Information Achievements of Prehistory in the Panorama of Archaeological Cultures in the Urals and Western Siberia

Abstract

Our focus is the type of responses the population of the taiga zone of the Urals and Western Siberia gave to cognitive challenges, as well as dynamics and rhythms of information breakthroughs of the Stone-Early Iron Age. The existence of multi-directional migration corridors indicated formation of an extremely diverse anthropological, linguistic and cultural composition of the taiga pioneer population, thus creating natural communication barriers in the context of severe inter-group competition for resources. Against this background, in the Neolithic (7th–5th millenniums BC), a practice of building fortified settlements, hill-forts, and “sacrificial hills” became widespread — and that was not typical of hunters and fishermen. Erection of those complex and labor-consuming structures required mobilization of a significant number of people, as well as resources and expertise, and contributed to group consolidation in a new territory. It was that type of dramatic disruption that occurred at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millenniums BC. Considerable changes in the way of life of the taiga population came as a direct result of the “metallurgical revolution”. The development of independent metallurgical centers in the Middle Urals traditional ideas about the inability of the population of the appropriating lifestyle to adopt transformative strategies. The northernmost regions became another watershed in the region. The turn of the Eras was marked by development in reindeer herding, which was accompanied by a series of discoveries in the fields of food production, transport development, communications, trade, and symbolic activities. Archaeological data directly indicate the formation of adequate responses and information breakthroughs to the cognitive challenges of the high latitudes of Eurasia, and explain the variety of forms of socio- ideological adaptations and evolutionary alternatives.