Bronze Age Textiles from the North Caucasus: New Evidence of Fourth Millennium BC Fibres and Fabrics

In the ceramic collection of Turganic settlement in the Orenburg region there is a group of bronze age pottery, which by its morphological and technological indicators stands out sharply from the main group of dishes. They are large size vessels with massive aureoles and distended body. The authors called these vessels hums. The aim of this study is to identify cultural-chronological position of the specified group of dishes in the system of the antiquities of the early - middle bronze age. Within this group the authors distinguish two types. The basis for type selection was the particular design of the upper part of the vessel. The first type is ceramics from Turganic settlement and the vessel from the burial mound Perevolotsky I. Morphological and technological features, and a series of radiocarbon dates has allowed to date these vessels to the time of the yamnaya culture formation in the Volga-Ural region (Repinsky stage). The authors suggest that the appearance of such vessels should be an imitation of the Maikop pottery. It could be penetration of small groups of craftsmen or the intensification of contacts with the population of the North Caucasus. The second type of pottery from Turganic settlement is similar to the burial mound Kardailovsky I (mound 1, burial 3) in Orenburg region, in the Northern pre-Caspian, region of the Samara river, Kuban and the Dnieper. Researchers have noted the scarcity and originality of this dish. The chronological and cultural position of such vessels is determined within the III Millennium BC (calibrated values).

Download Full-text

Radiocarbon dating of the bronze age bone pins from Eurasian steppe

Geochronometria ◽

10.2478/s13386-011-0015-8 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 107-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Natalia Shishlina ◽

Johan Plicht ◽

Elya Zazovskaya

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

North Caucasus ◽

14C Dating ◽

The Caucasus ◽

The North ◽

Eurasian Steppe ◽

Culture Formation ◽

First Time ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractBone catapult and hammer-headed pins played one of very specific roles in funerary offerings in the Bronze Age graves uncovered in the Eurasian Steppes and the North Caucasus. Scholars used different types of pins as key grave offerings for numerous chronological models. For the first time eight pins have been radiocarbon dated. 14C dating of bone pins identified the catapult type pin as the earliest one. They marked the period of the Yamnaya culture formation. Then Yamnaya population produced hammer-headed pins which became very popular in other cultural environments and spread very quickly across the Steppe and the Caucasus during 2900–2650 cal BC. But according to radiocarbon dating bone pins almost disappeared after 2600 cal BC.

Download Full-text

Application of Image Analysis for the Identification of Prehistoric Ceramic Production Technologies in the North Caucasus (Russia, Bronze/Iron Age)

Heritage ◽

10.3390/heritage2030143 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 2327-2342 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ki Suk Park ◽

Ralf Milke ◽

Erik Rybacki ◽

Sabine Reinhold

Keyword(s):

Image Analysis ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Polarized Light ◽

Data Availability ◽

Ceramic Production ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Archaeological Ceramics ◽

The North ◽

Production Technologies

The recent advances in microscopy and scanning techniques enabled the image analysis of archaeological objects in a high resolution. From the direct measurements in images, shapes and related parameters of the structural elements of interest can be derived. In this study, image analysis in 2D/3D is applied to archaeological ceramics, in order to obtain clues about the ceramic pastes, firing and shaping techniques. Images were acquired by the polarized light microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and 3D micro X-ray computed tomography (µ-CT) and segmented using Matlab. 70 ceramic sherds excavated at Ransyrt 1 (Middle-Late Bronze Age) and Kabardinka 2 (late Bronze–early Iron Age), located in in the North Caucasian mountains, Russia, were investigated. The size distribution, circularity and sphericity of sand grains in the ceramics show site specific difference as well as variations within a site. The sphericity, surface area, volume and Euler characteristic of pores show the existence of various pyrometamorphic states between the ceramics and within a ceramic. Using alignments of pores and grains, similar pottery shaping techniques are identified for both sites. These results show that the image analysis of archaeological ceramics can provide detailed information about the prehistoric ceramic production technologies with fast data availability.

Download Full-text

Археологические памятники у пос. Ергенинский

Бюллетень Калмыцкого научного центра Российской академии наук ◽

10.22162/2587-6503-2020-3-15-26-45 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 26-45

Author(s):

Evgeny G. Burataev ◽

◽

Maria A. Ochir-Goryaeva ◽

Erdni A. Kekeev ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Local Environment ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Stone Age ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Caucasus Region ◽

