquities were made by nomadic cattle herders: settlements of this culture are practically unknown to us. Morphologically Karasuk differed sharply from the ancient Chinese metallurgy of Shang or Western Zhou times. The inhabitants of the Sayan-Altai always emphasized weapons: the well-known Karasuk curved one-edged knives with carved figured handles and the rarer daggers. These northern steppe (or to be more exact, taiga-steppe) forms – or rather their imitations – are also present at the Shang “royal” funerary."}} Altogether, these influences travelled over a distance of more than 3,500 kilometers, from the Sayan-Altai region to the heart of ancient China beyond the [[Yellow River]].{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|p=91}}

Weapons of the contemporary [[Deer stones culture]], as seen in their petroglyphs, are generally derived from those of the Karasuk culture, and belong to the Karasuk typology.<ref name="TT2021">{{cite journal |last1=Turbat |first1=Tsagaan |title=Deer Stone Culture of Mongolia and Neighboring Regions (Front matter, Content and Conclusion) |journal=Institute of Archaeology, MAS & Institute for Mongol Studies, NUM |date=1 January 2021 |url=https://www.academia.edu/59768486 |quote=Weapons depicted on the Deer stones commonly found from the Mongolia and neighboring regions such as Southern Siberian Karasuk culture (13-8th centuries BCE) as well as Northern Chinese and Early Scythian graves (7th century BCE). (...) Based on relative chronology, MT type Deer stones belongs to the Karasuk period (13-8th centuries BCE) or according to new Siberian archaeology terminology (Polyakov 2019): to the Late Bronze Age period. A well-known example is that some emblematic objects of the Late Karasuk period were depicted on Deer stones. Moreover, the absolute dating of Deer stones and the Khirgisuur, the chronologically identical and directly related funeral-ritual structure to the former, were dated to the 13-8th centuries BCE as well.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacobson |first1=Esther   |title=The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia |chapter=Deer Stones and Warriors |date=1 January 1993 |page=153 |doi=10.1163/9789004378780_007 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004378780_007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-37878-0 |language=en |quote=Although the weapons represented on the Mongolian stones are Karasuk in typology...|chapter-url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<gallery widths="90" heights="100" perrow="9">
File:Karasuk culture. Animal-headed knife with curved blade.png|Karasuk culture. Animal-headed knife with curved blade.<ref>{{cite web |last1= Matyushchenko|first1=Vladimir Ivanovich | title=Историческая обстановка эпохи "Ancient history of Siberia" |url=https://arheologija.ru/istoricheskaya-obstanovka-epohi/ |language=ru-RU}}</ref>
File:Karasuk culture. Horse-headed knife.png|Karasuk culture. Horse-headed knife.<ref name="VM">{{cite web |last1= Matyushchenko|first1=Vladimir Ivanovich | title=Историческая обстановка эпохи "Ancient history of Siberia" |url=https://arheologija.ru/istoricheskaya-obstanovka-epohi/ |language=ru-RU}}</ref>
File:Karasuk culture. Knife with ring.png|Karasuk culture. Knife with ring.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008}}
File:Karasuk culture. Animal-headed knife.png|Karasuk culture. Animal-headed knife.<ref name="VM"/>
File:Karasuk culture. Dagger with animal top.png|Karasuk culture. Dagger with animal top.<ref name="VM"/>
File:Karasuk to Tagar knives.png|Evolution of bronze knives, from the Karasuk culture to the Tagar culture
File:Karasuk bronze axes.jpg|Karasuk bronze axes.<ref name="VM"/>
</gallery>

===Comparisons of Karasuk and Chinese Shang-Zhou blades===
[[File:Influences on Chinese metallurgy.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Historical influences on Chinese metallurgy. After a small early copper industry in the Neolithic, China was influenced by the metallurgy of the steppes ([[Andronovo culture]]), the [[Seima-Turbino phenomenon]] and the Karasuk culture down to the [[Shang dynasty]] period.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grigoriev |first1=Stanislav A. |title=Internal and External Impulses for the Development of Ancient Chinese Metallurgy |journal=Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy |series=Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences |date=2022 |page=8, Fig.2 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-86040-0_1 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86040-0_1 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-030-86039-4 |s2cid=245719183 |language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref>]]
Many bronze blades of the [[Shang dynasty]] (13th-11th centuries BCE) and [[Zhou dynasty]] were derived from Karasuk designs.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|pp=90-91}}<ref name="VM"/>
<gallery widths="150px" heights="100px" perrow="7">
File:Karasuk vs Shang horned animal blades 13th-11th century BCE.jpg|Karasuk vs Shang horned animal blades 13th-11th century BCE.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|pp=90-91}}<ref name="VM"/>
File:Karasuk knives vs Shang Yinxu knives.jpg|Karasuk blades vs [[Shang dynasty]] [[Yinxu]] blades.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|pp=90-91}}<ref name="VM"/>
File:Karasuk culture blades vs Shang-Zhou blades.png|Karasuk culture blades vs Shang-Zhou blades.{{sfn|Chernykh|2008|pp=90-91}}<ref name="VM"/>
</gallery>

