Southern Cis-Urals Research Articles

The first report of Silvacarcinus (Crustacea: Brachyura: Orithopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern Cis-Urals (Orenburg Oblast, Russia)

The first report of Silvacarcinus (Crustacea: Brachyura: Orithopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern Cis-Urals (Orenburg Oblast, Russia)

А New Species of the Genus Lekiskochiton (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from the Lower Permian Reef Limestones of Shakhtau (Southern Cis-Urals)

А New Species of the Genus Lekiskochiton (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from the Lower Permian Reef Limestones of Shakhtau (Southern Cis-Urals)

Этнокультурный ландшафт средневековых мавзолеев Волго-Уралья

The purpose of the study: To show that the Golden Horde mausoleums (keshene) of the Southern Cis-Urals – Husein-bek, Tura Khan, Bendebike, Kesene (Ta­merlane’s Tower) – belong not only to different architectural schools, but they also belong to different ethnocultural and geographical spaces. In this regard, the following tasks were laid out: To show that the Keshene Bendebike and the “Tower of Tamerlane” belong to a large group of so-called. steppe brick mausoleums built in the steppes of the Volga and Southern Urals according to the canons of the Central Asian architectural school. Erected in the second half to the end of the 14th century (or even at the beginning of the 15th century), they were intended to perpetuate the memory of representatives of the elite of the Golden Horde nomads. Unlike the brick ones, the stone mausoleums-keshene of Husein-bek, Tura Khan, Small Keshene were built according to the traditions of Bulgarian architecture in the forest-steppe regions of the Dema River valley, a territory inhabited in the 14th century, by carriers of the Chiyalik culture. Research materials: The study uses geographical, archaeological, and folklore data on the kashene mausoleums of the Southern Cis-Urals obtained by researchers of the 18th–20th centuries. Results and scientific novelty: The geography of the distribution of brick mausoleums in the steppes of the Volga and Cis-Ural regions shows that, based on the time of their construction, they could have appeared among the Golden Horde nomads even at a time when paganism was not completely supplanted by Islam (there are numerous nomadic burials with coins of Uzbekistan and later rulers). Thus, mausoleums erected over the graves of the nomadic elite became an organic part of the culture of the nomads of the Golden Horde. The stone mausoleums of the Cis-Urals had nothing to do with nomadic culture. They were built in the ethnocultural space and on the territory of settlement of semi-nomadic carriers of the Chiyalik culture (Ishtyak-Ugrians). They became centers of Muslim cemete­ries quite late – not earlier than the 17th century – when the “Chiyaliks” were already assimilated by the Turkic ancestors of the Dem Bashkir-Mings/Mings. Therefore, in the historical memory of their descendants, the Bashkirs of the 18th–19th centuries, the stone keshenes of Husein-bek and Tura Khan were overgrown with traditions and legends, the plots and cha­racters of which are not directly related to the ethnocultural history of the Bashkirs.

Bronze age paleosols in the steppe area of the southern Cis-Urals in solving the problems of paleopedology and archaeology (a case-study of the Tashla IV site in the Orenburg region)

The aim of the study. To study the Bronze Age paleosols (Yamnaya and Srubnaya cultures), perform paleoclimatic reconstructions and comparison with previously studied synchronous paleosols in the Cis-Urals steppe. Location and time of the study. The studied site is located in the Orenburg region in the steppe area of the Southern Cis-Urals. In July 2019 and 2021 together with researchers from the archaeological laboratory of the Orenburg Pedagogical University, rescue excavations were carried out at the Tashla IV kurgan cemetery, located near the Tashla village. Kurgans 1 (Yamnaya culture) and 2 (Srubnaya culture) were studied. Methods. A comprehensive morphogenetic analysis of the soils buried beneath the kurgans and surface soils of the studied site was carried out; the soils were described in detail and classified in the field. Soil samples were analyzed for particle size distribution, loss of ignition, pH of the water extraction, content of organic and carbonate carbon, exchangeable bases and magnetic susceptibility. To carry out the paleoclimatic reconstructions, the chronosequence and comparative geographic methods were used. Results. It was established that the studied soils were buried under the kurgans at the beginning of the development of both cultures, when the stages of climatic aridization were close to their ending or ended in the first half of the 4th millennium BC (Yamnaya culture) and at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC (Srubnaya culture). The climatic aridization during the Early stage of the Srubnaya culture was more significant than in the Early (Repinsky) stage of the Yamnaya culture, and this conclusion was made for the first time for the studied region. Conclusions. The studied soils properties could be grouped according to the characteristic times of their response to changes in external conditions: magnetic susceptibility, associated with microbiological activity, refers to rapidly changing properties, i.e. in the first decades, whereas changes in other studied properties require from several decades to hundreds of years. Comparison of the Srubnaya paleosol buried under kurgan 2 in the studied site with other soils of the same culture in the region made it possible to place it more accurately on the time scale, attributing to the very beginning of the 18th century BC, and additionally to characterize in detail the climate change within the time span of the Srubnaya culture of the Cis-Urals steppe.

