scholarly journals ETHNOCULTURAL CONTACTS OF THE NORTHEAST CAUCASUS POPULATION WITH STEPPE TRIBES AT THE END OF THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 82-94
Author(s):  
Gamzat D Ataev ◽  
Tufan I Ahundov

The article examines little-studied aspects of contacts between the population of the Northeast Caucasus and the steppe tribes in the end of the early and middle Bronze Age. The study is based on the material of archaeological researches, conducted in this area over the past 50 years. The work uses general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction), as well as comparative historical and typological methods of an archaeological research. The materials of archaeological excavations from the monuments of the considered time of various physical and geographical regions of Daghestan and Chechnya are analyzed and compared, as well as the opinions of a number of researchers. This allows a new approach to the disclosure of many aspects related to the study of the issue. As a result of studying the materials of archaeological monuments during the reviewed period, it can be stated that at the turn of the ages of the Early and Middle Bronze, the material and spiritual culture of the population of the North-Eastern Caucasus was undergoing cardinal shifts and changes. Inside the early bronze culture of Daghestan there were processes associated with the maturation of many elements of subsequent cultures of the Middle Bronze Age. New cultures of this age have features of continuity from the previous culture, but already possesses vivid and distinctive features of other cultural traditions. At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, Northern and Middle Daghestan were intensively influenced by steppe crops, which then changed its culture, while Southern Daghestan transformed culture somewhat later. As a result of the research, it became possible to study the complex nature and dynamics of cultural-historical relations between local, autochthonous and steppe population, to determine the role of steppe tribes in the formation of the culture of the Middle Bronze Age of the Northeast Caucasus.

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 678-703
Author(s):  
Gamzat D. Ataev ◽  
Туфан Исаак-оглу Ахундов

The article is devoted to the study of cult sanctuaries of the early and middle bronze age, which are one of the most important sources for the reconstruction of ideological ideas of the population of Dagestan. The work is based on the materials of settlements, burial grounds, research sanctuaries, attraction and analysis of religious objects, rock paintings, which reflect the ideological ideas of the ancient population of the North-Eastern Caucasus, and Dagestan, in particular. The purpose and objective of this article is a comprehensive study of religious sanctuaries and monuments of art, on the basis of which the study of ancient religious and ideological ideas of the local population in the early and middle bronze age. A comprehensive study of household, burial and religious monuments, the study of which reveals the various religious beliefs and rituals, as well as objects of worship of the population of Dagestan in the early and middle bronze age allowed to highlight many of the problems associated with the ideological beliefs of the local population. The considered materials show that the tribes of Dagestan in the early and middle bronze age had a fairly complex and developed ideology for that time. At the heart of the beliefs of ancient farmers and pastoralists, judging by the study of religious sanctuaries, rock paintings and hearths was the worship of various cults: fertility cults, agricultural cults, cults of animals, wood, etc. They are also expressed in different characters – solar, agricultural, female, etc. Their study helped to get an idea of the spiritual culture of the population of the region to reveal that the population of Dagestan during the early and middle bronze age there existed a complex and diverse beliefs.


1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-121
Author(s):  
Erik Drenth

Lohof's paper represents a brave attempt to relate burial ritual of the Late Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age in the north-eastern Netherlands to social change in general. Being the first study of its kind for this area, it certainly deserves our attention.


1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Lohof

This article is based on the results of a project on social change in the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the north-eastern Netherlands, which ended in 1991. Although the project originally focused on the possible development of social stratification, here, the emphasis will be on the relationship between burial ritual and social change in general. Before embarking on the main argument, it should be understood that the link between burial ritual and social change by no means implies the view that burial ritual reflects all social changes which take place within a society, nor that the changes observed in the burial ritual are essential to an understanding of the society concerned. The burial ritual offers us no more than an opportunity to study past social changes. The resulting interpretations should be supported and tested by other expressions of material culture, such as those concerning economy and settlement patterns.


Starinar ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 269-286
Author(s):  
Perica Spehar ◽  
Natasa Miladinovic-Radmilovic ◽  
Sonja Stamenkovic

