Prehistory
1. Approach to the problem of the origin of the Russian people
The historical roots of the Russian people go into the deep past. While the ancient annals contain considerable information about the Russian tribes in the ninth and tenth centuries ad, it is clear that the respective groups of their ancestors rallied much earlier, at least in the Sarmatian-Gothic period, and the process of their consolidation should have begun much earlier, in the Scythian period. In General, the problem of ethnogenesis of any nation is extremely complex. We should not approach it in the light of such simplified traditional schemes as the theory of the family tree of languages, which has long been considered as a universal panacea not only by philologists but also by historians.
With regard to the prehistoric background of the formation of the Russian people, we must especially avoid such generalizations as the” original pan-Slavic language “(Ursprache, proto-language), which is supposed to have existed before the branching of the new Slavic languages, or the” original pan-Slavic homeland ” (Urheimat, ancestral homeland), in which, according to the assumption, the ancestors of all Slavic peoples began their historical life. Such generalizations do not help the historian in any way, but rather obscure the question. Jordan, who wrote in the sixth century ad, already knew three groups of Slavic tribes: the Veneti, the sclaveni, and the antes. Other names were mentioned by classical authors, who lived earlier, to designate the tribes of southern Russia, which can be considered as a group of ancestors of the sclavens and ants. It is necessary to take into account the information given by Herodotus (fifth century BC) regarding the Scythians and their neighbors. Any ethnological identification of classical tribes and national names is difficult, especially with regard to such peoples as the Scythians and Sarmatians, who United under their control vast territories. Their names could refer not only to the ruling tribes, but also to the local tribes they conquered. It must not be supposed that every such invasion ended in the General extermination of the native tribes, who had settled in the country long before the arrival of the conquerors. Some of them in any case usually received permission to remain in the country after the recognition of the power of the invaders. Thus, after the arrival of the Scythians, some of the proto-Slavic tribes could remain on the border of the steppe territory, while other groups belonging to them may have been pushed into the forest zone. As for the Sarmatian rule, we have more convincing evidence that some of the groups of ancestors of the Russian tribes were already in the black sea steppes under Sarmatian control.
Taking into account the above considerations, we must assume that the group of ancestors of the Slavs appeared partly in the forest zone and partly in the steppes, and that the process of their formation was protracted and very complex. As we have already noted, from the point of view of the historian there is no sufficient evidence, as well as no need to postulate the existence of the original pan-Slavic ancestral home. On the contrary, the evidence given by early authors, though rare, speaks rather in favor of the existence in ancient times of several – at least three-groups of proto-Slavic tribes, differing from each other. Each of them must have spoken, even in remote antiquity, its own dialect and its own customs. Moreover, each controlled its own territory. We will designate these three groups as Western Slavs, middle Slavs, and Eastern Slavs. It can be assumed that during the birth of Christ habitats of the Western Slavs was in the region of the middle and upper Vistula: average settlement of the Slavs stretched from the Carpathians to the middle Dnieper, while the clans of the Eastern Slavs spread across the Northern border of the steppe, the territory, known from the seventeenth century onwards as the left-Bank Ukraine or Slobodkina (Kharkov, Kursk, Poltava, Voronezh province) *. Some Eastern Slavic groups may have penetrated further South, towards the lower Don region.
There is no archaeological evidence to suggest that the aforementioned Slavic groups were simply new arrivals in the territory they occupied in the first century ad. On the contrary, the evidence points rather to a certain continuity of culture in this area during the Millennium from 500 BC to 500 ad. We can thus conclude that groups of progenitors of Slavic tribes settled in this place, at least not later than 500 BC.
Linguistic relations and cultural affinity do not necessarily imply racial affinity. Tribes belonging to the same “linguistic area” or the same “cultural sphere” may be racially different or belong to different anthropological types. History offers abundant examples of one nation adopting the language and culture of another. Thus, during the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Celts and Iberians in Gaul and Spain respectively adopted the language of their victors-Latin, on the basis of which modern French and Spanish evolved. No less striking is the example of the Persian language, which underwent a complete change after the conquest of Iran by the Arabs. Not only were Arabic words accepted wholesale, but the very structure of Persian was deeply affected by Arabic, despite the fact that Persian belongs to the group of Indo-European languages and Arabic to the Semitic. Russian history is likewise warns us against a hasty identification of the language of racial unity. It is well known, for example, that the Scandinavians, who became the ruling class of the Kievan state in the ninth and tenth centuries, quickly assimilated among the local population, adopting the Slavic language. An interesting example of a social group United by culture and language, but built on varying racial elements, is the Russian nobility. Some of the most ancient Russian noble families have their ancestors among the leaders of the Alans and Varangians; others carry Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, German, Swedish, Mongolian, Tatar, Armenian or Georgian blood. Russian Russian language and Russian culture were adopted and all these heterogeneous elements merged into one. Similar processes may have occurred in the early period. The ants, which the historians of the sixth century of our era considered the strongest among the Slavs tribe was ruled by Iranian clans probably from the second century ad. In the time of Procopius their language was, nevertheless, Slavic.
Thus, recognizing the controversial nature of the question, we can still assume with all the necessary reservations that the original Slavic tribes belonged mainly to the Caucasian race, different in their physical features from the Mongoloid. Each of the three proto-Slavic tribes had, however. different neighbors and thus exposed to a mixture of different alien ethnic traits. The Western Slavic group had to have certain relations with the Baltic (Lithuanian) tribes in the North and with the Germans in the West. The middle Slavic tribe was perhaps in close relations with the Thracian tribes of Transylvania and the Balkans. The Eastern group was more open to intermingling with the nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the steppes-and their name was Legion. The tribes of Thracian, Celtic, Iranian, Gothic, Ugric, Turkic, and Mongol descent pursued one another in endless succession. Each had to leave some mark on the country.The historical roots of the Russian people go into the deep past. While the ancient annals contain considerable information about the Russian tribes in the ninth and tenth centuries ad, it is clear that the respective groups of their ancestors rallied much earlier, at least in the Sarmatian-Gothic period, and the process of their consolidation should have begun much earlier, in the Scythian period. In General, the problem of ethnogenesis of any nation is extremely complex. We should not approach it in the light of such simplified traditional schemes as the theory of the family tree of languages, which has long been considered as a universal panacea not only by philologists but also by historians.
With regard to the prehistoric background of the formation of the Russian people, we must especially avoid such generalizations as the” original pan-Slavic language “(Ursprache, proto-language), which is supposed to have existed before the branching of the new Slavic languages, or the” original pan-Slavic homeland ” (Urheimat, ancestral homeland), in which, according to the assumption, the ancestors of all Slavic peoples began their historical life. Such generalizations do not help the historian in any way, but rather obscure the question. Jordan, who wrote in the sixth century ad, already knew three groups of Slavic tribes: the Veneti, the sclaveni, and the antes. Other names were mentioned by classical authors, who lived earlier, to designate the tribes of southern Russia, which can be considered as a group of ancestors of the sclavens and ants. It is necessary to take into account the information given by Herodotus (fifth century BC) regarding the Scythians and their neighbors. Any ethnological identification of classical tribes and national names is difficult, especially with regard to such peoples as the Scythians and Sarmatians, who United under their control vast territories. Their names could refer not only to the ruling tribes, but also to the local tribes they conquered. It must not be supposed that every such invasion ended in the General extermination of the native tribes, who had settled in the country long before the arrival of the conquerors. Some of them in any case usually received permission to remain in the country after the recognition of the power of the invaders. Thus, after the arrival of the Scythians, some of the proto-Slavic tribes could remain on the border of the steppe territory, while other groups belonging to them may have been pushed into the forest zone. As for the Sarmatian rule, we have more convincing evidence that some of the groups of ancestors of the Russian tribes were already in the black sea steppes under Sarmatian control.
