ВПЛИВ ЗМІН ПРИРОДНИХ УМОВ НА РОЗКВІТ І ЗАНЕПАД ЗЕМЛЕРОБСЬКОЇ САБАТИНІВСЬКОЇ КУЛЬТУРИ ПІЗНЬОЇ БРОНЗИ НА ПІВДНІ УКРАЇНИ

Abstract

A pollen and soil study of deposits of the Novokyivka site sheds light on the environment of the Sabatynivka culture (Late Bronze Age, XIV-XIII cent. BC), which was located in the central part of the southern steppe of Ukraine: this record demonstrates that this time span was characterized by a sharp increase in humidity. This is reflected in the spread of mesophytic herbs in the area between the River Dnieper and the Sea of Azov. The dry treeless Artemisia-Poaceae steppe that existed in southern Ukraine at the threshold of the Late Bronze Age was replaced by an association of forbs and Poaceae. The area of the Oleshya woodland, in the low reaches of the River Dnieper, was larger than today, and mesophilic species (Carpinus betulus, Ulmus sp., Quercus robur, Tilia cordata, Corylus avellana) grew there. Earlier pollen and palaeopedological studies of the Late Bronze settlements in the forbs-Poaceae steppe of SE Ukraine also indicate a strong southward shift of meadow-steppe and forest-steppe zones. All of this evidence indicates a significantly higher humidity of the climate than today. The Sabatynivka culture demonstrates an unprecedented rise in the number of settlements and in arable agricultural development. The latter is confirmed by the presence of pollen grains of Cerealia and segetal weeds. The decline of the Sabatynivka culture was caused by another climatic shift: to aridification, that started in the XII cent. BC, and culminated in the X-VIII cent. BC. The population of the xeric steppe between the River Dnieper and the Sea of Azov was not able to continue the previous sedentary agriculture that had typified the Sabatynivka culture. Only temporary camps of cattle breeders occurred in the south-east of Ukraine. This crisis was not caused by the human-induced exhaustion of soil-biological resources, but by climatic factors, as it was not a local phenomenon: this strongest aridification at the end of the Late Bronze Age is revealed everywhere in areas of semi-arid and arid climate in the East- European steppe and the Mediterranean realm.