The North ◽

The Republic ◽

The Village ◽

The Bronze Age

Introduction. Due to the nomadic lifestyle of the indigenous population which they practiced up to 1930s and the absence of any noticeable anthropogenic impact on the local environment, most of the archaeological sites located on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia are characterized by their very well preserved state. However, the area around the village Ergeninskiy (Ketchenerovskiy region, Republic of Kalmykia) is probably one of the few with such a number and variety of archaeological sites. The goal of this article is to introduce the results of the initial recording of the archaeological sites located in the valleys of the rivers Shar Elsin and Kek Buluk around the village Ergeninskiy. Materials and Methods. The mound group of the Catacomb culture to the eastern edge of the village was examined during the excavation works led by V. P. Shilov in 1981–1986 and M. A. Ochir-Goryaeva in 2006–2008. The Bronze Age settlement situated to the west of the village on the bank of the river Shar Elsin was examined in 2010–2012. The nodules of cretaceous flint were found by our archaeological team in the large Kyur Sala ravine to the north of the village Ergeninskiy. It should be noted that such nodules often indicate the probability of nearby existence of the Stone Age and Copper-Stone Age settlements. The exploration works undertaken in the area 15–18 km in length have revealed the six mound groups including 259 mounds. This article also gives the initial information about the previously unknown flat mounds discovered in the steppes. These mounds are similar to the sites of Maikop culture that date back to the Bronze Age era and are widespread in the North Caucasus region. Results. The area around the village Ergeninskiy is characterized by the density and variety of archaeological sites. Thus, the further archaeological research of this microregion has a lot of prospects.

Download Full-text

PENDULUM MIGRATIONS IN THE CIRCUM-PONTIC STEPPE AND CENTRAL EUROPE DURING THE PALEOMETAL EPOCH AND THE PROBLEM OF GENESIS OF THE YAMNA CULTURE

Archaeology and Early History of Ukraine ◽

10.37445/adiu.2018.01.07 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 101-146

Author(s):

S. V. Ivanova ◽

A. G. Nikitin ◽

D. V. Kiosak

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Northern Europe ◽

Second Phase ◽

Genetic Element ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Genetic Determinants ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

The North ◽

The Bronze Age

This article is dedicated to the problem of the origin and spread of the Yamna cultural-historical community (YCHC) in the context of the hypothesis recently expressed by geneticists about the massive migration of population groups genetically related to YCHC and carrying the genetic determinants of the Iranian Neolithic agrarians and hunters and fishers of the North Caucasus from the Ponto- Caspian steppe to central and northern Europe at the beginning of the Bronze Age. Based on an in-depth archeological and genetic analysis, we propose that the genetic «invasion» of the Iranian-Caucasian genetic element into Europe at the beginning of the Bronze Age, recently proposed by paleogenetisits on the basis of a large-scale study of ancient DNA, was not the result of a large-scale migration of representatives of YCHC from the Ponto-Caspian steppes to central and northern Europe, but the result of global population and cultural changes in Eurasia at the end of the Atlantic climatic optimum. We further suggest that before the steppe genetics appeared in Europe at the beginning of the Bronze Age, central European genetic determinants appeared in the steppe in the Eneolithic, and that the movement of the steppe genetic element to Europe was at least in part the second phase of the «pendular» migration of European expatriates, returning to the historical zone of habitation. We also come to the conclusion that the very concept of distinguishing YCHC as a monolithic entity is inappropriate, and that the groups of nomadic tribes of the Ponto-Caspian steppe most likely existed as discrete communities, although united by a common ideology and a genetic relationship that included both the Iranian-Caucasian (throughout the entire range), and European / Anatolian agricultural (locally) genetic elements.

Download Full-text

IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE PRISULAK TRIBES IN THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

History Archeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus ◽

10.32653/ch14496-116 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 96-116

Author(s):

Gamzat D. Ataev ◽

Sergey B. Burkov

Keyword(s):

Social Structure ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Local Population ◽

Early Group ◽

Southeast Europe ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Funeral Rite ◽

The North ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Cosmological Beliefs

The article is devoted to the study of ideological concepts and the social structure of the population of one of the archaeological formations of the North-Eastern Caucasus of the Middle Bronze Age - the Prisulak culture. The work is based on the analysis of burial and religious monuments, the study of which allows revealing various religious concepts and rituals of the cult nature of the local population of the Middle Bronze Age. Examination of the burial structures and the rite of the early group of burials of the burial mounds of the Prisulak district testifies to the diversity of the burial structures and the great diversity of the funerary rites. Ground pits, stone tombs, small stone boxes were revealed: with stretched, seated and crouched bones oriented in the east, southeast, south and south-west directions. In the funeral rite of the early group of burials, along with ancient and local elements, features characteristic of the tribes of the North Caucasus and the steppes of Southeast Europe are noted. A comprehensive study of the burial structures and rituals, as well as cult objects of the Prisulak culture during the Middle Bronze Age, made it possible to highlight many of the problems associated with ideological concepts and social organization of society, to find out the genesis of culture and the ethnocultural contacts of the local population with adjacent tribes. A study of the materials of the Prisulak monuments made it possible to get an idea of the spiritual culture of the population of the region in question: to reveal that the tribes of the Middle Sulak basin in the Middle Bronze Age had complex and diverse beliefs, among which ideas about the “soul”, “afterlife”, magical and protective practices, animal and nature cults, and other cosmological beliefs were of a great significance.