Taking into account the above considerations, we must assume that the group of ancestors of the Slavs appeared partly in the forest zone and partly in the steppes, and that the process of their formation was protracted and very complex. As we have already noted, from the point of view of the historian there is no sufficient evidence, as well as no need to postulate the existence of the original pan-Slavic ancestral home. On the contrary, the evidence given by early authors, though rare, speaks rather in favor of the existence in ancient times of several – at least three-groups of proto-Slavic tribes, differing from each other. Each of them must have spoken, even in remote antiquity, its own dialect and its own customs. Moreover, each controlled its own territory. We will designate these three groups as Western Slavs, middle Slavs, and Eastern Slavs. It can be assumed that during the birth of Christ habitats of the Western Slavs was in the region of the middle and upper Vistula: average settlement of the Slavs stretched from the Carpathians to the middle Dnieper, while the clans of the Eastern Slavs spread across the Northern border of the steppe, the territory, known from the seventeenth century onwards as the left-Bank Ukraine or Slobodkina (Kharkov, Kursk, Poltava, Voronezh province) *. Some Eastern Slavic groups may have penetrated further South, towards the lower Don region.
There is no archaeological evidence to suggest that the aforementioned Slavic groups were simply new arrivals in the territory they occupied in the first century ad. On the contrary, the evidence points rather to a certain continuity of culture in this area during the Millennium from 500 BC to 500 ad. We can thus conclude that groups of progenitors of Slavic tribes settled in this place, at least not later than 500 BC.
Linguistic relations and cultural affinity do not necessarily imply racial affinity. Tribes belonging to the same “linguistic area” or the same “cultural sphere” may be racially different or belong to different anthropological types. History offers abundant examples of one nation adopting the language and culture of another. Thus, during the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Celts and Iberians in Gaul and Spain respectively adopted the language of their victors-Latin, on the basis of which modern French and Spanish evolved. No less striking is the example of the Persian language, which underwent a complete change after the conquest of Iran by the Arabs. Not only were Arabic words accepted wholesale, but the very structure of Persian was deeply affected by Arabic, despite the fact that Persian belongs to the group of Indo-European languages and Arabic to the Semitic. Russian history is likewise warns us against a hasty identification of the language of racial unity. It is well known, for example, that the Scandinavians, who became the ruling class of the Kievan state in the ninth and tenth centuries, quickly assimilated among the local population, adopting the Slavic language. An interesting example of a social group United by culture and language, but built on varying racial elements, is the Russian nobility. Some of the most ancient Russian noble families have their ancestors among the leaders of the Alans and Varangians; others carry Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, German, Swedish, Mongolian, Tatar, Armenian or Georgian blood. Russian Russian language and Russian culture were adopted and all these heterogeneous elements merged into one. Similar processes may have occurred in the early period. The ants, which the historians of the sixth century of our era considered the strongest among the Slavs tribe was ruled by Iranian clans probably from the second century ad. In the time of Procopius their language was, nevertheless, Slavic.
Thus, recognizing the controversial nature of the question, we can still assume with all the necessary reservations that the original Slavic tribes belonged mainly to the Caucasian race, different in their physical features from the Mongoloid. Each of the three proto-Slavic tribes had, however. different neighbors and thus exposed to a mixture of different alien ethnic traits. The Western Slavic group had to have certain relations with the Baltic (Lithuanian) tribes in the North and with the Germans in the West. The middle Slavic tribe was perhaps in close relations with the Thracian tribes of Transylvania and the Balkans. The Eastern group was more open to intermingling with the nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the steppes-and their name was Legion. The tribes of Thracian, Celtic, Iranian, Gothic, Ugric, Turkic, and Mongol descent pursued one another in endless succession. Each had to leave some mark on the country.
Summing up the above, it can be argued that some of the original middle and Eastern Slavic tribes can be considered as a group of ancestors of the Russian people. These early Slavs settled mostly on the border of the steppe zone, although some of their units settled more to the North, in the forests, while other groups descended South into the steppes. Agriculture was to be the chief occupation of the people: those who lived in the forests were engaged in hunting and beekeeping; those who lived in the South were pastoralists. As there were many fish in the rivers, fishing was also an important means of survival. Thus, the early Eastern Slavs were well acquainted with river life; they made boats by hollowing out tree trunks. Their mastery of the ships allowed them to feel confident when going out to sea, when they went down to the shores of the Azov and Black seas. The diversity of their natural environment and economic conditions led to the early formation of different types of economic and social organization of people. Clan or family communities such as zadruga were to predominate among groups whose main occupation was agriculture. Hunting and fishing collectives represented a different type of social unit, while others, venturing South into the steppes and used by Sarmatian leaders as warriors, may have been organized into military communes of the late Cossack type.
The territory of the early distribution of the middle and Eastern Slavs previously coincided with the area that later became known as Ukraine. Around the eighth century ad, they spread over a wider area that is now called European Russia, but perhaps can be better designated as Western Eurasia, the concept of “Eurasia” brings the regions of European and Asian Russia together. Western Eurasia can thus be seen as the first, unified ancient and medieval stage of Russian expansion, and Eurasia as a whole as its second and final stage.
In a sense, Western Eurasia already in ancient times formed a common geographical basis for the development of the Eastern Slavs, although at this time they actually occupied only its South. Geographically and economically, the South and the North, as now, were interconnected. To implement an approach to the early history of the Eastern Slavs, we therefore need to study their prehistoric background in a wider geographical framework. Although the population of Western Eurasia in prehistoric times was rare, the country was not a desert. Man lived here for many millennia, or rather tens of thousands of years before Christ. It was in ancient times that his main occupations developed throughout Eurasia; adapting to the natural conditions of the country, man created an early economy, and cultural traditions were gradually formed for transmission to his descendants.
Scattered across the Eurasian plains, the settlements of prehistoric man were not isolated from each other. Relations of both peace and war were established between different groups in the primitive “doklanov period” (prenatal society), according to the terminology of Soviet scientists, and in the period of more organized tribal life. Had the place of migration and wars; the merchants had followed the soldiers. Rivers may have served at this time as major commercial routes, and it is characteristic that most of the prehistoric settlements discovered to date by archaeologists are located on or near the river banks. The interaction of the various groups was not limited to local trade. It is very striking that already in these ancient times commercial routes of international importance were established, and the tribes of Western Eurasia thus connected with the surrounding countries.
Those engaged in rural production in the area of the middle Dnieper established ties with people of similar interests in Transylvania and the Balkans. Commerce had advanced far to the South and East. Goods of the Caucasian type were brought to both the Dnieper and upper Volga regions: the painted pottery of the middle Dnieper region during this period shows striking similarities with the pottery of Turkestan, Mesopotamia and China. As in the later period, the black sea steppes were open to raids by nomadic tribes of Central and Eastern Eurasia. In fact, these steppes were simply a continuation of the Eurasian steppes. There is no doubt that long before the arrival of the Scythians, their predecessors used the steppe zone for their migration. It was very important that the steppe road from China to the Black sea passed through such provinces of ancient civilization as Iran and the Caucasus, the cultural basis of which was in Mesopotamia. Through the peoples of the steppes these old centers of culture spread their light far to the North. In the second Millennium BC, the inhabitants of the upper Volga region sharpened their stone axes on the type of bronze axes of the Caucasians and decorated their pottery with a typically Caucasian pattern. As the Caucasian culture of this era was influenced by Hittite civilization, the stereotypes and design of Hittite Asia found their way to the North of Russia.
The student of Russian history cannot forget the game of economic and cultural forces that took place on the territory of Russia long before the appearance of Russia proper. It was in this prehistoric period that the “living space” of Russian people was formed. Some knowledge of this basic background is necessary to understand the main trends of early Russian economic and political history.