The Rostroconch Family Bransoniidae from the Early Permian Shakhtau Reef Massif (Mollusca, Southern Cis-Urals)

The Rostroconch Family Bransoniidae from the Early Permian Shakhtau Reef Massif (Mollusca, Southern Cis-Urals)

Taxonomical Diversity and Morphology of Rostroconch Shells of the Family Arceodomidae fam. nov. from the Early Permian Shakhtau Reef Massif (Mollusca; Southern Cis-Urals)

Taxonomical Diversity and Morphology of Rostroconch Shells of the Family Arceodomidae fam. nov. from the Early Permian Shakhtau Reef Massif (Mollusca; Southern Cis-Urals)

Spatial Structure of Steppe Marmot Populations under Protection Regime in the Southern CIS-Urals

Spatial Structure of Steppe Marmot Populations under Protection Regime in the Southern CIS-Urals

The Most Ancient Representatives of the Genus <i>Pinna</i> (Bivalvia) in the Early Permian Reef of Shakhtau (Southern Cis-Urals, Russia)

A new and most ancient species of the genus Pinna, P. pacata sp. nov., has been described from the Lower Permian deposits of the Shakhtau reef (southern Urals, Russia). Until now, the most ancient finds of representatives of this genus were known from the Lower Triassic. The new species adds to the list of species ancestral to Mesozoic forms, which makes it possible to consider the Ural Strait as one of the centers of Late Paleozoic mollusk diversification.

Peculiarities of reproduction and dynamics of forests in the Southern Cis-Urals

The article presents statistical data on the dynamics of the forest fund of the Orenburg region. The study of changes in the state of the forest fund, its dynamics is the main means of forestry production, which is of great ecological importance with the possibility of developing rational forms of management in them. The natural and climatic conditions of the Southern Cis-Urals have a direct impact on the formation of forest ecosystems, which are the ecological framework of steppe landscapes. The study showed that during the analyzed period (2016-2019) the area of young stands decreased, and the stable growth of areas of mature and overmature plantations continues. The change in the age structure of the forest fund during the study period is relatively stable, but does not correspond to the optimal “normal forest” model. The factors that contribute to the reduction of the production potential of the forests of the Southern Cis-Urals under the conditions of unfavorable natural and climatic changes have been identified. One of the vectors for the conservation of existing forest resources is to maintain a balance between retired and restored forest areas, the main condition for the stabilization of which is the implementation of comprehensive reforestation and monitoring observations of forest pest and disease outbreaks. The reduction in the area of arrival of forest plantations, in the near future, will change the direction of stabilization of the age structure of forests.

The First Finds of the Most Ancient Oyster-Like Bivalves of the Genus Prospondylus Zimmermann (Pectinidae, Prospondylidae) in the Lower Permian of the Southern Cis-Urals (Russia)

The First Finds of the Most Ancient Oyster-Like Bivalves of the Genus Prospondylus Zimmermann (Pectinidae, Prospondylidae) in the Lower Permian of the Southern Cis-Urals (Russia)

NON-TRADITIONAL KARST TYPES IN THE SOUTHERN URALS AND CISURALS

Despite the wide distribution of sulfate and carbonate karst in the study area, the nontraditional, rarely encountered karst types are also registered. These are clastokarst, karst of calcareous tuffs, sulfide karst, salt karst and marble karst. For each of these nontraditional types of karst, the conditions and factors of development were determined according to the karstic rock composition. Calcareous tuff karst is the least common in the study area, meanwhile clastokarst is widespread. Calcareous tuff karst is spread in the westernmost part of the Southern CisUrals, in the eastern outskirts of the Volga-Ural anteclise; and clastokarst is found in the western margin of the Yuryuzan-Sylva depression of the CisUrals marginal foredeep. Sulfide karst is developed in the plains of the Southern TransUrals within the Magnitogorsk megazone of the Ural folded system, and salt karst occurs in the flat foothills of the Southern Urals within the Belaya Megadepression and the Shikhan-Ishimbai saddle of the CisUrals marginal foredeep. It has been established that the previously identified areas of clastokarst distribution in the west of the area under consideration are not confirmed by modern and Pleistocene forms of its manifestation. The negative impact of clastokarst on economic facilities and humans is comparable to the impact of the most common and dangerous sulfate karst, and this must be taken into account when designing and constructing new buildings and engineering structures. Salt karst is manifested in artificial leaching of rock salt at a depth, such salt is necessary for the production of soda ash (JSC “Soda”); the formed voids are used as underground storage facilities for oil products (OJSC Podzemneftegaz). Calcareous tuff karst is a rare type of karst in the region under consideration, it can be observed at the complex natural monument “Shumilovsky waterfall”. Surface manifestations of sulfide karst can be a search feature of new copper-sulfide deposits. Non-traditional types of karst have both positive and negative practical implications. Karst in marble complicates the development of mineral deposits, and clastokarst complicates the economic development of the territory. Calcareous tuff karst creates unique local landforms, and sulfide karst is of practical importance in the search for new mineral deposits. On the one hand, salt karst determines the extraction of minerals deposits and contributes to the creation of useful underground storage facilities, on the other hand, it destroys them.

