Composite Bows of the Population from the Northern Foothills of Altai during the Turkic Khaganates Period (on materials from the Gorny-10 necropolis)

The article presents the results of a systematic analysis and interpretation of composite bows from the burials of the Gorny-10 necropolis. This complex, which today represents the largest of the studied sites of the beginning of the early Middle Ages in the south of Western Siberia, is located in the Krasnogorsk region of the Altai Krai. The published series of finds includes sets of horn overlays from 15 graves, which contained mainly male burials. Morphological analysis and classification of 52 horn overlays in good and satisfactory preservation became the basis for identifying seven types of bows with different lengths and designs. A comparison of the studied specimens with similar finds from sites in the Asian region made it possible to determine the relative chronology of various modifications of products within the second half of the 6th — first half of the 8th centuries AD. It has been established that the identified variability in the design of composite bows indicates a rather long period of usage of the Gorny-10 necropolis.