Soviet Period Air Photography and Archaeology of the Bronze Age in the Southern Urals of Russia

2012 ◽  
pp. 199-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natal’ya S. Batanina ◽  
Bryan K. Hanks
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
The Bronze Age

Towards a refined chronology for the Bronze Age of the southern Urals, Russia

Antiquity ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (312) ◽  
pp. 353-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.K. Hanks ◽  
A.V. Epimakhov ◽  
A.C. Renfrew
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Central Russia ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Bronze Age

Cultural interactions in central Russia are famously complex, but of very wide significance. Within the social changes they imply are contained key matters for Europe and Asia: the introduction of Indo-Europeans and other languages, the horse and the chariot, and the transition towards nomadism. Of crucial importance to future research is a sturdy chronological framework and in this contribution the authors offer 40 new radiocarbon dates spanning the conventional Bronze Age in the southern Urals.

scholarly journals Cultural attribution vs radiocarbon chronology (on the example of materials from the Bronze Age burial ground of Shatmantamak I)

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
A.V. Epimakhov ◽  
A.D. Tairov ◽  
M.G. Epimakhova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Specific Area ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article presents the results of excavations at the Shatmantamak I burial ground located in steppe zone of the Southern Urals (south-west of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia). The materials of the site combine the features of the Late Bronze Age Srubnaya and Alakul archaeological cultures dated to the first half of the 2nd mil. cal BC. With this work, we aimed to test the interpretation possibilities for the obtained materials, proceed-ing from their chronological sequence, rather than cultural attribution. Three mounds comprising seven burial structures of the Bronze Age (three above ground and four burial pits) have been excavated. The main procedure of treating the dead was inhumation on the left side (with the single exception on the right side) with their heads orientated towards the northern sector with deviations to the east. All graves contained single adult individuals, except one with the skeletons of two children. One of the burials is clearly distinctive, with the deceased set in sitting position. The grave goods included ceramic vessels and a single bone pommel. A series of radiocarbon dates (n = 4), stable nitrogen and carbon isotope analysis, along with the analysis of the context, allowed us to propose the scenario of utilisation of the site in the Bronze Age. The sequence of building of kurgans and individ-ual burials has been determined. For a long period (20th–17th c. cal BC), they combined features of the Alakul and Srubnaya cultural traditions within the same cemetery, or even mound. Syncretic sites represent a typical phe-nomenon for the Late Bronze Age of the Southern Urals and adjacent territories. Despite the differences in the chronology and cultural features (pottery and funeral rite) of the Shatmantamak I burial ground, a high stability of the nutrition system has been revealed, which was based on the products of complex husbandry. This brings us to the assumption that the identified cultural mosaicism was determined not by the mobility and interaction of groups with different traditions, but by their joint or parallel habitation in a specific area.

scholarly journals Reconstruction of the Settlement Levoberezhnoe Plan of the Bronze Age (South Ural, Russia)

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (37) ◽  
pp. 142-154
Author(s):  
Vladislav V. Noskevich ◽  
◽  
Natalia V. Fedorova ◽  
Fedor N. Petrov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Outer Wall ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
The Road ◽  
Asphalt Road ◽  
Topographic Surveys ◽  
The Bronze Age

In the Southern Urals in 2015–2019 research was conducted on the fortified settlement of the Bronze Age Levoberezhnoe (Sintashta II). An asphalt road was drawn through the settlement, during the construction of which about a third of the monument’s area was destroyed. Excavations of the monument have been carried out since 2015. It has been established that the settlement is multi-layered; it functioned in the Late Bronze Age from the turn of the 3rd–2nd millennium BC until the last quarter of the second millennium BC. Detailed magnetic and topographic surveys were performed on the territory that remaining survived the construction of the road. The location of the external moat was reliably determined by linear positive magnetic anomalies. The base of the outer wall of the settlement had a thickness of about 4 m, the width of the outer moat was 2–2.5 m. It was also possible to accurately localize a number of walls of buildings. The settlement had a rectangular shape, inside there were 26 dwellings. As a result of a comprehensive analysis of the data and aerial photographs of the last century, the layout of the entire settlement was reconstructed.

scholarly journals Archaeological Sites as a Component of the Modern Religious Worldview of the Southern Ural Population (Based on the Example of the Akhunovo Megalithic Complex)

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainur I. Tuzbekov ◽  
Albert T. Akhatov
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
Internet Resources ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
The Bronze Age

The present research examines the problem of the formation of new sacred sites around one of the most well-known archaeological complexes of the Bronze Age in the Southern Urals. To do so, the author applied the results of field research done of his own at the Akhunovo cromlech and analysed scientific literature and internet resources. Proceeding from the received data, the author traced the process of formation of sacred insight of the monument, determined the main reasons and participants of the sacralisation process and established probable negative outcomes of this phenomenon.

scholarly journals To the Issue of Anthropological Contacts Between the Populations of the Srubnaya and Alakul Cultures of the Late Bronze Age in the Southern Urals and Western Kazakhstan Steppes

