FRONTIER DYNAMICS IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATIC CHANGE

Abstract

Climatic changes (aridization) in the Early Bronze Age allowed the population of the North-Western Black Sea coast to use natural resources in a greater volume than before. On the one hand, steppe ecosystems were such resources. The expansion of the steppe zone and its transformation stimulated the development of cattle-breeding economy. Therefore, part of the agricultural Late Tripolye population chose to change territory (relocation to the Northwestern Black Sea coast) and switch to a new for themselves economic and cultural type (mobile cattle breeding) to overcome the crisis situation. In our opinion, the analysis of the archaeological sources and the cultural and ecological situation indicate that the North-Western Frontier can be attributed to the cattle-breeding type. Taking into account the analysis of the colonization attractors and the relations between the newcomers (Yamna culture) and the local population in the zone of the Balkan-Carpathian Frontier, we can conclude that it belongs to the trade type. Apparently, the population, having advanced from the North-Western Black Sea coast, built peaceful relations with its partners, organically fitting into the context of the communities of South-Eastern Europe. Consideration of interrelations of the Yamna culture population with the autochthonous population demonstrates the multivariance of contacts and the absence of uniform norms and scenarios. Each micro-region had its own peculiarities, which do not indicate the replacement of the local population by aliens. The conclusions of geneticists about the total migration of the Yamna population to Central and Southeastern Europe, which led to the replacement of genetics and the formation of new cultures, can be refuted not only in terms of archaeology, but also in the framework of the frontier theory. The starting point of the frontier is the meeting of different communities and the interaction between them, which leads to processes of transformation. This is why understanding the frontier as a process allows researchers to move from its spatial localization to the social aspect. The theory of the frontier opens wide prospects for historical and archaeological research.