Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables

Agriculture is a complex and dynamic socio-ecological system shaped by environmental, economic, and social factors. The crop resource pool is its key component and one that best reflects environmental limitations and socio-economic concerns of the farmers. This pertains in particular to small-scale subsistence production, as was practised by Neolithic farmers. We investigated if and how the environment and cultural complexes shaped the spectrum and diversity of crops cultivated by Neolithic farmers in the central-western Balkans and on the Hungarian Plain. We did so by exploring patterns in crop diversity between biogeographical regions and cultural complexes using multivariate statistical analyses. We also examined the spectrum of wild-gathered plant resources in the same way. We found that the number of species in Neolithic plant assemblages is correlated with sampling intensity (the number and volume of samples), but that this applies to all archaeological cultures. Late Neolithic communities of the central and western Balkans exploited a large pool of plant resources, whose spectrum was somewhat different between archaeological cultures. By comparison, the earliest Neolithic tradition in the region, the Starčevo-Körös-Criş phenomenon, seems to have used a comparatively narrower range of crops and wild plants, as did the Linearbandkeramik culture on the Hungarian Plain.

NEW DATA ABOUT THE HOARDS OF ROMAN COINS FROM THE HRODNA REGION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

The article provides information on five new locations of Roman coins from the Hrodna region of the Republic of Belarus: three hoards, as well as two collective finds that can be interpreted as parts of hoards. All of them are represented by denarii of the Roman Empire. Only in one of the deposits – from the village of Bačancy – there is a hybrid barbarian imitation of the imperial denarius. Another of the hoards, found near the village of Varanki, contains, in addition to denarii, fragments of cut silver items, which dates to the beginning of the Migration Period, which makes it possible to determine the date of hiding of this complex in the 5th century. All these finds were made in the course of illegal searches and, unfortunately, only one hoard (Bačancy) almost entirely ended up in the museum collection. The rest of the deposits went to private collections, which hinders their detailed study. Along with new finds in the Hrodna region, there are from 9 to 13 hoards of antique coins. Most of them consist of denarii of the Roman Empire (sometimes along with barbarian imitations). Of the other deposits, the most interesting are the hoard of Roman Republican denarii from under the village of Luckaŭliany, a complex of bronze Alexandrian tetradrachms from under the village of Turec and a hoard (?) of perforated aurei from under the village of Ambileŭcy. Most of the hoards of Roman coins from the Hrodna region can be associated with the East Germans (Pszeworsk and Wielbark archaeological cultures), who penetrated into the Neman River basin inhabited by Baltic tribes in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. It is with the Germans that the vast majority of the hoards of Roman Imperial denarii found on the territory of Barbaricum are associated. It is also possible that some of the hoards could have been deposited by the Balts, which are under powerful East German influence.

Comprehensive Archaeological and Palaeoecological Studies of the Holocene Chronosequence in the Southern Taiga of the Middle Yenisei

The article presents the results of a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of archaeological and palaeoecological data. The aim of the study was to identify climatic changes in the habitat and their impact on the formation of the palaeoeconomics of the ancient population, on the expansion or reduction of the area of archaeological cultures with foraging and producing economy. Based on the analysis of palaeosignals obtained by a complex of methods (pollen, botanical analysis of peat, charcoal analysis, determination of the ash content of sediments), the following intervals of changing conditions were identified: 7400—6800 calibrated years before present (cal. BP) — humidity reduction, 4850—4400 cal. BP — an increase in humidity, 3850—3150 cal. BP — decrease in humidity, 3150—2000 cal. BP — stable humid, with 1600 cal. BP — moisture reduction, 1250—700 cal. BP — minimal moisture. Changes in conditions are consistent with changes in the boundaries of the subzone of the southern taiga and forest-steppe, as well as with the range of cultures of Siberian hunters, fishers, gatherers and pastoralists. The results can be projected over the entire Siberian region.