2. Historiographical notes
The student of the history of the Ancient East-Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Egypt-has at his disposal written sources characterizing the period of more than three millennia before Christ. Those interested in classical antiquity-Greece and Rome-can use epic poems, the tradition of which goes back to the beginning of the first Millennium BC, while for the second half of this Millennium there is an abundance of epigraphic and literary sources. Specialists in Germanic history have a solid Foundation in the works of Caesar and Tacitus, respectively, of the first century BC and its beginning.
The student of Russian history is in a much more difficult situation. Tacitus was one of the first authors to mention the Slavs, but he did so only by accident. It is only in the works of Jordan and Procopius, historians of the sixth century A.D., that we first discover real attempts to describe the life of the Slavs. Of course, there is considerable information about the peoples who lived in the black sea steppes for many centuries BC-the Scythians and Sarmatians – in the works of a number of classical authors, starting with Herodotus (fifth century BC). Chinese Chronicles also convey some data about Eurasian nomads. Nevertheless, the evidence we can glean from these reports of proto-Slavic and early Russian tribes subject to Iranian nomads is scant and speculative. Even worse is the case with written sources in the Slavic language. It may be noted that the Russians had some rudiments of literature in the seventh or eighth centuries, using a Greek or other adapted alphabet. Nevertheless, ” Russian characters” are mentioned only in 860 ad, and what they are is still a matter of discussion. However, soon after (and perhaps on the basis of these early “Russian characters”) Constantine the Philosopher (St. Cyril, Apostle of the Slavs) created a more perfect Slavic alphabet, it was the so-called Glagolitic letter (Glagolitic); simultaneously or a little later, but not later than at the end of the ninth century, another Slavic alphabet, known as Cyrillic writing (Cyrillic), was developed. And only after that the art of writing was widely spread among the Slavs, including Russians. The first Russian chronicle was written in Kiev in the eleventh century ad.; it is familiar to us in the early twelfth-century version, which survives in some later compilations of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The earliest monument of Russian epigraphy the so called Tmutarakan stone dates back to 1068
Russian Russian foreign Affairs documents – the Russian-Byzantine negotiations of the tenth century-are the earliest translations from Greek. Translations were made at the time of the signing of each contract, but the originals are lost, we have as a result the later copies, although they seem neat. The old Russian code of laws – “Russkaya Pravda” – was written in the eleventh century, but the oldest known lists of it again belong to the later period of the thirteenth – fourteenth centuries.
Thus, we see that Russian written sources are available only from the period beginning with the tenth century, and foreign documentary evidence only from the sixth century ad and incomplete. Given this situation, the student of the ancient period of Russian history should rely mainly on archaeological evidence. While archaeology is of extreme importance for the study of classical history and also the history of the Ancient East, it is even more important for early Russian history. Only on the basis of archaeological discoveries possible at all to create a history of Russia. Russian Russian archaeology is relatively young, which is a negative factor for the development of Russian historical science. More recently, attempts have been made to combine archaeological data with early sources and to use archaeological material from the point of view of Russian history.
In addition to archaeological research, linguistic data can be of great help to the historian. Unfortunately, no inscriptions or documents of any kind were found before the appearance of the Greeks on the Northern coast of the Black sea (VII century BC). For the Scythian period we have a number of Greek inscriptions; nevertheless they refer either to the Greek colonies or to the Scythians, but not to the local tribes. There is, therefore, no linguistic clue to the objects discovered by archaeologists. So, the archaeological material about Ancient Russia is important from the point of view of the historian. As a result, it is not an easy task to even presumptively identify finds that may relate to the lives of Russian predecessors, especially given the possible significant influence of peoples adjacent to the early Slavic culture. Evidence points to the spread of a homogeneous “cultural sphere” in the area where the Slavs later flourished, which existed from about 500 BC to 500 ad.but only presumably can we define this “cultural sphere” as a “proto-Slavic cultural sphere”. This definition is nothing more than a hypothesis, although it seems convincing.
In light of the enormous importance of archaeology for the study of Russian history, it will be useful to offer here a brief sketch of the development of archaeological research in Russia. Ancient burial mounds with gold and silver wealth have long attracted the attention of treasure hunters. Peter the Great was the first among Russian rulers to understand the importance of such findings for science. He issued several decrees (1721-1722) urging local governors to buy and collect gold and silver items worthy of storage in museums. This is how the first collection of Siberian antiquities was collected in the Museum of the Academy of Sciences (1725).
Around the same time, the Astrakhan Governor V. N. Tatishchev, a well-known historian, created a thoughtful guide for collecting materials on archaeology and Ethnology. Tatishchev’s plan was partially implemented by the Academy of Sciences, many of whose members traveled throughout Russia and learned about the location of important burial grounds and ancient sites in its South and Siberia. The travels of Pallas, Lepekhin, Gmelin and Rychkov yielded valuable results. Following Tatishchev’s example, some local governors also showed their interest in archaeology. In 1763. the Governor of the New Russian Territory (new Russia) A. p. Melgunov ordered to dig up the mound, now known as the Cast, located at a distance of about thirty-five kilometers West of Elisavetgrad (now the city of Kirovograd). Here was found a number of gold and silver objects of the Scythian period, sent to the Academy of Sciences, where they were transferred to the Hermitage, which from that time became the Central repository of such finds from southern Russia. It was Scythian and classical art objects that mainly attracted the attention of Russian archaeologists in the first half of the nineteenth century.
At the beginning of this century academician Koehler studied and described some monuments of the ancient Bosporan Kingdom on the shore of the Kerch Strait. In Kerch itself, excavations were carried out from 1817 to 1835 by the French emigrant Paul Dubrux, who took advantage of the interest and support of the work from the head of the Kerch police Stempkovsky. In 1826, the Governor-General of Novorossiya, count M. S. Vorontsov, approved Stempkovsky’s project to establish a Museum of antiquities in Kerch. The Museum, opened in the same year, became an important provincial center for archaeological research. It can be recalled that it was destroyed by British troops in the Crimean war (1855), but soon restored. Near Kerch in 1831 Dubrux and Stempkovsky excavated the Kul-Oba mound – one of the most important Scythian graves. Soon in 1840, the city of Odessa began to play an active role in supporting archaeological research. In 1844, valuable “comments” (“Notes”) of the Odessa society of history and antiquities began to appear.
The capital of the Empire, St. Petersburg, lagged behind. In 1846 there was founded “Archaeological and numismatic society”, but only in 1865 this group became really active under the new name “Imperial archaeological society”. The most significant event in the development of archaeological research in Russia was the organization in 1859 of the Imperial Archaeological Commission, which soon took a leading place in the direction and coordination of research in Russia. Among the prominent members of this Commission, especially active in the early twentieth century, may be mentioned the names of N. P. Kondakov, N. I. Veselovsky, M. I. Rostovtsev, count A. A. Bobrinsky and B. V. Farmakovsky. After the Russian revolution, the Commission was reorganized into the Institute of the history of material culture, recently merged with the Academy of Sciences. The archaeological Commission sent a number of expeditions to southern Russia, which conducted excavations of Scythian and Sarmatian burial grounds, ancient Greek cities.
It is obvious that during the nineteenth century the work of Russian archaeologists focused on the antiquities of the classical period, which in a sense was due to the splendor of the finds. It was quite natural for the first stage of development of archaeological science in Russia. Gradually, however, the finds of the stone age also began to attract the attention of scientists, at first much less numerous than their colleagues who dug Scythian burial grounds. Count A. S. Uvarov can be called a pioneer of the study of the stone age in Russia. He also founded the Moscow geographical society (1864) Many of the stone age sites were excavated by him and his collaborators in Central Russia in the 1870s. In 1881, Uvarov’s book on the archaeology of Russia was published, based mainly on the results of his own excavations. No less important in the study of the culture of the stone and bronze ages were the excavations undertaken between 1880 and 1917 by a number of Russian and Ukrainian scientists, including V. B. Antonovich, N. F. Belyashevsky, V. V. khvoyko, E. R. von stern, F. K. Volkov, count A. A. Bobrinsky, V. A. Khvoyko. Most of the objects found in Central Russia were stored in the Moscow historical Museum; for finds in Ukraine, the most important repository was the Kiev archaeological Museum. Many local museums in both the North and the South have valuable collections. Archaeological research in Siberia has also achieved tangible results, forming around local museums, of which the most significant are Irkutsk (founded in 1805; expanded in 1851: burned down in 1879; restored in 1882), Tobolsk (1870), Minusinsk (1877) and Krasnoyarsk (1889).
