scholarly journals On the Origin of the Caspian Culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Vybornov ◽  
◽  
Vladimir Stavitsky ◽  
Marianna Kulkova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Azov Region ◽  
Cultural Genesis

Introduction. The territory of Lower Volga occupies a special place in studying the cultural genesis of Eastern Europe. Prominent cultures of the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age were formed there and played an important role in the formation of the Volga-Ural hearth of cultural genesis. Equally important is the problem of the origin of the Caspian culture, with which researchers associate the beginning of the spread of cattle breeding and the emergence of the first copper products in the Volga steppe. Methods and discussion. The researchers expressed quite similar views on this issue. The process of Caspian culture origin in the Lower Volga region was considered as autochthonous with the participation of northern components. The substrate basis was the Oryol culture, and the superstrate was the societies of the Volga region forest-steppe. The comprehensive analysis of Volga steppe materials allows offering an alternative view of the Caspian culture genesis. The appearance of several features (collar-like thickening, a combed stamp, the technique of increased spin, producing economy, the dominance of quartzite raw materials for the manufacture of tools, the technique of forced squeezing in the receipt of logs, the emergence of producing farming in the form of cattle breeding, etc.) is associated not with the northern foreststeppe and forest-steppe, but with western components. The comparative analysis of radiocarbon dates of the forest-steppe and steppe Volga, Northern Caspian Sea and Don area supports this version. The chronological priority is fixed for materials of the Don area and Azov region. It is in these areas that the leading features characteristic of the Caspian culture appeared earlier. Results. The earlier complexes of the Caspian culture were formed in the Northern Caspian about 5700 BC. Later its penetration into the Lower and forest-steppe Volga Basin was recorded.

scholarly journals The Origins and Development of Textile Culture in the Late Bronze Age in the Southern Urals

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-57
Author(s):  
Ankusheva P.
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Textile Technology ◽  
Comparison Criteria

At the turn of the 3rd / 2nd millennium BC textile artifacts (fabric impressions on ceramics and organic samples) were widespread in the Southern Urals. The paper is devoted to identifying the possible origins of the Sintashta and Alakul textile technologies by comparing them with the data about the products from adjacent territorial and chronological frames. The comparison criteria are the components of the textile culture (raw materials, technology, decoration and application), according to which the sources of the Trans-Ural Eneolithic, Yamnaya, Catacomb, Andronovo communities are systematized. Such innovative technologies as weaving, woolen threads, madder dyeing were first noted in the South Trans-Urals in the Sintashta materials and find their closest parallels in the catacomb materials. The Sintashta, Petrovka and Alakul antiquities demonstrate a single textile technology, organically integrated into the Srubno-Andronovo “world” of steppe and forest-steppe cattle-breeding cultures of Northern Eurasia.

scholarly journals Absolute chronology of ceramics of the Lugovskoy type

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-135
Author(s):  
Konstantin Mikhailovich Andreev ◽  
Alexander Alekseevich Vybornov ◽  
Marianna Alekseevna Kulkova ◽  
Dmitriy Yurievich Khramov
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Silty Clay ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Existence Time

The ceramics of the Lugovskoy type is represented by small straight-walled, weakly profiled or rounded canals with a flat or flat-concave bottom. The surface of the vessels is carefully smoothed, the external one is clogged. The fragments of ceramics have a visually dense molding material; the original plastic raw materials are silty clay, which sometimes contain an admixture of sand, shell or organic matter. The bulk of the vessels are ornamented only with horizontal bands of pits or pearls, sometimes along the neck of the vessels. The formation of the Lugovskoy type is associated with the interaction of the Elshanskaya and Lower Volga populations, while the Elshanskaya component was dominant. The existence of the Lugovskoy type dishes belongs to the end of the early Neolithic period of the forest-steppe Volga region and characterizes the second stage of the development of the Elshanskaya culture. The problem of the absolute chronology of the Lugovskoy ceramics hasnt been studied yet. As a rule, the dating obtained for vessels of this type were considered in the context of the general chronology of the Elshanskaya culture and did not receive an appropriate interpretation in special works. To fill this gap is the main task of this paper. During the analysis of a representative series of radiocarbon determinations, it was established that the existence time of the dishes of the Lugovskoy type can be determined within the end of the first - second quarter of the 6th millennium BC. At the same time, with an increase in the radiocarbon date bank, the expansion of the chronological framework for the development of the final stage of the early Neolithic of the forest-steppe Volga region cannot be ruled out.