First Migration of Peoples and Zarubinets Culture

The article is devoted to one event in ancient history, called ‘The First Migration of Peoples,’ which was studied and commented on many times when the Germanic tribes Cimbri and Teutons carried out many years of displacement in the space of Central Europe. Despite their defeat by Rome, this event caused a powerful movement of other tribes, especially towards Eastern Europe, where many new archaeological cultures were formed. Among them, a special place is occupied by the Zarubinets culture and its part in the history of Eastern Europe. The purpose of the study is to determine the place of Zarubinets culture in the history of eastern Europe. The research methodology consists in the use of general scientific, special and interdisciplinary methods. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the Zarubinets culture of Eastern Europe is considered against the background of the Western European tribe’s movement due to Roman expansion. Conclusions. The question of the Zarubinets culture's origin is still debatable. Now there is no particular objection to the opinion that the genesis of Zarubinets culture was a complex process that reflected the peculiarities of both the internal development of the local population and the effects of external circumstances, reflecting the movement of tribes in the Center for Europe.

New data on human skulls from the ritual complex of the Bystrovka-2 Early Iron Age burial ground

Various kinds of postmortem manipulations with the bodies of the dead were widespread in the ritual practice of the Scythian tribes of Eurasia. One of the evidences of such practice is finds of isolated skeletal bones or skulls buried in an unusual context. One of the sites where such finds was discovered is the Bystrovka-2 burial ground of the Kamenka archaeological culture in the Novosibirsk Ob region. In the kurgan 9 of this site, a ritual complex containing the burial of three human skulls, previously displayed on stakes or poles was excavated. In this article we present the results of recent anthropological analyzes of these skulls and discuss the question concerning the origin of the sacrificed people. The analyzed data allow us to say that in the Kamenka society, putting heads on poles rather had an apotropic function than was connected with military cults. The sacrificed people were selected from the strongest and healthiest young people. The condition of the bones of the skull and dentition of the examined individuals definitely indicates a relatively low level of biological stress. Comparison of the skulls from Bystrovka-2 with the skull found at the Kulayka settlement of Bolshoi Log in Omsk showed the possibility of coincidence of some mythical and ritual practices among the Kamenka and Kulayka archaeological cultures. The intentional lesions found on the skulls from these two sites are functionally and anatomically fully identical. The first group of injuries observed at the base of the skull are traces of postmortem decapitation, the second found on the cranial vault is technological holes for fixing the head on a pole. The central element of the ritual in both cases was precisely placing the head on a pole and thus creating an apotrope indicating the border of the “clean” territory.

Contacts of Bronze - Early Iron Age Archaeological Cultures with Synchronous Cultures of the Outer World (General overview)

The Eneolithic and Bronze-Early Iron Age cultures prevalent in the territory of Western Georgia do not seem to be isolated from the archeological cultures of the outside world, but there are observed quite close contact-relations between them. In the Eneolithic Age, with pottery and one group of stone artifacts, there are close contacts with Upper Imereti and pre-Maykop materials. The touching points are also revealed between the Dolmen and Proto-Colchian cultures. According to some of the metal artefacts of Upper Svaneti and Upper Racha (Brill Cemetery), contacts are observed with the materials of the Maykop and Digoria cultural materials…., Which took place through communication routes leading to some of the passes of the Central Caucasus Range. We have met elements of Mtkvari-Araks and Proto-Colchian cultures in Dablagomi settlement (Samtredia region). With some of the materials found in Colchis, some contacts are revealed with the Beden culture existing on the territory of Shida Kartli. In the territory of Western Georgia (Adjara, Eastern Colchis) mainly in the composition of bronze treasures are found the axes from Central Transcaucasian, which must have gotten here as a result of the relations between the populations of Western and Eastern Georgia. Imported pottery found in southwestern Colchis (Makhvilauri hill-settlement) reveals certain relations with the Proto-Hittite world. The connections with separate artifacts of Bronze Age ceramic materials found in Colchis with materials from Asia Minor can be seen.