After the revolution of 1917, archaeological research received even more attention, excavations took an organized form. The Institute of history of material culture and the Academy of Sciences are the most important institutions in this field. The Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in Kiev oversees archaeological research in Soviet Ukraine. The state historical Museum in Moscow organized a series of archaeological expeditions to various parts of the Russian Federal Socialist Republic. Some local museums are also active. Over the past two decades, the most surprising discoveries relate to Paleolithic sites, Neolithic and bronze culture has also received much attention.
Russian Russian history the first attempt worth mentioning to use archaeological evidence for the study of Russian history was made by I. E. Zabelin in his book “History of Russian life” (1876 -1879). Even more ambitious was the plan of V. M. florinsky’s research ” Primitive Slavs” (1895-1898). These two works, very interesting at the time of their publication, are now hopelessly out of date. Russian Russian archaeology in his book “Iranians and Greeks in southern Russia” for the first time approached the problem of relations between Russian archaeology and Russian prehistory in a modern way. A good review of archaeological material from the point of view of the student of Russian history was published in 1925 by Y. V. Gauthier (“Study of the history of material culture in Eastern Europe”). Valuable archaeological research has appeared over the past two decades in the ” Bulletin “(”Izvestia”) of the Academy of history of material culture. It has now been replaced by the ” Brief reports” of The Institute of the history of material culture of the Academy of Sciences, into which the former Academy of the history of material culture was reorganized. Since 1936 there is a special archaeological review “Soviet archaeology”, paying special attention to the stone age. A certain interest in modern archaeological research is noticeable in the “Journal (Bulletin) of ancient history”, published since 1938. Here can be mentioned a General introduction to archaeological research A. V. Artsikhovsky (“Introduction to archaeology”, 1940).
3. Paleolithic
The first excavations to identify the sites of Paleolithic human settlements in Russia and Ukraine began in the 1870s. in 1873, a settlement was opened in the village of Khontsy (Gontsy) on the Uday river (Poltava province). Four years later, count Uvarov explored the area in The Karacharovsky ravine, which descends to the Oka. These two expeditions gave a good start to the study of the remains of Paleolithic culture in Russia, and during the period between 1877 and 1917 many sites were excavated. As we have already noted, a more systematic study of this problem began in 1917. New discoveries are now being made almost every year, and soon the picture will be even clearer.
Archaeological science itself developed, especially in its early stages, on the material of European finds – those that were made in France, Germany and Scandinavia. It was on the basis of this material that the classification of things belonging to the culture of the stone age was given, as well as the chronology of the stages of culture. To what extent such a classification and chronology can be applied to Eurasian material is a problem that has not yet been sufficiently covered. Even using traditional terminology, we must bear in mind that it cannot be perfectly acceptable to the archaeology of Eurasia.
In the study of Paleolithic culture, much depends on the results of geological research. The chronology and classification of the stratum proposed by geologists is also uncertain, but still, on the whole, the data of Geology are more reliable than archaeological. Geological science was built on a broader geographical basis, as research in this area has long been carried out at the international level. In Eurasia, too, geological research began long before archaeological research. The stone age sites discovered so far in both cisuralian (European) Russia and Siberia can be attributed to the Quaternary period: namely, to the middle and upper Pleistocene. From the point of view of the historian, this is a deep antiquity, because it must be measured for thousands of years or even tens of thousands of years.
The geographical situation in that remote epoch was quite different from that of our own time. At the beginning of the Quaternary period a large part of Western Eurasia was covered with ice. Geologists define a sequence of three or four glaciations separated by intermediate periods during which the glacier retreated.
During each ice age, a giant glacier extended from Scandinavia to the South and Southeast, covering the whole of Northern and Central Russia. At the time of its widest extension, the southern edge of the glacier reached a line that can be drawn from the Carpathians to Kiev on the Dnieper and from there to the eagle; from the eagle it curved to Voronezh and up East to the Volga, then up the Volga to the mouth of the Kama and then through the Northern part of the Ural mountains to the sources of the Ob in Siberia. The region of the southern Urals was at this time covered with water. The huge South Ural lake was connected with two other lakes that later formed the Caspian and Aral seas.
Even after the glacier eventually began to retreat North around 4000 BC, its tracks were still visible throughout the country for a long time. A huge lake appeared in the North-Western part of Russia, small remnants of which are Ladoga and Onega lakes. In the South, in the process of gradual retreat of the glacier and melting of the glacial edge, mud flows were formed, merging into the Black sea, which at this time stretched North beyond the boundaries of its modern shores to the steppe zone. It was from these streams that the Dnieper, don, Volga and other rivers emerged. It was during the post-glacial period that the main sub-soils of Central and southern Russia and Ukraine, known as loess, formed; something like granular alumina of a light gray color. Loess appeared only gradually from under the ice cover. As it left, the glacier left behind what are now known as moraines, composed of polished stones and granite boulders. Perhaps the climate of the regions recently freed from the ice cover was cold, like the climate of the present Subpolar regions. Such natural conditions were favorable for the spread of mammoths, and it is obvious that this animal was found throughout Western Eurasia in the post-glacial period. Gradually the climate became milder, but there were intervals when the glacier expanded again and the cold wave moved South. It is widely believed that during the so-called Madeleine period, it again became cold. When it warmed again, the southern plains were covered with abundant vegetation, and gradually an upper layer of humus formed over the loess; this is how the famous “black earth” (Chernozem) appeared in the steppes of southern Russia and Ukraine.
Man during the ice age could only live in the South. The man of the middle Paleolithic, the so-called Mousterian period, was still at a low level of cultural development. He was, however, capable of making a fire. He lived mostly in caves or under the forward edges of rocks. Hunting was his main source of livelihood, bringing him both food and clothing. His chief instrument was a hand-chopper (coup-de-poing), a piece of flint, one end of which was pointed and the other rounded or left blunt. It could serve as a cleaver or an axe. This weapon had no handle and had to be held in a clenched fist. For hunting, a wooden pike was used, the end of which was sharpened in the fire. With these weapons, man could kill wild bulls, horses, deer, as well as predators, even a cave lion and a bear. This was perhaps the period of primitive communism. The average hunting group or Horde could consist of two dozen people.
Many stone age sites discovered in Russia belong to the middle Paleolithic period. Such are some caves in the Crimea, as, for example, Wolf Grotto, Kiik-Koba, Shaitan-Koba; Parking Yeisk in the Kuban and Parking on the banks of the river Derkul, where it flows into the Donets. During the excavations of these sites were found flint tools, bones of animals killed by man and sometimes parts of human skeletons. According to the findings in Kiik-Koba, the people who lived in the Crimean caves of that time belonged to the Neanderthal type.
From the culture of the middle Paleolithic period we now turn to the upper, known in Western archaeology as the Aurignaco-Solutrean culture. The settlements of this epoch were evidently more permanent than in the preceding period. The dwellings were dug out of the ground; the walls were lined with logs or stones; the roof, perhaps, was made of wicker. As tools and weapons are characterized by sharp flint plates on a short handle and a spear with a flint tip. The flint cutter was also an important tool. Other tools and implements were made of bones and antlers. The horn was sometimes ornamented with drawings, figures of deer or other animals. Figurines of women were made of mammoth tusks. As in the previous period, hunting was the main occupation of man.