The First Finds of the Most Ancient Oyster-Like Bivalves of the Genus <i>Prospondylus</i> Zimmermann (Pectinidae, Prospondylidae) in the Lower Permian of the Southern Cis-Urals (Russia)

For the first time in the Lower Permian deposits (Upper Asselian–Sakmarian stages) of the Southern Cis-Urals, the most ancient representatives of oyster-like bivalves of the genus Prospondylus Zimmermann were found, reliable findings of which were previously known only in the Lower-Middle Permian deposits of North America and the Upper Permian deposits of Germany. A description of the new species Prospondylus shakhtauensis Biakov, sp. nov. is given.

Bicarbonate waters in hydrogeological complexes of the hypergenesis zone of the Southern Cis-Urals

The article deals with the formation and distribution of bicarbonate groundwater in the hydrogeological complexes of the hypergenesis zone of the Southern Cis-Urals. Particular attention is paid to the issues of the distribution of bicarbonate groundwater in the hydrogeological section, which are of the greatest practical importance for the purposes of drinking water supply in the region. On the basis of long-term complex field and experimental studies, it has been established that the formation of the chemical composition and distribution of these waters in hydrogeological complexes is subject to the laws of vertical hydrogeodynamic and gas-hydrochemical zonality. The influence of technogenesis on the qualitative composition of these waters is noted.

A New Species of the Genus Ceratodus (Dipnoi, Ceratodontidae) from the Triassic of the Southern Cis-Urals

A New Species of the Genus Ceratodus (Dipnoi, Ceratodontidae) from the Triassic of the Southern Cis-Urals

Paleoecology During the Creation of a Large Boldyrevo Kurgan of the Yamnaya Culture in the Southern Cis-Urals, Russia

This study focuses on a short-term pedochronosequence of Kurgan № 1 at the Boldyrevo IV kurgan cemetery in the Orenburg Region of the Southern Cis-Urals. According to archaeological findings, the kurgan was built over several decades by people of the Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) culture of the Early Bronze Age (around 5500 BP), with the exact time of its building to be confirmed by radiocarbon dating and further archaeological information. A comparative analysis of the four earthen constructions of the kurgan and the paleosols buried under those constructions was conducted. Results suggest that the kurgan building period was accompanied by the following changes in paleosol morphology and physicochemical properties: the humus horizon acquired a tonguing-like lower boundary, decreased organic carbon content and magnetic susceptibility, while the whole profile was characterized by increasing degree of zooturbation; the impregnation by carbonates in the middle part of the profile and the contents of carbonate carbon, gypsum, and exchangeable sodium increased. Similar trends of morphological and physicochemical changes were observed in the materials of the kurgan constructions. Based on these findings it can conclude that the climate went through aridization rise during the period of the kurgan building. The paleobotanical data from palynological and microbiomorphic analyses indicate that there was a tendency for paleoclimate aridization and, possibly a cooling trend during the studied period of the Yamnaya culture, which was probably more arid than the modern climate.

Химический состав металла медных и бронзовых наконечников стрел могильника Кичигино I

This study concerns 580 bronze arrowheads from five burials of the Kichigino I cemetery (southern Trans-Urals), dated from the second half of the sixth to the second half of the fourth centuries BC. The main component in all arrowheads was copper with admixtures of arsenic, antimony, lead, tin and nickel. The research revealed that the Early nomads’ non-ferrous metal sources changed approximately in the middle of the fourth century BC. Initially, almost all metal came from Itkul metallurgy and metalworking center located in the southern Trans-Urals forest-steppe area. Pure copper without addition as well as alloys with additive of arsenic, occasionally with arsenic and antimony were overwhelmingly applied. In the next period, there are plenty of arrowheads made of copper alloys containing lead as a component; its sources are located to the southwest and west of the Trans-Urals. The transition to new metal sources was caused on the one hand by massive migrations of the Trans-Ural steppe nomadic population to the southern Cis-Urals, on the other, by gradual decline of the Itkul center of metallurgy during the fourth century BC and by the complete reserve depletion in the third century BC. Reuse of tin-alloyed bronze items from earlier times was caused by lack of the non-ferrous metal supplied by the Itkul metallurgists. Furthermore, results of metals analysis indicate that there is no relationship between the shape of the arrowheads and the composition of the metal in them. Arrowheads of the same shape could be made of different metal composition, and, by contrast, arrowheads of different shapes were made from the same metal.

