FRONTIER PHENOMENON IN A SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT

Abstract

Vitalij V. Otroschenko made a great contribution to the study of Copper and Bronze Age cultures in Ukraine. His researches of absolute and relative chronology, cultural changes and cultural coexistence have particular interest in the context of this article. They allow a reader to focus more reasonably on cultural and historical processes of North-Western Black Sea and Balkan-Carpathian regions staying within the frame of the frontier theory.
 Most of researchers on the topic consider the «frontier» as a special zone of interference of different cultures. The frontier is also meant a special area where several cultures meet, shaping new socio-cultural relations. The frontier differs from deeper territory in higher mobility, where movement of large groups of people create new forms of cultural and social contacts. The system of intercultural communication depends on many factors, including the history of formation of the cultural landscape of the territory where intercultural communication is taking place.
 Originally, the concept of «frontier» was applied exclusively to American history, but now we meet it in works related to the history of Ukraine. The situation of the frontier zone has begun to attract archeologists though in a rather narrow area concerning social changes (in the context of anthropological archeology).
 The special nature of the source base of history and archaeology, especially in the preliterate period, determines similarities and differences of frontier problems studying by these sciences. The specificity of archaeological artefacts, on which the study of archaeological cultures relies to a large extent, must also be taken into account: they can spread over quite long distances in the means of exchange, without people movement.
 In archaeological research of European Bronze Age, the Pit Grave (Yamnaya) culture is in the great importance; interest towards it has been reinforced by the latest genetic research. The mobility of society, innovation in the material culture of its western range allowed us to consider the Pit Grave cultural and historical community within the frontier theory.
 At the same time, the comparison of two adjacent frontier zones (North-Western Black Sea Coast and Balkan-Carpathian area) made it possible to compare their common and special traits, in the context of their interconnection and mutual influences, taking into account the aspect of social identification.