THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IN THE MIDDLE DNIESTER AREA (CATACOMB CULTURE)

Abstract

Summary. The article is devoted to the consideration of the sites of the Catacomb culture, which are located between the Middle Dniester and Prut rivers, as well as on the left bank of the Dniester. Structure of the grave, position of the buried, funeral assemblage, with other sites of this culture from the North-Western Black Sea region are analyzed. The researchers note the infiltration of the population of the Yamna and Catacomb cultures into the Syan River basin, which was reflected in the ritual site Swente (Poland).Probably, the ways of moving of part of the steppe population to Central Europe in the early and middle Bronze Age could pass through the territory of the Middle Dniester. The proposals concerning the correspondence of civilization experiences of community groups, settling the north-western Black Sea Coast and the Baltic basin, should be treated as an important voice in the possible further discussion. It puts a «Сentral European perspective» on the Dniester Contact Area of interest to us.The data of radiocarbon dating of the Catacomb sites of the Middle Dniester region are also analyzed.