Download Full-text

The Region of Caucasus and Central European-Carpathian Territory in the Final Eneolithic and the Bronze Age (a Contribution to the Transfer of Technologies and Knowledge)

Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University History ◽

10.21638/11701/spbu02.2021.213 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 66 (2) ◽

pp. 531-548

Author(s):

Jozef Bátora ◽

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Central Europe ◽

Historical Development ◽

North Caucasus ◽

The North ◽

Eurasian Steppe ◽

Steppe Region ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Danube Region ◽

The Bronze Age

This article shows that the cultures in the Middle Danube/Carpathian territory were not just peripheral cultures of the developed Aegean-West Asian cultures, but also the western periphery of the Eurasian steppe region. From this aspect, the cultural-historical development in this area was influenced and associated with the cultural-historical development in the Caucasian and Northern Pontic regions as well. This is confirmed by several artifacts of the Caucasian character in the territory of Central Europe. First of all, we can mention single-edged copper axes, whose oldest exemplars in Europe come from the North Caucasus (the Maykop and Novosvobodnaya cultures). With the arrival of the Yamnaya culture, technology of their production emerged in the Northern Balkans and Central Europe along the Danube, through the Northern Pontic region. Their oldest exemplars in this territory are the Baniabic type axes. There are also weapons or tools; and jewellery which is represented by earrings of the so-called of Transylvania type associated mainly with the Únětice, Košťany and Otomani cultures in the Carpathian-middle Danube region. Their prototypes can be found in the North Pontic region — Yamnaya culture. The remaining cultural contacts between Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Bronze Age are confirmed by the dagger of the Srubnaya type from Sklabiňa in Central Slovakia. The existence of contacts between the Caucasian region and the territory of Central Europe as late as the final Bronze Age is proved by the finds of Cimmerian character. As a pars pro toto example, a dagger of the Kabardino-Pyatigorsk type from Malý Cetín in southwest Slovakia can be mentioned.

Download Full-text

Technical and Social Innovations: A New Field of Research

Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia ◽

10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.3.027-037 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 27-37

Author(s):

S. Hansen

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

North Caucasus ◽

Melting Pot ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

The North ◽

Technical Developments ◽

Eurasian Steppe ◽

Social Innovations ◽

Metal Tools

The grand narrative of cultural developments claims that all technical achievements in prehistory stemmed from urban centres in Mesopotamia and Egypt. But current studies, for instance on the oldest wagons, have opened up space for alternative working hypotheses and models: modern radiocarbon dating of complexes that revealed the cited innovations, e.g. the oldest wagons, functional metal tools, and an advanced copper metallurgy, which predate their fi rst appearance in Mesopotamia, questions the role of this region in the development of technology. Possibly Mesopotamian cities operated rather as a melting pot of numerous innovations obtained from different areas, which were then re-combined and placed into a different context. The North Caucasus, in particular the Early Bronze Age Maykop culture, is an exemplary candidate for such an interactive process in technical developments. The Maykop culture has been known in research for 120 years, and its genesis is supposed to have originated in Mesopotamia. This is an archaeological narrative meant to explain the high technical state of the Maykop culture. In the light of the new chronology based on a relatively small number of radiocarbon dates, a re-examination and alternative models are necessary. It is obvious that this culture developed a highly innovative potential in metalworking and sheep breeding and fulfi lled an important function as mediator in knowledge transfer between the Eurasian steppe and Upper Mesopotamia. Recent aDNA studies support this view.

Download Full-text

Traditions in Transition: Some Thoughts on Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Burial Costumes from the Northern Caucasus

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1179/eja.2003.6.1.25 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 25-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sabine Reinhold

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Social Identities ◽

Northern Caucasus ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

North Caucasus ◽

The North ◽

Large Numbers ◽

North Eastern

Ornaments, jewellery, personal equipment and weapons in graves can be defined as relicts of ancient costumes and weapon assemblages which are connected to the social identities of the buried persons. At several late Bronze Age and early Iron Age sites in the north Caucasus (Koban culture) large numbers of richly furnished graves allow the reconstruction of specific costume and armour groups. These can be related to factors which structured these communities into a ranked society. This article is based on the investigation of two cemeteries in Chechenia (north-eastern Caucasus) which demonstrate the change in social differentiation during the developed Iron Age. The article also includes a general discussion about the concepts of costumes and their potential for reconstructing social identities.

Download Full-text