Among the sites of the stone age in Western Eurasia, belonging to the upper Paleolithic layer of Aurignacian and solutrean types, here can be mentioned: the cave Syuren in the Crimea; Borshchevo, Gagarino and Kostenki in the don basin; Mezino in the Dnieper region. The Paleolithic settlement of Malta, near Irkutsk in Siberia (on the Belaya river, a tributary of the Angara) reveals a similar culture.
At the end of this period, the climate changed from mild to cold. During the next period of Madeleine culture, both vegetation and wildlife had to adapt to the cold wave. This was the era of the deer. Human habits have accordingly undergone profound changes. Deer hunting and fishing were the main sources of human existence at this time. The usual device for catching fish were dams and streams with a stone barrier during the spawning season. A large fish among those rushing through the dam was caught with a harpoon. In their search for game and fish, the people of those times may have led a nomadic life, following the migration of deer. Temporary housing was used in the intervals between migrations. Dugouts served as a shelter for the winter. In summer, external shelters were built to protect the hearth from the rain. Platforms with the remains of foci were found, for example, in the Parking lots of kirillovo and Borshchevo. At some sites were excavated pits with animal bones and various garbage (Parking Karacharovo and Kostenki). Flint in this period was used less often than before; bone, deer horn, and mammoth Tusk were now the predominant materials of which utensils were made. A spear with a neatly sharpened bone tip was a standard hunting tool. There was a greater variety in utensils and ornamented articles. Some of the art clearly had a religious meaning.
According to the types of objects found, the following Eurasian settlements of the stone age can be classified as belonging to the Madeleine period: Kostenki and Borshchevo in the don region; Karacharovo on the Oka; kirillovo in Kiev, Messengers in Poltava province: Novgorod-Seversk; Sushkino near Rylsk; studenitsa on the Dniester: Tomsk and other sites in the Ob and Irtysh basin; Afontova Mountain near Krasnoyarsk; Verholenskaya Mountain near Irkutsk. It should be noted that at least some of the sites of this period are located near the sites of the previous era, which indicates a sequence in the creation of villages.
The departure of the glacier opened for man areas of Central and Northern Russia. As we have seen, the farthest northward settlements of the upper Paleolithic period are found on the banks of the Oka. Remains of Neolithic culture or polished stone products are seen in both Northern and southern Russia, Ukraine and Siberia; not to mention the Caucasus, where the culture was no less ancient and developed more widely, thanks to the proximity of Mesopotamia and Iran. Neolithic man’s cemeteries, dwellings and workshops have been excavated in various places, and occasional finds of tools and weapons – axes, hammers and arrows-are even more widespread. Judging by the topography of Neolithic finds in the forest zone, people of that time settled mainly on the banks of rivers. As for the steppe zone, the graves of the nomads were located in remote areas from the sea on the reservoirs, which is completely consistent with the habits known to us, because they created roads mainly near the reservoirs.
Chronologically, the spread of Neolithic culture on the territory of Russia refers to the end of the fourth or beginning of the third Millennium BC. the surface Of the earth had to change significantly compared to the conditions of the ice age. Its effects, however, were felt for a long time. The contours of the seas gradually shrank to modern outlines. Lakes were spread all over the country. The climate, though milder than in the Madeleine period, was still colder than in our time. Both flora and fauna were already close to modern, but species unknown in our time still existed. As early as the twelfth century BC, the primitive bison (Tur) was widespread in the Russian-Ukrainian steppes, and academician Gmelin saw a wild horse (Tarpan) in Ukraine as early as the eighteenth century.
New forms of tribal social organization appeared in the Neolithic period, as well as new directions of human economic activity-agriculture and cattle breeding. The spiritual life of man has also acquired other expressions. The elaborate funeral ritual we know from the finds points to the development of the idea of an afterlife. People must have already possessed a certain system of religious beliefs, among which the funeral ritual was only a private manifestation. Material culture has also progressed significantly. Polished stone products of the Neolithic period give evidence of significant skills in crafts. Not only flint, but also other breeds were processed. New types of tools and weapons appeared as a result of productive activity. Finds of flint and bone arrowheads prove that the bow was already invented. It became for many years the most practical weapon of hunting and war. The art of ceramics has also obviously advanced. Different designs of pottery ornament were used in different regions-some were primitive, others were sufficiently complex. These variations in ornament are particularly important for the student of archaeology, as the types of decoration can serve as a criterion for comparing dishes in different “cultural spheres”, as well as for establishing relationships between them. Such differences in ornamentation also serve as chronological landmarks for the alleged fixing of finds.
Since human skulls and skeletons have been found in a significant number of Neolithic burial sites, some idea of the anthropological type of the population of this era can be gained. It appears that at least two races then lived in Western Eurasia, one brachycephalic and the other dolichocephalic. Judging by the skeletons found in the Kherson province, the growth of people who lived there, did not exceed 169 cm; excavations in the Kiev provinces found the bones of taller people, about 185 cm tall.
Comparison of the main Neolithic finds in Eurasia allows the researcher to see the different cultural spheres that exist in this territory. We must first briefly describe the Anau culture in Turkestan. It was in Turkestan that the main types of culture of Eurasian nomads met and mutually influenced each other.
4. The Neolithic period
he departure of the glacier opened for man areas of Central and Northern Russia. As we have seen, the farthest northward settlements of the upper Paleolithic period are found on the banks of the Oka. Remains of Neolithic culture or polished stone products are seen in both Northern and southern Russia, Ukraine and Siberia; not to mention the Caucasus, where the culture was no less ancient and developed more widely, thanks to the proximity of Mesopotamia and Iran. Neolithic man’s cemeteries, dwellings and workshops have been excavated in various places, and occasional finds of tools and weapons – axes, hammers and arrows-are even more widespread. Judging by the topography of Neolithic finds in the forest zone, people of that time settled mainly on the banks of rivers. As for the steppe zone, the graves of the nomads were located in remote areas from the sea on the reservoirs, which is completely consistent with the habits known to us, because they created roads mainly near the reservoirs.
Chronologically, the spread of Neolithic culture on the territory of Russia refers to the end of the fourth or beginning of the third Millennium BC. the surface Of the earth had to change significantly compared to the conditions of the ice age. Its effects, however, were felt for a long time. The contours of the seas gradually shrank to modern outlines. Lakes were spread all over the country. The climate, though milder than in the Madeleine period, was still colder than in our time. Both flora and fauna were already close to modern, but species unknown in our time still existed. As early as the twelfth century BC, the primitive bison (Tur) was widespread in the Russian-Ukrainian steppes, and academician Gmelin saw a wild horse (Tarpan) in Ukraine as early as the eighteenth century.
New forms of tribal social organization appeared in the Neolithic period, as well as new directions of human economic activity-agriculture and cattle breeding. The spiritual life of man has also acquired other expressions. The elaborate funeral ritual we know from the finds points to the development of the idea of an afterlife. People must have already possessed a certain system of religious beliefs, among which the funeral ritual was only a private manifestation. Material culture has also progressed significantly. Polished stone products of the Neolithic period give evidence of significant skills in crafts. Not only flint, but also other breeds were processed. New types of tools and weapons appeared as a result of productive activity. Finds of flint and bone arrowheads prove that the bow was already invented. It became for many years the most practical weapon of hunting and war. The art of ceramics has also obviously advanced. Different designs of pottery ornament were used in different regions-some were primitive, others were sufficiently complex. These variations in ornament are particularly important for the student of archaeology, as the types of decoration can serve as a criterion for comparing dishes in different “cultural spheres”, as well as for establishing relationships between them. Such differences in ornamentation also serve as chronological landmarks for the alleged fixing of finds.
Since human skulls and skeletons have been found in a significant number of Neolithic burial sites, some idea of the anthropological type of the population of this era can be gained. It appears that at least two races then lived in Western Eurasia, one brachycephalic and the other dolichocephalic. Judging by the skeletons found in the Kherson province, the growth of people who lived there, did not exceed 169 cm; excavations in the Kiev provinces found the bones of taller people, about 185 cm tall.
