Eurasian Prehistory, 14 (1–2): 153–178 INTRODUCTION Beginning in the 2 nd century BC, all of Southern Siberia underwent signiicant cultural transfor- mations stimulated primarily by political factors, the most important one being the rise of a mighty empire of Xiongnu nomads in Mongolia and Transbaikal. Their extraordinary reach led to 1 Laboratory analyses and ield work were inanced through a grant received from the Polish National Center of Science (2014/13/N/HS3/0460, Northern Altai in the Early Iron Age) and the Russian Scientiic Fund (grant 14-50-00036, The comprehensive investigation in archaeologiy and ethnography of Northern and Central Asia). Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of the animal bones were conductted by the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University. the fall or deep transformation of a number of Scythian-type groups in Southern Siberia. One of them was the Pazyryk culture, in the Upper Altai which was replaced by groups representing the Hunnic model of culture, such as the Bulan-Koby culture or, in the Northern Altai, the appearance of the Maima culture. The latter was deined in 1993 in the basin of the Biya and Katun Rivers based on the materials recovered from such sites as Maima-1, Ushlep-5, Sailap, and Kurlap (Abdulganeev, 1993:3-5). Its geographical range is restricted to the Altai northern sub mountain regions (Fig. 1). This culture is represented main- ly by settlements, such as Dolina Svobody 2, Maima-1, Maima-13, Maima-14, Cheremshanka, CHULTUKOV LOG 9 – A SETTLEMENT FROM THE XIONGNU-XIANBEI-ROURAN PERIOD IN THE NORTHERN ALTAI 1 Łukasz Oleszczak 1 , Andriey P. Borodovskiy 2 , Krzysztof Michalczewski 1 , Dalia A. Pokutta 3 1 Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Gołębia 11, 31-007 Krakow, Poland; l.oleszczak@wp.pl; krzysztofmichalczewski@gmail.com 2 Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Science, 17 Ac. Lavrentieva Ave., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia; altaicenter2011@gmail.com 3 Archaelogical Research Laboratory University of Stockholm, Wallenberglaboratoriet, Lilla Frescativägen 7, 114 18 Stockholm, Sweden; dalia.pokutta@arklab.su.se Abstract The settlement of Chultukov Log-9 of the Xiongnu-Xianbei-Rouran period (or Hunno-Sarmatian times) is currently one of the better studied sites of the Maima culture, which makes it one of the most important sources for researching the Hunnic period settlement in the Upper Altai. In 2012-2016 an archaeological excavation was conducted on the site. Forty two archaelogical features, included hearths, huts, pits and post-holes were discovered. Although only a relatively small part of the site has been explored (approx. 220 m 2 out of about 5000 m 2 ), this area alone yielded 2750 artefacts and 4790 animal bones. Of particular importance is undoubtedly the collection of modiied/worked bone objects, surely ranking among the most important sources for studies on this branch of craftsmanship in Southern Siberia. The ield research was supplemented with laboratory analyses (paleobotanical, isotopic, radiocarbon dating). Keywords: Hunno-Sarmatian period, Iron Age, Upper Altai, Lower Katun valley