scholarly journals NATURAL AND CLIMATIC CRISES AS A FACTOR OF CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES IN THE NEOLITHIC–ENEOLITHIC OF THE LOWER VOLGA REGION

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Vybornov ◽  
◽  
Marianna A. Kulkova ◽  
Natalya S. Doga ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volga Region ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Technological Analysis

The Lower Volga region is important for studying natural and climatic crises as a factor of cultural and economic changes since the local Neolithic and Eneolithic societies are marked by the early appearance of ceramics, cattle breeding and copper items. However, the impact of natural and climatic crises on these processes has not been considered earlier for a number of reasons. First, most of the sites had not detailed information obtained by the analytic research on past environmental and climatic situation. Second, numerous and contradictory radiocarbon dates prevented from determination of the chronological frameworks of these processes. During the period of 2007–2020 the situation has begun to change with the appearance of new archaeological information including homogenous and stratified archaeological sites. The multidisciplinary research made it possible to obtain new data on the chronological framework of the Neolithic–Eneolithic cultures of the Lower Volga region in context of paleoclimatic reconstructions. The results of archaeozoological studies and technical-technological analysis of ceramics had a significant meaning too. Determination of the species composition helped to establish differences in zoological collections of the Neolithic of the Northern Caspian and the steppe Volga region. It was demonstrated that the emergence of a food producing economy in this territory is associated not with the Khvalynsk, but with the earlier Caspian culture. The entire set of data made it possible to bring the development of the question of environmental factors in cultural and economic changes in the Neolithic–Eneolithic of the Lower Volga region to a new level.

scholarly journals THE VARIANT OF THE TRANSITIONTO THE ENEOLITHIC IN THE LOWER VOLGAREGION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
А.А. Выборнов ◽  
Н.C. Дога ◽  
М.А. Кулькова
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga

Территория Нижнего Поволжья имеет важное значение для изучения культурогенеза. Особенно это касается переходных периодов. Исследователи относят прикаспийскую культуру к позднему неолиту или раннему энеолиту. Сравнение количества памятников, мощности слоев, жилищ, числа находок на стоянках не свидетельствует в пользу их увеличения по сравнению с поздненеолитическими. Ни появившиеся признаки (воротничок, гребенчатый штамп, сырье для изготовления орудий и др.), ни даже наличие элементов производящего хозяйства у носителей прикаспийской культуры не служат периодизационным критерием. Ведущим признаком перехода от неолита к энеолиту должны быть изменения в технологии изготовления орудий труда. Это прослеживается в появлении техники усиленного отжима. Учитывая отсутствие признаков металлообработки, прикаспийскую культуру следует относить к переходу от неолита к энеолиту. The area of the Lower Volga region is crucial for the studies of culturogenesis, especially, the transition periods. Scholars refer the Caspian culture to the Late Neolithic or the Early Eneolithic. The comparison of these two periods demonstrates that in the Early Eneolithic the number of sites, thickness of layers, dwellings, number of finds at the sites did not increase. There are a number of attributes (a collared rim, combed stamp, raw materials for manufacturing tools, etc.), but they are not technology-based. Presence of elements of producing economy in the area inhabited by representatives of the Caspian culture population is not used as a periodization criterion. Changes in the technology of manufacturing tools and implements must be used as the main evidence of the transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic. This transition manifests itself in the emergence of high pressure technology. Considering a lack of metalworking evidence, the Caspian culture should be referred to the period of transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic.

scholarly journals Результаты работ на грунтовом могильнике Максимовка I в лесостепном Поволжье в 2018 г.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-530
Author(s):  
Arkady I. Korolev ◽  
◽  
Vladimir N. Myshkin ◽  
Anton A. Shalapinin
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Metal Ring ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
The Third ◽  
The North ◽  
Grave Goods

