Yamnaya Research Articles

Одонтологічна серія ямного часу з могильника Виноградне

Одонтологічна серія ямного часу з могильника Виноградне

Use of wood in Yampil Barrow Complex funerary rituals IV-II mill. BC

AbstractThis article presents the results of analyses of relics made out of wood that were discovered during the investigation of the Yampil Barrow Complex (Ukraine, Vinnitsa Oblast) in the period 2010-2015 in respect to the graves of Eneolithic communities, Yamnaya culture, Catacomb culture, Noua culture and the Iron Age. The research has documented a process of the selection of wood used in funerary rituals in the 4th to 2nd mill. BC and the choice of tree species present in stenothermal climax forests (Quercus sp., Fraxinus sp.).

Yamnaya Culture Hoard of Metal Objects, Ivanivka, Lower Murafa: Autogenesis of ‘Dniester Copper/Bronze Metallurgy’

Abstract In 2015 near the village of Ivonivka, Mohyliv-Podilskyi Region, Vinnytsia Oblast, a hoard of copper objects was found by chance by the River Murafa. The majority of objects belonging to the hoard were fashioned out of a rather pure copper with a combination of admixtures, which can be named ‘the Ivonivka group’.

Kurgan rites in the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age Podolia in light of materials from the funeraryceremonial centre at Yampil

Abstract The paper discusses the kurgan burial rites observed by communities inhabiting the eastern part of the Podolie Region in the second half of the 4th and first half of the 3rd millennia BC. The presented data concern finds from four areas: Yampil, Kamienka, Mocra, and Tymkove. The research made it possible to distinguish among the examined material assemblages linked with Late Eneolithic communities. They included graves of the Zhivolitovka-Volchansk type, burials in the extended position, as well as burials representing other cultural traditions (Nizhnaya Mikhailovka, Post-Stog). Materials attributed to the Yamnaya culture prevailed, and their analysis allowed us to trace changes in funeral rituals, reflected in the architecture of graves, arrangement of burials, and grave goods. Materials linked with the late phase of this cultural unit have not been recorded.

PIT-GRAVE (YAMNAYA) AND PIT-GRAVE-MAIKOP BURIALS AT LEVOYEGORLYKSKY-3, STAVROPOL

We describe four unusual burials (No. 4, 8, 13, and 15) displaying features of the Pit-Grave rite under mound 1 at Levoyegorlyksky-3 in the Stavropol Territory, dating to mid-4th millennium BC. The mound had been constructed to mark the main burial (No. 15), which predates others. While the preservation of skeletons is poor, the position of the deceased was determined as fl exed supine. The mound was encircled by a stone curb (cromlech). Inside the mound and the cromlech, fragments of early Maikop vessels were found. The main burial, however, contained pottery typical of the steppe Chalcolithic cultures. In the intrusive burial No. 4, a Maikop-type dagger, a stone pick, a gold pendant, and a fl int fl ake were found. The dagger has early Maikop parallels, whereas the pick is similar to late Maikop (Dolinskoye) ones, found in the central piedmont of northern Caucasus. This burial presents a striking testimony to the impact of the funerary tradition of the Maikop military elite on the Pit-Grave rite. On the other hand, it suggests that Dolinskoye-type stone picks may evidence the infl uence of the Pit-Grave culture at the early stage of Maikop.

Кургани доби бронзи поблизу с. Володимирівка на Херсонщині.

This article deals with materials of excavation of three barrows near Volodymyrivka village, Skadovsk district of Kherson oblast which are published for the first time. These barrows were investigated by the Krasnoznamensk archaeological expedition of the IA NASU in 1986 and 1989 under the direction of G.L. Evdokimov. 47 burials were revealed in three barrows. In the result of the analysis of a funeral ceremony and inventory, seven cultural-chronological groups are distinguished. These groups reflect consecutive stages of settling the territory between the Lower Dniepr (in its eastern bank) and coast of the Black sea during the Bronze and Early Iron Age. Burials of the Bronze Age (from the turn of the Early-Middle Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age) are the most numerous and represent five groups: the Yamnaya culture of its late period, Catacomb culture of its early and late period (Ingul Culture), Dnieper-Dniester variant of the Dnieper-Prut Babyne culture, Berezhno-Maevka Srubna culture of the Late Bronze Age. Two burials represent the Chernogorovka culture of the turn of the Bronze Age to Early Iron Age. The latest burial belongs to the Sarmatian time. Against the general tendencies in the development of steppe Black Sea area cultures, some special traits of a funeral ceremony and ceramic complex of the Early Bronze Age to the turn to Middle Bronze Age are identified. The unity of a funeral ceremony for each of the cultural-chronological groups of burials of the Bronze Age allows the assumption that these are the burial grounds of family-patrimonial collectives.