==Genetics==
[[File:Bronze to Iron Age Steppe peoples genetic makeup.png|thumb|Genetic makeup of Bronze and Iron Age Steppe populations]]
Keyser et al. (2009) published a genetic study of ancient [[Siberia]]n cultures, the [[Andronovo culture]], the Karasuk culture, the [[Tagar culture]] and the [[Tashtyk culture]].<ref name="Genetics">{{cite journal |last1=Keyser |first1=Christine |last2=Bouakaze |first2=Caroline |last3=Crubézy |first3=Eric |last4=Nikolaev |first4=Valery G. |last5=Montagnon |first5=Daniel |last6=Reis |first6=Tatiana |last7=Ludes |first7=Bertrand |date=16 May 2009 |title=Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people |journal=[[Human Genetics (journal)|Human Genetics]] |volume= 126|issue= 3|pages= 395–410|doi= 10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0|pmid=19449030 |s2cid=21347353 }}</ref> They surveyed four individuals of the Karasuk culture of four different sites from 1400 BC to 800 BC.
Two of these possessed the [[Western Eurasia]]n [[Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mtDNA]] [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)|U5a1]] and [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)|U4]] lineages. Two other ones exhibited the Y-chromosome haplogroup [[Haplogroup R-M420|R1a1]], which is thought to mark the eastward migration of the early [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]].<ref name="Genetics"/> The individuals surveyed were all determined to be [[Europoid]] and [[Eye color|light-eyed]].<ref name="Genetics"/> In a study by Allentoft et al. (2015) three of four male Karasuk samples were found to have the Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1 whilst one had Q1a2a.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/82q3g0w3 |journal=Nature |volume=522 |date=2015|title=Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia |pages=167–172| doi=10.1038/nature14507 |last1=Allentoft |first1=Morten |issue=7555 |pmid=26062507 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..167A |display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://adnaxp.github.io/ |title=Ancient DNA Explorer}}</ref>

==Sites==
Sites are not numerous, and are mainly found southwest of the [[Minusinsk basin]]. They consist in semi-subterranean houses and larger winter houses about 100-200 m2 in area, with domed or pitched roofs covered with earth to protect against the cold.<ref name="JPM325"/>
{{clr}}
<gallery widths="200px" heights="150px" perrow="4">
File:Karasuk culture 1.jpg|Pottery of the Karasuk culture
Karasuk grave.JPG|Karasuk grave ({{coord|53.209951|N|90.111969|E|display=inline}})
Карасукский могильник.JPG|Karasuk grave
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Continental Asia in 1000 BCE|right|Continental Asia in 1000 BCE|{{Location map~|Continental Asia|lat=54|long=90|position=left|mark=Orange dot (semi-transparent).png|marksize=20}}}}
[[File:Minusinsk Basin cultures (Summed probability distribution for new human bone dates, Afanasievo to Tagar cultures).png|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Minusinsk Basin]] cultures (Summed probability distribution for new human bone dates, Afanasievo to Tagar cultures).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Svyatko |first1=Svetlana V |last2=Mallory |first2=James P |last3=Murphy |first3=Eileen M |last4=Polyakov |first4=Andrey V |last5=Reimer |first5=Paula J |last6=Schulting |first6=Rick J |title=New Radiocarbon Dates and a Review of the Chronology of Prehistoric Populations from the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia, Russia |journal=Radiocarbon |date=2009 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=243–273 |doi=10.1017/S0033822200033798 |bibcode=2009Radcb..51..243S |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7EEB3640F2AE465182A97B587B7D84C2/S0033822200033798a.pdf/div-class-title-new-radiocarbon-dates-and-a-review-of-the-chronology-of-prehistoric-populations-from-the-minusinsk-basin-southern-siberia-russia-div.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727134342id_/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7EEB3640F2AE465182A97B587B7D84C2/S0033822200033798a.pdf/div-class-title-new-radiocarbon-dates-and-a-review-of-the-chronology-of-prehistoric-populations-from-the-minusinsk-basin-southern-siberia-russia-div.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 July 2018 }}</ref>]]
* [[Shang dynasty]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Bronze Age}}
*{{cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |date=1997 |title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-1884964985 |access-date=15 February 2015 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Chernykh |first1=Evgeny |title=The "Steppe Belt" of stockbreeding cultures in Eurasia during the Early Metal Age |journal=Trabajos de Prehistoria |date=30 December 2008 |volume=65 |issue=2 |doi=10.3989/tp.2008.08004 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Northwestern-focuses-Karasuk-of-the-East-Asian-metallurgical-province-arsenical-bronze_fig15_50224029|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Rawson|2020}} |last1=Rawson |first1=Jessica |last2=Chugunov |first2=Konstantin |last3=Grebnev |first3=Yegor |last4=Huan |first4=Limin |title=Chariotry and Prone Burials: Reassessing Late Shang China's Relationship with Its Northern Neighbours |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |date=June 2020 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=135–168 |doi=10.1007/s10963-020-09142-4|doi-access=free }}

{{Central Asian history}}


[[Category:Bronze Age cultures of Asia]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of Siberia]]
[[Category:Iranian archaeological cultures]]
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