Introduction. This is a report on the results of archaeological excavations at Maksimovka I, the subterranean burial ground located in the forest-steppe Volga region. The site is unique because it contains burial complexes of different epochs. The purpose of the paper is to introduce the materials found during the 2018 excavations for the attention of the academic community. In particular, the paper focuses on the description and characterization of the archaeological complexes under investigation, and, also, on their cultural-chronological attribution. Data. The cultural layer was not particularly rich but contained fragments of Neolithic, Eneolithic, and Bronze Age ceramics, stone tools, and waste left after stone processing. Three burials were examined in the excavation area. The first burial comprised the skeleton of a deceased person in a supine position; the head oriented to the north-northeast; the grave goods included iron items (a fragment of a boiler and of a bit, rod-shaped items, and a firesteel), grindstones, and flints. The second buried person was found in the seated position, leg bones bent at the knee joint, head oriented to northeast; the finds included a nonferrous metal ring, a bone pendant, a silicon wafer, and tubular beads. The third buried person was also in a seated position, head oriented to the northeast; no grave goods were found in the third burial. Also, two other burial constructions recovered on the site were partially examined. Results. The first burial was attributed to the Golden Horde period in the Middle Ages (the second half of the 13th or the 14th c.). The second burial has a number of parallels to burial complexes of mid-late Eneolithic era of the forest-steppe Volga region. The third burial was left unidentified in terms of its cultural-chronological attribution, granted the non-standard position of the skeletal remains in the grave and the absence of goods. Conclusions. The examination of the subterranean burial ground Maksimovka I has allowed to introduce the archaeological material of different periods, such as Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze, and Middle Ages.

scholarly journals Chiyalik culture and the Golden Horde

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-94
Author(s):  
Igor' Vladimirovich Antonov
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Special Contribution ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Western Eurasia ◽  
Burial Grounds

The object of this research is the interaction of the forest and forest-steppe habitat of Eastern Europe during the Golden Horde. The subject of this research is the interaction of the Chiyalik culture, formed in the forest-steppe zone of Volga-Ural region and the Golden Horde culture formed in the steppe zone of Western Eurasia. The monuments of Chiyalik culture – subsoil burial grounds and ancient settlements – are located in the valleys of the Rivers Kama, Belaya, Ika, Dema, Chermasan, Suni and other rivers in the eastern parts of modern Tatarstan and northwestern parts of the modern Bashkortostan, dating back from XII–XIV centuries. The bearers of Chiyalik culture were Ugric by origin, who have undergone Turkization and Islamization. The article explores the narrative sources that contain records on the relations between Uralic Ugric Peoples and Mongols, archaeological data on the objects of the Golden Horde import found on the monuments of Chiyalik culture. Special attention is given to the comparative analysis of narrative sources and archaeological data on the problem of interaction of Chiyalik culture and the Golden Horde as the synchronous historical phenomena. Narrative sources indicate the conquest of the territory of Chiyalik culture by the Mongols, tribute and labor conscriptions carried out by the local population in favor of the conquerors. The objects of the Golden Horde were detected on the settlement monuments: silver earrings and coins were found in Ufa-II settlement; copper coins were found in Iske–aul settlement; pottery and copper coins were found in Podymalovo-I settlement. Silver Golden Horde coins were found in the Taktalachuk and Azmetyevsky burial grounds. The author’s special contribution to this research lies in the conclusion that the paucity of findings is explained by the absence of large settlements, and the Muslim funeral rite. The novelty consists in establishment of the fact of the unilateral impact of the Golden Horde culture upon the Chiyalik culture: in exchange for the items of the Golden Horde import, were exported the raw materials, items of cattle breeding, hunting and beekeeping.

scholarly journals Mesolithic Sites in the Upper Tobol

2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-910
Author(s):  
E. V. Podzuban
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Arrow Head ◽  
Stone Industry ◽  
The Town

