The Composition of Paints of the Paintings on Stone Cist Slabs from Karakol (Altai)

Abstract

Among the important antiquities of Altai Bronze Age, Karakol burial site (dated to the beginning of the 2nd mill. BCE) can be selected. The images are overlapped; the ones synchronous to the burial ritual were performed in a complex technique, including painting, pecking, engraving, and abrasion. Studies at the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute” (NRC KI), including scanning electron microscopy combined with X-ray microanalysis and powder X-ray diffraction on the Belok station (Kurchatov synchrotron radiation source (KSRS)), revealed that red (ochres of different hues) and black (soot) pigments were used to to produce paint at the Karakol site. An analysis of the red paints showed their composition to be homogeneous within one burial but differ from burial to burial. An analysis of the colored line on slab 1 (Karakol, burial 3, mound 2) made it possible to establish its natural origin and reasonably reject the hypothesis that it was painted.