Половозрастная структура погребенных в могильниках ямной культуры раннебронзового века Поволжья и Приуралья

Половозрастная структура погребенных в могильниках ямной культуры раннебронзового века Поволжья и Приуралья

Genome diversity in the Neolithic Globular Amphorae culture and the spread of Indo-European languages.

It is unclear whether Indo-European languages in Europe spread from the Pontic steppes in the late Neolithic, or from Anatolia in the Early Neolithic. Under the former hypothesis, people of the Globular Amphorae culture (GAC) would be descended from Eastern ancestors, likely representing the Yamnaya culture. However, nuclear (six individuals typed for 597 573 SNPs) and mitochondrial (11 complete sequences) DNA from the GAC appear closer to those of earlier Neolithic groups than to the DNA of all other populations related to the Pontic steppe migration. Explicit comparisons of alternative demographic models via approximate Bayesian computation confirmed this pattern. These results are not in contrast to Late Neolithic gene flow from the Pontic steppes into Central Europe. However, they add nuance to this model, showing that the eastern affinities of the GAC in the archaeological record reflect cultural influences from other groups from the East, rather than the movement of people.

Discussion: Are the Origins of Indo-European Languages Explained by the Migration of the Yamnaya Culture to the West?

Two co-authored articles in Nature (Haak et al., 2015; Allentoft et al., 2015) caused a sensation. They revealed genetically the mass migration of steppe Yamnaya culture people in the Early Bronze Age to central and northern Europe. The authors considered this event as the basis of the spread of Indo-European languages. In response, the Russian archaeologist, Leo S. Klejn, expresses critical remarks on the genetic inference, and in particular its implications for the problem of the origins of Indo-European languages. These remarks were shown to the authors and they present their objections. Klejn, however, has come to the conclusion that the authors’ objections do not assuage his doubts. He analyses these objections in a further response.

The Steppe Hypothesis of Indo-European Origins Remains to be Proven

Recent genetic studies have claimed to reveal a massive migration of the bearers of the Yamnaya culture (Pit-grave culture) to the Central and Northern Europe. This migration has supposedly lead to the formation of the Corded Ware cultures and thereby to the dispersal of Indo-European languages in Europe. The article is a summary presentation of available archaeological, linguistic, genetic and cultural data that demonstrates many discrepancies in the suggested scenario for the transformations caused by the Yamnaya “invasion” some 5000 years ago.

Subdivisions of haplogroups U and C encompass mitochondrial DNA lineages of Eneolithic-Early Bronze Age Kurgan populations of western North Pontic steppe.

Prehistoric Europe experienced a marked cultural and economic shift around 4000 years ago, when the established Neolithic agriculture-based economy was replaced by herding-pastoralist industry. In recent years new data about the genetic structure of human communities living during this transition period began to emerge. At the same time, the genetic identities of the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age (EBA) inhabitants from a prehistoric cultural crossroad in western North Pontic steppe region remain understudied. This report presents results of the investigation of maternal genetic lineages of individuals buried in kurgans constructed during the Eneolithic-EBA transition in the western part of the North Pontic Region (NPR). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages from the interments belonging to the Eneolithic as well as the EBA cultures such as Yamna (Pit Grave), Catacomb and Babino (Mnogovalikovaya or KMK) were examined. In the 12 successfully haplotyped specimens, 75% of mtDNA lineages consisted of west Eurasian haplogroup U and its U4 and U5 sublineages. Furthermore, we identified a subgroup of east Eurasian haplogroup C in two representatives of the Yamna culture in one of the studied kurgans. Our results indicate the persistence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mtDNA lineages in western NPR through the EBA, as well as suggesting a mtDNA lineage continuum connecting the western NPR inhabitants of the Early Metal Ages to the North Pontic Neolithic population groups.

