THE IMAGE OF WATER BIRDS AND CLAY WEIGHTS IN THE EARLY METAL AGE CULTURES OF THE TRANS-URALS: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP?

Abstract

Bearers of several cultures, such as Lipchinsk, Shapkul, Bairik, Andreevo, Tashkov, and Koptyakov cultures, lived in the Trans-Urals during the Early Metal Age. Later, cultures of the Late Bronze Age formed there. Items ornamented with floating birds have been found among the ceramics of some of these cultures. At the same time, clayware considered to be sinkers for fishing nets has been identified among the equipment of all these cultures. Items within this category are characterized by the following weight ranges: biconical — 7.9–128.4 g, cigar-shaped — 5.7–70 g, with bifurcated ends — 45.9–62.6 g. The Late Bronze sub-rectangular items weigh 29−177 g. We assume that, according to their weights, the Late Bronze sinkers were definitely used for fishing nets. The Early Metal Age sinkers of are generally lighter. We suggest that they could be used more effectively in the open air. In addition, we assume that those items are related to petroglyphs of waterfowl and their images on dishes. The sinkers might have been designed not only for fishing nets or seines. As a matter of fact, the areas with images of birds and ceramic sinkers coincide but not so many sinkers have been found in adjacent territories. It can possibly indicate that they were used in the open air in fenced traps (such as wattled meshy traps) designed for driven hunt for molting bird.