Comparison of the main Neolithic finds in Eurasia allows the researcher to see the different cultural spheres that exist in this territory. We must first briefly describe the Anau culture in Turkestan. It was in Turkestan that the main types of culture of Eurasian nomads met and mutually influenced each other.
The Anau Culture
The site of Anau is near Merv. The main work of the archaeological excavations there were undertaken in 1903 by an American expedition led by R. Pampelli. Three main cultural layers were studied. The Anau I layer refers to about 3500 BC by O. Mengin; the Anau II represents the period around 2500 BC; the Anau III can date back to 2000 BC. Even in the first period, the people of the Anau were not only hunters but also peasants. Barley and wheat were the main crops. The bull and sheep were domesticated long before the Anau II period, while the pig, goat, dog and camel only appeared in Anau II. Dwellings were made of clay bricks. The inventory of stone tools is quite poor: mainly cutters and graters. The dishes, on the other hand, are quite interesting. The pots are handmade and well burnt. Many of them are painted red and black; the ornament is mostly brown. The spindles found in all layers are evidence of the early art of spinning.
It should be noted that painted pottery similar to Anau was found both in China (in the provinces of Kang-Hsiu and Honan) and in Ukraine.
Trypillian culture
The painted pottery culture in the middle Dnieper basin in Ukraine known as the Trypillian culture takes its name from the Trypillian site in Kiev province, where an important discovery of this type was first made. Ornamented pottery is one of its main features. There are examples of both painted ware and pottery with depressed ornament. The pattern was geometric; spiral and curly types were widely used. When people, animals, or plants were depicted, they were also contoured into a geometric style. Pottery Tripoli in certain plans similar to the dishes of Anau and the Balkans.
Judging by the remains of the Tripoli culture, its representatives were farmers, who, however, were also familiar with animal husbandry. A large number of Trypillian settlements have been excavated since the 1880s, especially in the area of right-Bank Ukraine. A characteristic feature of these sites were the so-called ” platform” (platform), reinforced with baked clay. These platforms are mostly square in shape; their width varies from 5 to 13m and their length from 6 to 18m. they were excavated at a depth of 0.2 to 1 m under the modern layer of earth. The function of these platforms has long puzzled archaeologists. It was previously believed that the platforms were part of the cemetery; now, based on the results of recent excavations, it is believed that most of them were the foundations of houses. These were possibly wooden frame houses when the frame of the house was filled with clay, and for this reason they have been poorly preserved except for the Foundation. In some cases, however, it was possible to find the lower part of the wooden masonry. As for the roof, it was probably gable, with two sloping surfaces filled with vines. Remains of hearths were found at some sites. The slabs were built of baked clay with a vaulted top. The height of the slab varied from 1 to 1.5 m. Pots and sun-dried dishes, vessels, clay figures, animal bones, grain and piles of garbage were found on many platforms. Some of the vases contained burned human bones; these were obviously funeral urns. The platforms are usually made up of groups, each of which is itself part of the settlement. The plan of a typical Trypillian settlement is very interesting. The houses are arranged in two concentric circles, which were to facilitate the defense of the settlement in the event of an attack. In the settlement of Kolomiyshina of Kiev province, investigated in 1938, there were thirty-one houses, making the outer circle, and eight, making the inner. The diameter of the inner circle is 60 m; there were no houses inside it, this area was obviously a city square. No doubt the settlement belonged to people of a certain kind or zadruga.
Copper and bronze objects were found in the late layer of Trypillian settlements. It is thus evident that before its fall the Trypillian culture had evolved from a purely Neolithic stage. By analyzing the tools and food residues in the Trypillian-type sites, we can get a fairly clear idea of the economic life of the Trypillian people. His tools, such as axes, knives, and hammers, were made of stone or bone. In the later strata, bronze sickles were found, indicating a gradual progress in agricultural machinery. Several types of cereals were grown, such as wheat, millet, barley, and hemp. Human food consisted mainly of meat and bread baking; flour was made by grinding the grain with a hand grater. Many animals were domesticated-sheep, goat, pig and dog; later they were added to the cow and horse. The people of Tripoli were evidently familiar with spinning, for there were numerous spindles at the stations. Unfortunately, no inscriptions have been found that shed light on the language of the Trypillian people, and therefore the Trypillian people cannot be defined both linguistically and ethnographically.
The Culture Of The Dolmens
This so-called megalithic culture spread along the Crimean and Caucasian coasts of the Black sea. Dolmen of the North Caucasian type – a structure with walls of rough stone and a roof of flat stone blocks. It was not a home for the living, but for the dead, who were usually left sitting with their feet spread on the floor. Pots and various implements were found placed next to the skeleton. Several skeletons have been found in large dolmens; they may have served as crypts for the entire family. In most cases, dolmens were located in groups, as if making up the ancestral settlement of the dead. The origin of this culture is a moot point. During the late Neolithic and early bronze age, it spread throughout the anterior Asia and the Mediterranean coast, in the North reaching Britain, Denmark and southern Sweden. It is most likely that the path of dolmen expansion in the North Caucasus and Crimea began in the TRANS-Caucasian region. In this case, we can assume the migration of people who built dolmens, from the front Asia to the North black sea coast.
Culture Of Colored Bones
Mounds of this cultural sphere are distributed throughout southern Russia and Ukraine, mainly in the steppes. They are usually low – from 1 to 2 meters. The body was placed in the tomb in a twisted state and always covered with red ochre; the inventory of graves is poor, especially in comparison with the Scythian burials of the later period. Pottery is sometimes covered with linear ornament. Flint knives and axes, as well as battle axes, the configuration of which is very similar to the Scandinavian type of battle axe, were found in the graves.
While the Tripoli man was a landowner, the man of the painted bones culture was basically a shepherd. Hordes of these nomads had to control the black sea steppes from the Dnieper to the North Caucasus. The horse they tamed was of a primitive type; it is believed to be reproduced on a silver vase discovered in the Maikop burial ground, in the North Caucasus region. It is possible that along the Northern border of the steppes some of the tribes gradually adapted to agriculture. Many agricultural tools were discovered by archaeologist VA. By Gorodtsov on one of the sites in Kharkiv province. This area served, obviously, as a bridge between Tripoli and steppe culture. Painted pottery decorated in the Trypillian style was discovered in this Kharkiv Parking lot.
Fatyanovo culture
This cultural sphere got its name from the burial ground in the village of Fatyanovo near Yaroslavl, where the most typical finds are located. Its range was located in the basin of the Oka and upper Volga rivers and covered the territory of the following Russian provinces: Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir and Moscow. During the greatest expansion, the Fatianov culture reached Smolensk in the West and Michurinsk (Kozlov) in the South. Chronologically, its stone age dates to the end of the third and first half of the second Millennium BC.
In the most ancient Neolithic burials of the Oka region, the dead were buried in shallow trenches without any burial mounds. Grave graves found in Volosovo near Murom, were dug under the roots of pine stumps, apparently in order that the contents of the grave was protected from washing out by the rains. In the cemeteries of the later period-the fatyan type proper-the dead were laid on a layer of charcoal. Inverted pots were placed at the head and feet of the body. Carefully polished stone axes should be mentioned among the tools and utensils found in the graves of the Fatianov type. Some of these axes, as well as ornamented vases with rounded bottoms, indicate the influence of the North Caucasian type on fatyan art. Just as in the Tripoli region, copper and bronze objects begin to appear in the late layer of the Fatianov Neolithic culture. This process of change, which in the Tripoli culture was interrupted by a certain catastrophe, in the case of the Fatianov culture was gradual and prolonged. The bronze stage of the fatyan culture will be discussed more broadly in the next section.
