Karasuk Culture

an archaeological culture of the late Bronze Age (end of the second millennium to the beginning of the first millennium B.C.), widespread mainly in the mountains of southern Siberia, in Kazakhstan, and along the upper Ob’. The culture is represented by the remains of settlements and burial mounds (more than 100 graves in each). The burials are in stone chests under a low mound with small quadrangular enclosures made of small upright stone slabs. The tribes of the Karasuk culture engaged in stock raising. They also extracted copper ore (bronze articles were decorated with geometric designs and sculptured representations of animals), made clay vessels and woolen fabrics, and had a knowledge of farming. The tribes were associated with the ancient populations of northern China, Mongolia, the Cisbaikal and Transbaikal regions, western Siberia, and Middle Asia.