Finnish vatsa ~ Sanskrit vatsá and the formation of Indo-Iranian and Uralic languages

Finnish vatsa ‘stomach’ < PFU *vaćća < Proto-Indo-Aryan *vatsá- ‘calf’ < PIE *vet-(e)s-ó- ‘yearling’ contrasts with Finnish vasa- ‘calf’ < Proto-Iranian *vasa- ‘calf’. Indo-Aryan -ts- versus Iranian -s- reflects the divergent development of PIE *-tst- in the Iranian branch (> *-st-, with Greek and Balto-Slavic) and in the Indo-Aryan branch ( > *-tt-, probably due to Uralic substratum). The split of Indo-Iranian can be traced in the archaeological record to the differentiation of the Yamnaya culture in the North Pontic and Volga steppes respectively during the third millennium BCE, due to the use of separate sources of metal: the Iranian branch was dependent on the North Caucasus, while the Indo-Aryan branch was oriented towards the Urals. It is argued that the Abashevo culture of the Mid-Volga-Kama-Belaya basins and the Sejma-Turbino trade network (2200–1900 BCE) were bilingual in Proto-Indo-Aryan and PFU, and introduced the PFU as the basis of West Uralic (Volga-Finnic) into the Netted Ware Culture of the Upper Volga-Oka (1900–200 BCE).

Large tare vessels of the bronze age Turganic settlement in Orenburg Region

In the ceramic collection of Turganic settlement in the Orenburg region there is a group of bronze age pottery, which by its morphological and technological indicators stands out sharply from the main group of dishes. They are large size vessels with massive aureoles and distended body. The authors called these vessels hums. The aim of this study is to identify cultural-chronological position of the specified group of dishes in the system of the antiquities of the early - middle bronze age. Within this group the authors distinguish two types. The basis for type selection was the particular design of the upper part of the vessel. The first type is ceramics from Turganic settlement and the vessel from the burial mound Perevolotsky I. Morphological and technological features, and a series of radiocarbon dates has allowed to date these vessels to the time of the yamnaya culture formation in the Volga-Ural region (Repinsky stage). The authors suggest that the appearance of such vessels should be an imitation of the Maikop pottery. It could be penetration of small groups of craftsmen or the intensification of contacts with the population of the North Caucasus. The second type of pottery from Turganic settlement is similar to the burial mound Kardailovsky I (mound 1, burial 3) in Orenburg region, in the Northern pre-Caspian, region of the Samara river, Kuban and the Dnieper. Researchers have noted the scarcity and originality of this dish. The chronological and cultural position of such vessels is determined within the III Millennium BC (calibrated values).

Rohachyk Horizon in Steppe Funeral Traditions

Discussed is a series of burials (taking into account the stratigraphic position and ritual features), dishes of which tend to the middle layer at Mykhaylivka. These funeral monuments cover the territory between the Dnipro and Southern Buh Rivers, as well as the steppe Crimea. The absolute majority of dishes from these sites are samples with a round bottom. Stratigraphic position of these graves has allowed the author to add the burials without utensils to them. Primarily, it is about burials which were part of small cemeteries with single mound, or those which demonstrate ritual similarities. Funeral ceremony was not monotonous. It is only the orientation which was constant: most of graves are oriented to the east. Such burials usually formed a large burial mounds arising on the principle of burial grounds and eventually were closed by a general mound. Central burials predominated there, other situated on the periphery, sometimes exceeding the bounds of a common embankment. The embankment’s height reached 0,8—1,6 m and the diameter was up to 10—15 m. The burials were often made in the pits of quadrangular plan shape with rounded corners, although there are also oval pits, particularly, made for stretched graves. Only two cemeteries had a permanent funeral ritual. Other ones are diverse, for instance with a combination of various poses of the dead: extended, crouched, and crumpled on the back bodies. Ochre for strewing corpses and graves was used limitedly. Such usage of ochre in the funeral ceremony indemnified for products made of it. There are few traces of animals used in the funeral ceremony. Dishes are various with domination of round-bottomed ones with spherical or elongated proportions, with a high neck and shoulders retreating without ornamentation. There are metal objects in the graves. They are usually small adornments. Flint flakes are sometimes found. In general, burial ceremony of the Late Copper Age Steppe population presents the multiplicity, while the early Yamna culture population, on the contrary, shows the ritual unity. This fact led to the appeal to the stratigraphy of barrows. It allowed the author to ascertain that the selected burials (Rohachyk horizont) occupy a stratigraphic position between the oldest Copper Age burials and the ones of Yamna culture.

Diet and Mobility in the Corded Ware of Central Europe

Isotopic investigations of two cemetery populations from the Corded Ware Culture in southern Germany reveal new information on the dating of these graves, human diet during this period, and individual mobility. Corded Ware Culture was present across much of temperate Europe ca. 2800–2200 cal. BC and is represented by distinctive artifacts and burial practices. Corded Ware was strongly influenced by the Yamnaya Culture that arose in the steppes of eastern Europe and western Eurasia after 3000 BC, as indicated by recent aDNA research. However, the development of CW on different chronological and spatial scales has to be evaluated. Examination of the CW burials from southern Germany supports an argument for substantial human mobility in this period. Several burials from gravefields and larger samples from two large cemeteries at Lauda-Königshofen "Wöllerspfad" and at Bergheinfeld “Hühnerberg” contributed the human remains for our study of bone and tooth enamel from the Corded Ware Culture. Our results suggest that Corded Ware groups in this region at least were subsisting on a mix of plant and animal foods and were highly mobile, especially the women. We interpret this as indicating a pattern of female exogamy, involving different groups with differing economic strategies.