Western and Central Siberia
Both burials and settlements of the Neolithic period were discovered in various places in Western Siberia: lake Andreev near Tyumen, on Chudatsky hill near Barnaul and on the banks of the Ulagan river in the Western Altai region. Several Neolithic cemeteries have been discovered on the banks of the Yenisei, of which the most well-studied found on Afanasievskaya Mountain near the village of Bateni. The cultural sphere to which it belongs is also known as Afanasiev culture. Grave graves of the Afanasiev type were placed in trenches 1.5 m deep, and the graves were covered with stones. Skeletons are found in a twisted state or in any case with bent legs. Some graves reveal burnt human bones, evidence of cremation. Many badly burned earthenware pots were found, most of them with conical bottoms. The drawing is rather rough; in some cases it is made by indentation, in others by relief superimposition of clay. Some of the vases are covered with copper. Few tools or weapons have been found, among them stone arrowheads and pestles, and bone needles. Remains of food, bones of fish, Siberian deer (raisins), wild bull, as well as some domesticated animals such as horse, bull, sheep are discovered. On the basis of these findings, it is assumed that the person of the Afanasiev culture was familiar not only with hunting and fishing, but also with animal husbandry. Characteristically, the beads on the neck and wrists of many skeletons were made from mollusk shells belonging to a species from the Aral sea region. Obviously, during this period, connections were established between people who lived in the Yenisei region and the inhabitants of the Aral sea region. And, of course, some recent finds in Khorezm, South of the Aral sea, show similarities between Afanasiev and celtminar culture. Since the latter developed under the influence of the Anau culture, we can assume a certain unity of culture in Turkestan and Siberia during the late Neolithic and early bronze age.
An interesting Neolithic site was excavated in Biryuzin, on the hilly Bank of the Yenisei river 45 kilometers South of Krasnoyarsk. In this area, many limestone caves are found in the hills, in some of them traces of settlements have been found. Both at the site of Biryuzina and in the adjacent caves, a huge number of stone products, such as knives, cutters, scrapers, as well as some bone products, namely: daggers, harpoons, needles and awls, are discovered. Since some of the incisors belong to the Paleolithic species, we can conclude that settlements already existed in the Paleolithic period, and also assume the existence of continuity of local culture in this region. The bones of the following animals were found around the biryuzin site: bull, goat, reindeer, elk, ROE deer, horse, Fox and hare. Obviously, hunting was the main occupation of people. Five cultural layers are discernible, the upper of which already contains some iron objects.
As for the Neolithic burial sites of the Baikal region, they can be divided into two types, known by the names of the characteristic sites of Kitoy and Glazov. The cemetery of Kitoy is located on the left Bank of the Angara, five kilometers from the place of its confluence with Kitoy. The dead were buried in shallow ditches without burial mounds; they were laid on their backs and stained with ochre. Necklaces of deer teeth and bird bones were worn on the forehead or neck. Jade axes, stone arrowheads and spears, bone harpoons and awls, pottery were found in most of the graves. Graves Glazovsky type more perfect, they had a built-in tomb of stone slabs. Over each were stacked gravestones, making a tombstone of the cone-shaped type. Grave graves of the skeletons are similar to those of the Whale, but without traces of ochre. Inventory of stone tools is not rich. Copper knives were found in some of the graves.
In General, the technique of the Siberian Neolithic is at a relatively high level. The arrowheads and some tools are of good craftmanship. The stone was treated both by polishing and sawing. Even a hard mineral as the jade has been polished. Neat holes were drilled in the parts of the stone intended for ornament.
General remarks on the Neolithic era in Eurasia
Certain remarks of a more General order may be deduced from our survey of Neolithic finds in Eurasia. It is obvious that most of cisurals Russia, as well as part of Siberia was a desert. The economic life of Neolithic man was much more diverse than in the Paleolithic era. It was during the Neolithic period that some fundamental types of human economic activity arose, such as agriculture, cattle breeding, and handicraft. Due to the difference in the natural environment, different types of agricultural activities prevailed in different localities. In cisuralsk Russia, the following three regions are important: the border zone of forests and steppes in Ukraine, where agriculture and cattle breeding were developed; the region of the Oka and the upper Volga, favorable for hunting and fishing, where, however, agriculture was practiced; the southern steppes, where special attention was paid to horse breeding and cattle breeding. The rivers served as the main trade routes, with the Volga playing a particularly important role as a link between the North Caucasian cultural sphere and the upper Volga and the Kama river. We have already had occasion to mention that the trade relations of the Neolithic era took on a truly international character. Of course, the region of the middle Dnieper was connected with the territory of the Balkans on the one hand and with the Caucasus on the other. Through the Caucasus, the Oka-Volga region was exposed to the influence of Mesopotamian culture. And from the Volga-Kama region merchants had to penetrate into Western Siberia and Vice versa. The peoples of Western Siberia traded with the peoples of Kazakhstan, and they, in turn, found their way to the Caucasus. Thus the circle was completed.
The historian is naturally inclined to dwell on the political aspects of the international economy. He may suggest that the economic relationships between the various Neolithic provinces in Eurasia were in some cases accompanied by intense political and military struggles. Empires rose and fell, as they did later. However, due to the lack of written sources on the political history of Neolithic Eurasia, there is nothing but simple hypotheses. Several such assumptions have been used to interpret archaeological material, but their plausibility may be questioned. It is obvious that the end of the third and beginning of the second Millennium BC was an important period in the development of the Indo-European peoples, large migrations of which occurred probably around this time. Apparently, the nomads of the colored bone culture represented one stage in this process. It is also possible that the Hittites, whose language is related to the Indo-European family, passed on the way to Bosporus and Asia Minor through the black sea steppes, entering them from the East. But all this is the realm of pure speculation.
5. Copper and bronze ages
The discovery of the art of metallurgy marked a new stage in the development of human civilization. Its importance can hardly be overestimated. Metallurgy developed initially in the ancient centers of culture-Egypt and Mesopotamia – in the fourth Millennium BC. from Here, the technology of melting and forging metals spread through the Transcaucasian territory and Asia Minor, as well as further North and West, initially very slowly.
Gold and copper were obviously the first metals used. Gold, owing to its rarity, served only for ornament. Copper could be used more widely for tools and vessels. Silver was introduced into circulation later than gold, and iron much later than copper (in the second half of the second Millennium BC). Copper, too soft and heavy, was not very convenient to use, but man soon learned to fuse it with tin. The alloy of copper and tin known as bronze was lighter and harder, its invention giving rise to the slow evolution of the “copper age” into the “bronze age”.
Bronze was first used in places where copper and tin ore deposits were found. As for the bronze age culture in Eurasia, deposits of both these metals have been known since ancient times in the Altai and Ural regions, as well as in the Transcaucasian region. Tin could also be imported from Asia Minor and Iran. It is possible that tin ore was also available in Northern Russia, i.e. in the Ladoga and Onega lakes region, as well as in the Pechora basin. Tin deposits did not exist in Central or southern Russia. Copper, however, was mined in the South Russian Donetsk basin.
In General, the territory suramskoi Russia was poor and resources for the development of copper and bronze industry. Therefore, most of the copper and bronze products found in the area were probably imported from the surrounding areas. However, the Volga region, not so far from the Urals and connected by natural water with the Caucasus, was in a better position than Ukraine in establishing commercial ties. In General, copper and bronze culture spread over the territory of cisuralsk Russia only gradually. While the population of the Caucasus was already familiar with the bronze industry, Neolithic culture still prevailed in Central Russia.
Having made these preliminary remarks, we may now turn to a survey of the spheres of copper and bronze culture in Eurasia. Let’s start with the North Caucasus, which served as a bridge for the distribution of copper and bronze products towards the Don and Volga regions.