In 2012, in the village Davidovac situated in south Serbia, 9.5 km south-west from Vranje, archaeological investigations were conducted on the site Crkviste. The remains of the smaller bronze-age settlement were discovered, above which a late antique horizon was later formed. Apart from modest remains of a bronze-age house and pits, a late antique necropolis was also excavated, of which two vaulted tombs and nine graves were inspected during this campaign. During the excavation of the northern sector of the site Davidovac-Crkviste the north-eastern periphery of the necropolis is detected. Graves 1-3, 5 and 6 are situated on the north?eastern borderline of necropolis, while the position of the tombs and the remaining four graves (4, 7-9) in their vicinity point that the necropolis was further spreading to the west and to the south?west, occupying the mount on which the church of St. George and modern graveyard are situated nowadays. All graves are oriented in the direction SW-NE, with the deviance between 3? and 17?, in four cases toward the south and in seven cases toward the north, while the largest part of those deviations is between 3? and 8?. Few small finds from the layer above the graves can in some way enable the determination of their dating. Those are two roman coins, one from the reign of emperor Valens (364-378), as well as the fibula of the type Viminacium-Novae which is chronologically tied to a longer period from the middle of the 5th to the middle of the 6th century, although there are some geographically close analogies dated to the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century. Analogies for the tombs from Davidovac can be found on numerous sites, like in Sirmium as well as in Macvanska Mitrovica, where they are dated to the 4th-5th century. Similar situation was detected in Viminacium, former capital of the roman province of Upper Moesia. In ancient Naissus, on the site of Jagodin Mala, simple rectangular tombs were distributed in rows, while the complex painted tombs with Christian motifs were also found and dated by the coins to the period from the 4th to the 6th century. Also, in Kolovrat near Prijepolje simple vaulted tombs with walled dromos were excavated. During the excavations on the nearby site Davidovac-Gradiste, 39 graves of type Mala Kopasnica-Sase dated to the 2nd-3rd century were found, as well as 67 cist graves, which were dated by the coins of Constantius II, jewellery and buckles to the second half of the 4th or the first half of the 5th century. Based on all above mentioned it can be concluded that during the period from the 2nd to the 6th century in this area existed a roman and late antique settlement and several necropolises, formed along an important ancient road Via militaris, traced at the length of over 130 m in the direction NE-SW. Data gained with the anthropological analyses of 10 skeletons from the site Davidovac-Crkviste don't give enough information for a conclusion about the paleo-demographical structure of the population that lived here during late antiquity. Important results about the paleo-pathological changes, which do not occur often on archaeological sites, as well as the clearer picture about this population in total, will be acquired after the osteological material from the site Davidovac-Gradiste is statistically analysed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-114
Author(s):  
Arsen L. Budaychiev

The main purpose of this article is a typological and chronological study of the handles of ceramic vessels originating from fairly well-studied sites of the Early Bronze Age of the Primorsky Lowland of Dagestan, including both settlements (Velikent II, Gemetyube I, II, Kabaz-Kutan I, II, Torpakh-kala), and and burial grounds (Velikent I (catacomb No. 8), II (catacomb No. 1), III (catacomb No. 1), Karabudakhkent II, Kayakent VI). The first handles in the North-Eastern Caucasus appeared on ceramic ware back in the Eneolithic era. During the early Bronze Age, handles became a characteristic part of ceramic dishes (bowls, containers, cups, vases) on the considered sites of Primorsky Dagestan. Functionally, they have a utilitarian, decorative, artistic and religious purpose. The handles are of four types, which are characteristic of certain forms of dishes: type 1 - horizontal tubular, type 2 - ribbon, type 3 - pseudo-handles, type 4 - hemispherical. The article provides a description of each type of pens, provides analogues on the sites of the Early Bronze Age both in the Northeast Caucasus and the adjacent regions of the Caucasus, including the territories of modern Iran, Turkey and Palestine and Israel, which were part of the distribution area of ​​the Kuro-Arak cultural and historical community ( including Khirbet-Kerak culture). The work identifies the most common and early, dating back to the Chalcolithic period, types of pens, discusses the issue of their chronology. This article is the first special work devoted to a typological and chronological analysis of ceramic vessel handles.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalya Petrovna Salugina ◽  
Nina Leonidovna Morgunova ◽  
Mihail Aleksandrovich Turetskii

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).


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-274
Author(s):  
Flemming Kaul

Abstract The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.


1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Woodman

This study examines the archaeological significance of the material from a group of Neolithic chipping floors rescued during the rebuilding of the Antrim coast road, at Mad Mans Window, south of Glenarm, Co. Antrim. It shows that the lithic production strategies vary significantly between assemblages although it is presumed that they are all Neolithic in date and come from the same area of coast. It is apparent that flint axe production was of limited importance on these sites and that in spite of the abundance of flint available along the Antrim coast, relatively few polished flint axes were manufactured. Instead the numerous flint caches found in adjacent parts of the north-east of Ireland tend to produce scrapers and blades. Hoards containing arrowheads may be confined to the Bronze Age.Around 300 polished flint axes and roughouts are known from Ireland. These are frequently small and only partially polished. A limited number of highly polished axes with ground flat side facets have been designated sub-type A. The tendency to use porcellanite rather than flint for axe manufacture may be due to its ability to withstand robust shock.During the last 100 years, the role of flint as a key resource in the stone age of north-eastern Ireland has always been recognized but this has usually led to an uncritical assumption as to the paramount importance of flint. Work in recent years has shown that its significance in attracting and retaining Mesolithic settlement may have been over-emphasized.The role of the flint industries in the Irish Neolithic in this region has never been properly assessed, either in relation to older Mesolithic manufacturing traditions or in the broader context of supply to the Neolithic communities of this part of Ireland.In particular, good or even reasonable quality flint is usually only exposed in Cretaceous outcrops along a narrow strip on the edge of the basalt plateau and, therefore, has a very limited availability in parts of Co. Antrim as well as parts of Counties Down and Deny. As a contrast, erratic and beach flint is available in some quantity down the east coast of Ireland from Co. Down to Wexford. A second potential constraining factor is that unlike Britain, where flint was exploited for axe manufacture in the east and other rocks in the west, flint sources and porcellanite for axe manufacturing are both found adjacent to each other in the same corner of Co. Antrim. In particular, a number of more substantial chipping floors of Neolithic age are known, e.g. the opencast quarry sites at Ballygalley Head. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of flint production on the Antrim coast with particular reference to its significance in the Neolithic. This topic will be developed in the context of an analysis of the material found at Mad Mans Window near Glenarm.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 110-116
Author(s):  
Aleh Yurjevich Tkachou