Identifying Archaeological Cultures in India: A Critical Appraisal

From a critical review of excavation reports and narratives on the Bronze Age sites, it turns out that archaeological cultures in Indian civilisation are mostly archaeologists’ constructions, resulting from the archaeologists’ subjective classification and typology. It notes inconsistencies of typologies, their ineffectiveness in comprehending the past and failure to establish the structure of the total culture as well as the main features of people’s conditions of life. Archaeologists’ constructs of multiple micro-cultures of ceramic identity may thus tend to obfuscate the macro-picture of larger composite cultures in the long process of the formation of Indian civilisation.

CIMBRI AND TEUTONS OR «THE FIRST GREAT MIGRATION»

Статья посвящена одному событию в древней истории, которое много раз исследовалось и комментировалось, когда германские племена кимвры и тевтоны осуществили многолетнее перемещение в пространстве Центральной Европы, которое можно назвать «первым переселением народов». Они были разгромлены Римом, но это событие вызвало мощное движение других племен, особенно в сторону Восточной Европы, где образовалось много новых археологических культур. Среди них особое значение имеет зарубинецкая культура и её роль в истории Восточной Европы. The article is devoted to an event in ancient history, which has been studied and commented on many times, when the Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons carried out a long-term movement in the space of Central Europe, which can be called the “first migration of peoples”. They were defeated by Rome, but this event caused a powerful movement of other tribes, especially towards Eastern Europe, where many new archaeological cultures were formed. Among them, a special place is occupied by the Zarubinets culture and its place in the history of Eastern Europe.

Who Burned Trypillian Settlements — Herdsmen of the Steppe or Farmers of the Forest-Steppe?

In 2023, Ukraine will celebrate the 130th anniversary of Trypillian culture discovery by Vikentii Khvoika. What has changed in the understanding of the heritage left by such a mysterious and unique Ukrainian archaeological cultures as Trypillia? One of the problems stating that the “sites” in terrestrial housings were not cult burial structures but the remnants of residential buildings was solved. However, in the 1970s, Soviet archaeologists had a bizarre fantasy offered by K. Zinkovskyi that Trypillian settlements had been burned not by conquerors – steppe herders – but by Trypillians themselves. This fantasy was confidently denied by such authoritative archaeologists as V. Petrov, V. Zbenovych, I. Sveshnikov, H. Todorova, M. Gimbutas, V. Dergachev. At the beginning of the 21st century, due to the creation of the state reserve “Trypillian Culture” in Cherkasy region, holding of more than ten “Trypillian Circle” festivals in Kyiv region, and introduction of a tourist route from Kyiv to Lviv, the Ukrainian interest in Trypillian culture as an Eneolithic civilization of farmers grew significantly. During this period, some archaeologists (N. Burdo, M. Videiko, V. Kruts, O. Korvin-Piotrovskyi) extracted from the archives the forgotten imagination of K. Zinkovskyi, gradually and methodically began to prove to their colleagues-archaeologists and Ukrainians that Trypillia farmers ritually burned their settlements. Archaeological sites, unfortunately, keep silent about rituals, but they can testify about those who conquered Trypillia and burned their settlements. In addition, M. Videiko believes that the melee weapons of the people of Trypillia are better than the bows and arrows of the steppe horsemen, while Trypillians also fought among themselves. D. Telegin and V. Dergachev refuted such versions in their research of Middle Stog herdsmen. But on the other hand, the situation is confused by Yu.Rassamakin, who unjustifiably replaces the well-known Middle Stog people with Skelians, Kvitiants, and Derevites, who did not seem to be at war, but traded with European farmers.Thus, in the Eneolithic history of independent Ukraine, artificial problems arose. The author, systematizing the interpretations of famous archaeologists and the experience of the post-Eneolithic epochs, tried to solve them in his article.