The article introduces prehistoric artifacts from the sites of Karasor-5, Karasor-6, and Karasor-7 obtained in 1998. The archaeological site of Karasor is located in the Upper Tobol region, near the town of Lisakovsk. Stone tools, pottery fragments, a ceramic item, and a bronze arrow head were collected from a sand blowout, which had destroyed the cultural layer. The paper gives a detailed description of the pottery. The stone tools were examined using the technical and typological analysis, which featured the primary splitting, the morphological parameters and size of plates, the ratio of blanks, plates, flakes, and finished tools, the secondary processing methods, and the typological composition of the tools. The nature of the raw materials was counted as an independent indicator. The pottery fragments, the bronze arrow head, and the ceramic item belonged to the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The stone industry of the Karasor archeological cluster proved to be a Mesolithic monument of the Turgai Trough. The technical and typological analysis revealed a close similarity with the Mesolithic sites of the Southern and Middle Trans-Urals, as well as the forest-steppe part of the Tobol-Irtysh interfluve. The stone artifacts were dated from the Mesolithic to the Early Iron Age.

scholarly journals Bracelet from an Elunino burial at the Teleut Vzvoz-I site

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
I.A. Valkov
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Trace Analysis ◽  
Western Siberia ◽  
Average Diameter ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article studies a stone bead bracelet found in an Early Bronze Age burial of the Elunino archaeological culture during the excavation of the Teleut Vzvoz-I burial ground (heterogeneous in time) in the south of Western Siberia (Forest-Steppe Altai). According to a series of calibrated radiocarbon dates, the Elunino burial ground at the Teleut Vzvoz-I site was used in the 22nd–18th centuries BC. The artefact under study was found in double burial No. 16 of the indicated burial ground, on the wrist of an adult (gender is not established). The bracelet in-cludes 66 stone beads, as well as one stone base. This piece of jewellery is unique in terms of technique, as well as the sacral meaning embedded in it. The ornament found on the beads bears no analogies to those discovered in the well-known Bronze Age archaeological sites of Western and Eastern Siberia. The present publication con-siders the morphological and raw material characteristics of the bracelet, as well as the specifics of its production and use. In this study, trace analysis was performed, i.e. the analysis of macro- and micro-traces left on the sur-face of the item as a result of its production and subsequent use. All traces were examined using an MBS-10 stereoscopic microscope at a magnification of ×16–56. It was found that some of the beads in the bracelet were made of serpentinite. The nearest sources of this stone are at least 250–300 km away from Teleut Vzvoz-I. The beads are made by counter-drilling, drilling of blind holes, polishing and grinding. This find is unique due to orna-mental compositions found on several beads in the form of oblique notches on side faces. The extremely small size of the beads (average diameter of 3.3 mm; average thickness of 1.4 mm) makes the pattern invisible to the naked eye. Thus, it is concluded that the ornament had a sacred meaning, and the bracelet itself served as an amulet. Despite no finds of ornamented bracelets dating back to the Bronze Age in Western Siberia and adjacent territories, typologically the bracelet bears analogies to the antiquities of the Okunevo culture, the Yamna cultural and historical community, as well as in the materials of the Bronze Age archaeological site of Gonur Depe (Turk-menistan). The study of the bracelet demonstrates the relevance of performing trace analysis of such items from other archaeological sites.

scholarly journals The Spread of the Neolithic in the South East European Plain: Radiocarbon Chronology, Subsistence, and Environment

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 783-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel M Dolukhanov ◽  
Anvar Shukurov ◽  
Kate Davison ◽  
Graeme Sarson ◽  
Natalia P Gerasimenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East European Plain ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
East European ◽  
The North ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Caspian Lowland ◽  
Early Farming ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology

Newly available radiocarbon dates show the early signs of pottery-making in the North Caspian area, the Middle-Lower Volga, and the Lower Don at 8–7 kyr cal BC. Stable settlements, as indicated by “coeval subsamples,” are recognized in the Middle-Lower Volga (Yelshanian) at 6.8 kyr cal BC and the Caspian Lowland at about 6 kyr cal BC. The ages of the Strumel-Gostyatin, Surskian, and Bug-Dniesterian sites are in the range of 6.6–4.5 kyr BC, overlapping with early farming entities (Starčevo-Körös-Criş and Linear Pottery), whose influence is perceptible in archaeological materials. Likewise, the 14C-dated pollen data show that the spread of early pottery-making coincided with increased precipitation throughout the forest-steppe area.

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