The timing of postglacial coastal adaptations in Eastern Iberia: A Bayesian chronological model for the El Collado shell midden (Oliva, Valencia, Spain)

El Collado is an open air site containing evidence of 14 burials and a shell midden archaeological deposit with different phases of human occupation dated to the Early Holocene. Previous studies have produced 14 radiocarbon dates using bone collagen samples from human burials. However, no attempt has been made to date the stratigraphic sequence to address the formation time of the shell midden and establish a chrono-stratigraphic framework for the study of bio-archaeological and cultural assemblages. We critically evaluate the available radiocarbon record of the site and present 6 new AMS radiocarbon dates on ungulate bones with anthropic fractures and bivalves from the three major stratigraphic horizons. Then, we integrate our results with previously published AMS radiocarbon determinations on human samples into a chronological Bayesian model, constraining the radiocarbon distributions with prior information about the samples stratigraphic provenance. Finally, we correlate the results of the chronological model with the regional archaeological sequence and the available data on coastal evolution at regional and local scales. The vertical distribution of the radiocarbon dates makes evident some stratigraphic disturbance caused by the repeated presence of pit graves, agricultural activities and low stratigraphic control of the excavation process. However, once the problematic determinations are identified as outliers, the remaining radiocarbon dates grouped according the major stratigraphic divisions, and the calibrated distributions modelled-constrained, the resulting Bayesian phase model reveal high agreement index (Ac = 103). The shell midden formation took place from the bottom of the sequence, spanning 1022–1965 calibrated years (CI 95.4%). The occupations documented at Phase 1 (Level IV) are dated to the Early Holocene (9828–9551 cal BP). The Phase 2 (Level II), encompass radiocarbon evidence of both burial and occupational activities dated to 9437 to 8477 cal BP, spanning 779–985 calibrated years (CI 95.4%). Finally, the Phase 3 (Level I) records Late Mesolithic occupations deposited between 8509 and 8391 cal BP for the start boundary and 8499–8060 cal BP for the end boundary (CI:95.4%). There are no individual radiocarbon dates during or postdating the chronological span of the 8.2 ka climatic event (8300–8140 cal BP).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF PIT-GRAVE CULTURE BARROWS IN THE VOLGA-URAL INTERFLUVE