The paper discusses the Early Neolithic pottery from the Western Belarus, pottery of Dubičiai type. The set of its most distinctive features includes organic temper in clay mass, a belt of deep round pits under a rim edge, strokes by round stick (hoofs), slantwise thin grooved lines or slantwise net ornament of such lines. Hypotheses on the origin of Dubičiai type pottery are under discussion as well. According to many scholars, the area of occurrence of Dubičiai type pottery includes Belarusian part of the River Neman region (except the River Viliya basin), the left-bank of the upper Prypiat River basin, the southern Lithuania, the part of the north-eastern Poland, and the northern part of Volhynia. At the same time D.Ya. Telegin, E.N. Titova, G.V. Okhrimenko distinguish the Volhynian culture in the region of the same name. It has many traits analogous to the Prypiat-Neman culture. The scale of differences between the Early Neolithic pottery from Western Polesia and Volhynia and Dubičiai type pottery from the River Neman region allows considering the Volhynian culture as not a separate culture but as a local variant of the Neman culture. Sokołwek type pottery has been discovered at the sites in Podlasie and in Belarusian part of the River Bug region. It is analogous to Dubičiai type pottery by morphology and ornamentation but has less of organic temper in clay mass. Most probably, it is a result of local development of the Early Neolithic traditions in the western part of Prypiat-Neman culture area.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Scherer ◽  
Benjamin Höpfer ◽  
Katleen Deckers ◽  
Elske Fischer ◽  
Markus Fuchs ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA) land use practices in the north-western Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including the biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits in the surrounding of the well-documented settlement site of Anselfingen and offsite pollen data from two peat bogs. This approach allowed in-depth insights into the MBA subsistence economy and shows that the MBA in the north-western Alpine foreland was a period of establishing settlements with sophisticated land management and land use practices. The reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition was based on ages from optically luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dating from multi-layered colluvial deposits and supports the local archaeological record with the first phase of major colluvial deposition occurring during the MBA followed by phases of colluvial deposition during the Iron Age, the Medieval period, and modern times. The onsite deposition of charred archaeobotanical remains and animal bones from archaeological features, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), charcoal spectra, phytoliths, soil microstructure, urease enzymatic activity, microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and heavy metal contents, were used as proxies for onsite and near-site land use practices. The charcoal spectra indicate MBA forest management which favoured the dominance of Quercus in the woodland vegetation in the surrounding area north of the settlement site. Increased levels of 5ß stanols (up to 40 %) and the occurrence of pig bones (up to 14 %) support the presence of a forest pasture mainly used for pig farming. In the surrounding area south of the settlement, an arable field with a buried MBA plough horizon (2Apb) could be verified by soil micromorphological investigations and high concentrations of grass phytoliths from leaves and stems. Agricultural practices (e.g. ploughing) focussed on five stable cereal crops (Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta, Triticum aestivum/turgidum), while the presence of stilted pantries as storage facilities and of heat stones indicate post-harvest processing of cereal crops and other agrarian products within the settlement. In the area surrounding the settlement, increased levels of urease activity, compared to microbial biomass carbon (up to 2.1 µg N µg Cmic−1), and input of herbivorous and omnivorous animal faeces indicate livestock husbandry on fallow land. The PAH suites and their spatial distribution support the use of fire for various purposes, e.g. for opening and maintaining the landscape, for domestic burning and for technical applications. The offsite palynological data support the observed change in onsite and near-site vegetation as well as the occurrence of related land use practices. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age fire played a major role in shaping the landscape (peak of micro-charcoal during the MBA) and anthropogenic activities promoted oak dominated forest ecosystems at the expense of natural beech forests. This indicates a broader regional human influence in the north-western Alpine foreland at low and mid altitude inland sites during the Middle Bronze Age.


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