U-Pb LA-ICP-MS DATING OF DETRITAL ZIRCON FROM UPPER PERMIAN SANDSTONE OF THE BOYEVAYA GORA SECTION (ORENBURG REGION, SOUTHERN CIS-URALS)

The first results of U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of 150 detrital zircon grains from the Upper Permian sandstone of the Boyevaya Gora section (Orenburg region, the Southern Cis-Urals) are presented. 95 conditional zircon U-Pb isotopic dates form two age peaks – 381 and 529 Ma. It is assumed that clastic material entered the sedimentation basin mainly due to erosion of the Early Hercynian Ural complexes and relics of the Protouralian-Timanian orogen.

Реконструкция ландшафтов и палеоклиматических обстановок на раннесредневековых некрополях Южного Предуралья: Бустанаевском курганном и Бирском грунтовом могильниках (по палинологическим данным)

Interest in the palynological study of deposits of the cemeteries on the territory of Southern Cis-Urals was rare. Moreover, the results of such a few works have not been published. The purpose of this study was to restore paleoecological conditions at the time of the functioning of the Bustanai burial mounds and Birsk burial ground based on the results of palynological analysis. Bustanai burial mounds, numbering 63 barrows, is a part of the Bustanai archaeological complex. The settlement included in the complex is a fortified settlement of the Bakhmutino culture of the Early Middle Ages (3–7th centuries AD). The Birsk burial ground, numbering 692 burials, is the most important site of the Early Middle Ages in the study area. In total, 15 samples were analyzed by the palynological method: 5 samples from barrow 45 at the Bustanai burial mounds and 10 samples from excavation 2 of the Birsk burial ground. The territory of the Birsk burial ground was a synanthropized edge of a coniferous-broad-leaved forest, and in the vicinity of the Bustanai burial mounds, floodplain willow forests were probably widespread. Thanks to comprehensive archaeological and palynological studies of two burial grounds and cultural layers that formed in the Early Middle Ages at a number of archaeological sites in the Southern Fore-Urals region, it was possible to establish zoning in the distribution of plant communities in this time. In the more northern regions at this time coniferous (pine) forests with an admixture of broadleaved species (Birsk settlement) and coniferous-deciduous forests (Birsk burial ground) grew. To the south (fortified settlement Ufa 2) broad-leaved and small-leaved broad-leaved forests with an admixture of conifers were widespread. In open areas, grasses, representatives of meadow forbs, and various synanthropic (ruderal and pasqual) plants grew. The climate of the Early Middle Ages was cooler and drier in the northern regions, temperate and more humid in the vicinity of Ufa. The gaps in the accumulation of palynological material discovered by us in the excavations of the Bustanai burial mounds and the Kara-Abyz settlement may also indicate a deterioration in climatic conditions within the study area in the Early Middle Ages.

О задачах исследований водных ресурсов Оренбуржья и сопредельных районов

The actual problem of the regions of the Southern Cis-Urals is the provision of population with drinking water. The problem is sharpened with increase of water consumption by population and industry. The analysis of the situation, carried out by the author on the example of the Orenburg urban agglomeration, indicates the possibility of solving this problem by replenishing the water reserves of the existing alluvial water intakes due to the accumulation of a part of the flood runoff. When the water level in the river rises, the level of groundwater rises and water inflows to water wells grow. When water is filtered through alluvium, it self-purifies from pollutants. Replenishing groundwater reserves during floods increases the resources and the quality of drinking water.

Burials with Signs of the Muslim Rite Among the Nomads of the Golden Horde

The article presents the typological characteristics of the nomadic burials of the Golden Horde, interpreted as Muslim. The burial grounds located in the depths of the Steppe at a distance from the urban centers of the Golden Horde were taken as a source base. This approach allows the authors to consider the genesis and evolution of the Islamic funeral rite among nomads without taking into account the influence of urban Islam on this process or through the prism of its minimal impact. On the example of the Linevsky burial mound in the Southern Cis-Urals, it is shown that the signs of the Islamic rite, characteristic of urban and suburban burial grounds, are present among the nomads, but mainly in the form of separate reminiscences.