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-83
Author(s):  
Alexander Khokhlov ◽  
Egor Kitov ◽  
Yulia Kapinus
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Asian Origin ◽  
Foreign Population ◽  
Western Kazakhstan ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Burial Grounds ◽  
The Bronze Age

Introduction. The work focuses on anthropological materials of the border between two areals: the Srubnaya and Alakul cultures of the Bronze Age. New data is based on the burial grounds of the Kozhumberdy type of the Alakul culture from Western Kazakhstan. Methods and materials. The authors compare the craniological series which are formed according to the geographical localization of the monuments and modern archaeological ideas about their cultural interpretation. Analysis. As a result of statistical analysis, the craniological series of the Srubnaya and Alakul cultures are morphologically quite close, but the latter show higher variability of characteristics. More close to each other are samples of female skulls which show that the formation of physical characteristics of these populations occurred on a single anthropological substrate. Initially, carriers of different caucasoid complexes, mainly of steppe origin, and in a small proportion of the uraloid ones took part in the process. The populations of the Srubnaya and Alakul cultures for a long time interacted with each other. This is reflected in the materials of syncretic Srubnaya-Alakul monuments, as well as in the craniological characteristics of the population of these cultural entities. Judging by morphological features of the skulls, the eastern group of the Alakul population also contacted the collectives of the Fedorovo version of the Andronovo culture of Kazakhstan. The participation of any groups of Central Asian origin in the composition of Alakul populations is not denied, but if it took place, it was most likely of a secondary nature due to the incorporation of certain representatives of a foreign population. Results. The results and conclusions of this work should be used in historical reconstructions of the processes of the formation, development and extinction of the Bronze Age archaeological communities in the area of the VolgaUrals and Western Kazakhstan.

scholarly journals RESULTS OF A PETROGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE BRONZE AGE CASTING MOLDS FINDS

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
I. Nikitenko ◽  
O. Starik ◽  
M. Kutsevol
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Azov Sea ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Monument

The present article is devoted to the mineralogical and petrographic research of raw materials of the collection of casting molds of the Bronze Age, found by the expedition of Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi during the excavations of the archaeological monument of Tokivske-1, located near the village Tokivske of Apostolove Rayon, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The finding of casting molds is of great importance, since it can be the evidence of bronze foundry production existence in the territory of the monument, which until now was regarded only as a megalithic place of worship. Provenance determination of the raw materials of casting molds can help to identify the role of Tokivske-1 in the system of metalworking cells of the Sabatynivska culture time (XVI–XIII centuries BC) and to establish its links with the ancient centers of mining of stone raw materials. According to previous petrographic studies, it is known that stone molds were made mainly of talc-chlorite-tremolite schists, since this material was easily processed and could withstand more castings than clay molds. Because of this, stone casting molds were highly valued, as well as bronze wares and ingots, and were transported over long distances. The purpose of the study was to establish links between the archaeological monument of Tokivske-1 and known mining and metallurgical centers of the Bronze Age, on the basis of mineralogical and petrographic research of raw materials of casting molds. As a result of the study of samples in thin sections and by X-ray diffraction analysis, it was established that the stone molds were mainly made of tremolite-chlorite-anthophyllite meta-ultrabazites. The determination of the origin of the rocks from which the casting molds were made was carried out by comparing their mineralogical and petrographic features with the features of similar rocks that form natural outcrops, as described in geological survey reports and literary data, and as observed by us in rock samples from natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro and the Azov Sea areas. It was ascertained that the rocks from which all the casting molds of the collection were made do not form natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro area and are not characteristic of the Kryvyi Rih area, which is considered to be the main center of raw materials extraction for the stone foundry forms of the Late Bronze Age on the territory of Ukraine. It was established that such rocks are more characteristic of the Western Azov Sea area, but one can not exclude another source of raw materials of the mold collection, in particular the Southern Urals, where bronze metallurgy was significantly developed and similar stone matrices were used. The obtained results suggest revision of established ideas on sources of supply of stone raw materials during the late Bronze Age.

The Ishkinino Bronze Age Mining Complex in the Southern Urals: Radiocarbon Dating

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
V. V. Tkachev
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Buried Soils ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Mine Dumps ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequences

This article presents the results of radiocarbon dating of buried soils beneath the dumps of ancient mines in the Ishkinino cobalt and copper pyrite deposit area, in the Southern Urals. The conserved upper horizons of stratigraphic sequences underlying the dumps of four mines were subjected to radiocarbon analysis. For comparison, samples from Bronze Age sites in the same area were used. Chronological ranges of the Yamnaya, Sintashta, and Kozhumberdy cultures were evaluated. Calibrated intervals of the buried soils from the Ishkinino mines show a good agreement with respective intervals relating to human and animal bones from nearby Bronze Age cemeteries and settlements. The early stage of the mines (2200–1840 BC) correlates with the Sintashta culture. Most geological and archaeological features at Ishkinino date to 1780–1130 BC, same as the Kozhumberdy settlement and cemeteries, representing the Alakul tradition. As the results suggest, radiocarbon dating of buried soils underlying the mine dumps is relevant to absolute and relative chronology of ancient mining, especially when archaeological contexts are of little help.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document