The Sintashta-Petrovka settlement organization during the Late Bronze Age in the steppes of the southern Urals: A case of the Kamennyi Ambar settlement

Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of an intensive study of the surroundings of the Late Bronze Age walled settlement of Kamennyi Ambar in the southern Urals, Russia. We aimed to discover and study plausible cultural layers in close vicinity to the surrounding wall in order to receive comparative data from materials that, as we expected, people had left there. To study the area, we drilled out 130 cores, excavated 17 test pits, and conducted 10 cross-sections of natural ravines near the site, which revealed cultural layers and materials. The application of exploratory data analysis allowed us their characterization. By comparing data from inside with data from outside the wall, we hypothesized that the cultural layer is a product of other activities than dumping garbage from inside or conducting activities such as smelting. Instead, the area could be occupied by a semi-mobile group of people who lived there only part-time, presumably, during the winters. Perhaps, people lived in movable tents that cannot be easily found archaeologically.