Introduction The Pit-Grave culture spread on huge territory of Eastern Europe steppe from Kazakhstan and south Ural to the Dniestr region. The eastern Pit-Grave artefacts were found in the Volga-Ural interfluve and in the south Ural region on the territory of the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, and Orenburg oblasts, Russia. The environmental conditions of the steppe existed on the most part of the territory and forest steppe--in the north (Fig. 1). Today, natural conditions are determined by the continental climate, which corresponds to hot summers with low precipitation and severe winters with a lot of snow. The flora of watersheds is typical for the Volga sheep fescue-feather grass steppe (the type of steppe where sheep fescue and feather grass flourish). Various kinds of meadow grass, bushes, and streamside forests grow in river valleys and gulches. The paleoclimatic conditions of the Pit-Grave culture are different to the modem climate. Eneolithic and Pit-Grave culture existed in the favourable natural conditions practically all the time. The precipitation was 50 mm higher compared to the humidity today. The environmental conditions and temperature drops were milder than we had in past decades (Spiridonova & Aleshinskaya 1999; Khokhlova et al. 2006; 2010; Khokhlova 2012). Many scientists think that the climate change and the emergence of aridity period coincided with the start of the Late (Poltavka) stage of the Pit-Grave culture and the Catacomb culture spread to the west of Volga (Demkin et al. 2006; Shishlina 2007; Khokhlova et al. 2010; Khokhlova 2012). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] V. V. Golmsten, P. S. Rykov, I. V. Sinitsyn, K. F. Smirnov, N. Ya. Merpert, V. P. Shilov, N. K. Kachalova, I. B. Vasilyev and other archaeologists studied the Pit-Grave sites in the Volga-Ural interfluve in the 20th century. During the Smirnov expedition the first Pit-Grave culture barrows (kurgans) were discovered at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s. Smirnov (1965) compared the Ural materials with the Lower Volga graves and found that there are skeletons in right lateral crouched position. After considering unique metal finds (a knife and a hammer) archaeologists came to the conclusion that during the Pit-Grave period an independent metallurgy center appeared on the base of the Kargala copper deposit (80-90 km to the north of Orenburg) in the south Ural region (Chernykh 1966, 68 f.). Later, at the end of the 20th century, the research by E. N. Chernykh proved the above-mentioned statement. This added the original character of the Ural group of the Pit-Grave culture and historical area (Chernykh 2002, 7 ff). At the beginning of the 1970s N. Ya. Merpert published the monograph, in which he summarized all the data concerning the Pit-Grave culture (Merpert 1974). The scholar singled out three local groups of sites within the Volga-Ural Pit-Grave cultural and historical area: the Ural, the Lower Volga, and the Middle Volga. Since 1977 the Pit-Grave research has been carried out under the guidance of N. L. Morgunova in the Orenburg oblast. She discovered diverse Pit-Grave complexes. In the second part of the 1980s the Pit-Grave culture research became well targeted and systematic. It resulted in considerable growth in the number of analysed Pit-Grave barrows (Morgunova & Kravtsov 1994). The first periodization of the Ural Pit-Grave culture was put forward. Scholars raised some questions concerning the economy and the structure of the Early Bronze Age society (Morgunova 1991). We formed the hypothesis of singling out the Middle Volga-Ural local type of the Pit-Grave culture (Turetskij 1999). Results of various kurgan studies in the area together with a lot of finds--various metal artefacts substantially changed the popular opinion that the Ural Pit-Grave culture had peripheral character. However, by the end of the 20th century it had become quite clear that the Pit-Grave sites were essential for applying new methods so that archaeologists could exploit new sources to find solutions for different complicated problems first of all the issues concerning the origin, the periodization and the chronology of the culture. …

Детские захоронения в колыбели эпохи бронзы Урало-Сибирского региона: в поисках аналогий

Cradle burials are unique to the Bronze Age in the Ural-Siberian region. They are typical for Okunevo culture of South Siberia and Alakul culture. Cradles vary in design, but they can definitely be attributed to a certain tradition or cult. The article is devoted to the search of analogies to children’s cradle graves in the Ural-Siberian region. Alakul cradles had a concave inside wall and sharp protruding corners. The nearest analogies to Alakul cradles were found in the pit-grave culture with real cradle graves and clay models. In Okunevo culture of South Siberia the cradle had a back side made of a discrete piece of birch bark. Analogies of this design were found in the catacomb culture, where children’s burials contained clay cradle models. One end part of such a model is designed in the form of a low dome-shaped body. Such models are typical for children’s interments of the catacomb population of Ciscaucasia, but roots can be found in cheir North Caucasian culture. Cradle models are found in burials along with anthropomorphic “Pan flute” and lumps of ochre. In Okunevo culture some children’s burials were accompanied with horn anthropomorphic pendants, which may be compared with the catacomb “Pan flute”. Thus, the author proposes to distinguish two traditions in the development of the cradle design in the Bronze Age.

Pottery from the Volga area in the Samara and South Urals region from Eneolithic to Early Bronze Age

The paper studies the evolution of pottery from the early Eneolithic period to the Early Bronze Age in the Volga area near Samara and South Ural in accordance with the typological and technological features of the ceramics peculiar to the Samara culture and the early stage of the Yamnaya (Pit-Grave) culture. It is concluded that the Early Bronze Age ceramics represent different traditions practiced by both local and migrating groups of the population. The study of the materials across different methods allow to conclude that pottery, metallurgy and cattle-breeding developed in step with each other and progressed continually in the second half of the Eneolithic period and the early Bronze Age.

Chronometry of Late Eneolithic and ‘Early Bronze’ Cultures in the Middle Dniester Area: Investigations of the Yampil Barrow Complex

Abstract The paper discusses the 2010-2015 studies of the radiocarbon chronology of Podolia ‘barrow cultures’ on the left bank of the middle Dniester. The studies have relied on series of 14C dates for the Klembivka 1, Pidlisivka 1, Porohy 3A and Prydnistryanske 1 sites determined in Kyiv and Poznań laboratories. They are the first attempt to construct a regional (‘Yampil’) radiocarbon scale for ‘Early Bronze’ funerary rites (4th/3rd-2nd millennium BC) as practised by barrow builders - the communities of the Tripolye and Yamnaya cultures - and the secondary barrow users - the designers of necropolises located on barrows - belonging to the Catacomb, Babyno and Noua cultures.