Neolithic and Bronze Age cultural communities of the steppe zone of the USSR

Abstract

The culture-historical development of Neolithic and Bronze Age communities under Eurasian steppe conditions is indissolubly linked with the establishment and development of early forms of productive economy, and displays a number of distinguishing features, which are the product of both natural and historical factors.Within the USSR, the steppe extends from the mouth of the Danube to the upper reaches of the Ob and the Altai mountains (Milkov 1977). To the north, the steppes naturally grade in to the forest zone to form a belt of transitional foreststeppe landscape. To the south, the steppe is bounded by the coast of the Black Sea, the foothills of the Caucasus and beginning in the Lower Volga region the semi-deserts and, further south, deserts of Soviet Central Asia.