North Caucasus Region
Samples of copper products have been found in some of the North Caucasian burials, which can be attributed to the third Millennium BC; i.e., to the period in which both Ukraine and Central Russia were still in the Neolithic era. In the North Caucasus region copper objects were first imported from the Transcaucasian. It should be noted that the North Caucasus must have had commercial ties with the TRANS-Caucasian region from time immemorial, while the TRANS-Caucasian territory itself was within the scope of cultural influences emanating from Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia. At the beginning of the second Millennium BC Mesopotamia was under the control of the Babylonian kings (Hammurabi, 1955-1913 BC), and in the second Millennium the Hittites, whose language was close to the Indo-European family, became the leading force in Asia Minor. They built a strong Empire in Asia Minor and Syria; culturally they lived in the bronze age. By the end of the second Millennium, another Kingdom had emerged in the TRANS-Caucasian region, known as the Kingdom of van or Urartu (Ararat). The kings of Urartu succeeded for several centuries in defending their independence on the one hand from the Hittites and from the Assyrians on the other. Due to the lively relations of Urartu with other countries of Central Asia, the copper and bronze culture of the Transcaucasian region underwent rapid progress; tools and weapons were exported from the Transcaucasian to the North Caucasian area. Even later, when the art of metallurgy developed in the Caucasus, copper and bronze weapons and tools made by local manufacturers, were in appearance and design only an imitation of the Mesopotamian model.
The Caucasus mountains are rich in metals. Copper veins have been known since remote antiquity. In the first Millennium BC, tin was mined in the area between Elbrus and the source of the Terek river in the middle of the Caucasus mountains chain, as well as in the Ganja region in the TRANS-Caucasian territory. Due to the importation of copper, as well as the early development of local metallurgy, copper culture took root in the North Caucasus region around 2000 BC. the First period of the North Caucasian copper age is represented by noteworthy burial grounds in the Kuban region. According to Rostovtsev, the Maikop mound dates back to the third Millennium BC. A. A. Jessen dates it to the end of the same Millennium. The barrows of Novosvobodnaya (formerly Tsarskaya) must be somewhat older. The Maikop Kurgan in the height of 10,65 m of the Circular walls of rough stones was erected on the ground level under the mound. A depression was dug inside the square, the bottom of which is laid with pebbles, and the walls are lined with wood. The grave was divided into three sections by wooden partitions. The skeletons found in the compressed state were painted red. In the tents were found many gold and silver objects of excellent handicraft work, among them about eighty hammered plates with figures of a lion and a bull; it is obvious that such plates were originally sewn on clothes as an ornament. Gold and silver rings and beads were also found; two massive bull figurines, one of gold and the other of silver, and two gold and fourteen silver vases. Two engraved silver vessels are particularly interesting. One is decorated with a mountainous landscape. B. V. Farmakovsky interpreted it as an image of a ridge of the Caucasus mountains: in this case, the engraving can be attributed to a local artist. However, the truth of the hypothesis is doubtful. The second vase is engraved with figures of animals, among them a primitive steppe horse. As for the brass objects, five vases and ten tools and weapons were unearthed, including a Mesopotamian-style transverse battle axe, a double-bladed adze axe, two flat hatchets, two chisels, one large and one small dagger. In addition to these tools and pottery, attention can be drawn to carnelian and turquoise beads, as well as lapis lazuli and made of sea foam. Gold and silver objects from the Maikop burial were, of course, imported from the South. The source of the copper tools is not so clear, but it is likely that they were also imported. Agate and turquoise could be brought from Iran, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, sea foam from Asia Minor.
The results of excavations in the Royal burial mounds are less impressive, but no less significant from a scientific point of view. The graves of these burials are stone chambers of megalithic type built in the depressions under the mounds. On the basis of this, as well as the presence of stone tools along with copper, we can conclude that the burial of the Royal belong to the transitional period, for the legacy of the Neolithic is strongly felt. Fewer gold and silver items were found in these graves than in the Maikop mound. Copper products, however, are more numerous: in one burial there were thirty-three and eight in another. According to A. A. Jessen, the set of copper products found in Tsarskaya’s graves can be considered typical for the Kuban region as a whole. Jessen refers to this set of tools: a cross axe, a flat axe, an engraving cutter, a chisel, a knife, a small dagger, and a fork with two curved ends that may have been used to roast meat. Things of this type were probably produced in the same place, cast in stone and clay molds; flat axes, daggers and some other tools were subsequently worked by forging.
In the findings, attributed to the middle of the second Millennium BC, among the copper objects suddenly appears bronze product. The findings of this period are not yet sufficiently studied, most of the excavated objects are stored in local museums, such as the Kuban Museum in Krasnodar (formerly Ekaterinodar) and the Kabardino-Balkarian Museum in Nalchik. Copper instruments representing the North Caucasian culture of this period were undoubtedly produced locally. At the Kostroma Parking lot found a local manufacturer’s stock, consisting of ingots of raw metal and broken tools. Two parts of the stone mold for casting bronze axes were discovered at Zilch in the region of Vladikavkaz. Near the village of Koban in Ossetia excavated numerous clay molds for casting axes and needles, as well as a clay crucible.
At the end of the second Millennium BC in the North Caucasus region began the heyday of the bronze culture, which apparently lasted throughout the first Millennium BC Koban in Ossetia was the main center of this cultural sphere. Excavations began in this place in the late 1870s on the initiative of the Moscow anthropological society And the society of experts in Caucasian archaeology. As Coban attracted the attention of many Russian and foreign archaeologists, such as R. von Virchow, E. Chantre, J. de Morgan, Countess p. S. Uvarova, A. A. Ivanovsky, V. I. Dolbezhnev, etc.
Koban aul is located 30 kilometers from Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz) near the Dergava neck of Gizel don. The slope of the mountains forms four terraces, one of which is the oldest cemetery. Its outer surface is about 1.5 square hectares. The graves are shaped like stone chests built of rough slabs. Skeletons were always found in a crouched state with their hands raised to their heads. The inventory of the graves of kobane is rich and diverse. Heavy bronze axes have a characteristic configuration, they are narrow and concave with an oval hole for the handle. Most axes are decorated with mortise ornament – linear or representing animals. The latter style includes profiles of deer, tigers, snakes, fish and fantastic creatures. Two types of bronze daggers were unearthed. Belonging to the first group of the cast as a whole, arm and blade in one form. In the case of the second group, the blades were cast separately, the handles were made of bronze, bone or wood. The handles are often carved into the shape of an animal’s head. The blades are broad and double-edged, of the Mesopotamian type. Among the other bronze objects may be mentioned needles, necklaces, clasp, bracelets, pendants and ponytail holders. Wide belts made of a single strip of bronze or of textiles inlaid with bronze plates deserve special attention, as they are similar to those in which deities and kings appear in Assyrian and Babylonian art. It is also interesting that in some later burial grounds bronze plates on such belts are decorated with inlaid iron. The pottery of kobane burial grounds is less diverse than their bronze products. Pots were made of black clay and burned. The ornament of the linear type was made by inset, which was then filled with white plaster.
Bronze tools of kobane type were found in many places of the North Caucasus region. There is no doubt that there were many local centers of the bronze industry. Casters and artisans worked with local ore and focused on local needs. So, in agricultural areas copper and bronze sickles were made. At many sites in the area, chisels with indentations of the same configuration as those excavated in Ukraine, Central Russia and Finland have been observed. No mold for the manufacture of such chisels has yet been discovered in the North Caucasus region; it is possible that they were imported either from Ukraine or from the Volga region.
The diversity of the inventory of bronze products in the North Caucasian burial grounds indicates a significant development of industry and trade. In some places, artisans and traders formed separate groups; the emergence of urban-type settlements was perhaps the result of such social differentiation. The majority of the population, however, lived on agriculture and animal husbandry.
The Black sea steppes
At the beginning of the second Millennium BC copper tools and utensils appeared on the territory of Ukraine and the don. Bronze things followed; by the middle of this Millennium, copper and bronze culture had taken root in the black sea steppes. It was mainly influenced by North Caucasian standards, it should be assumed also some Balkan ties. In General, however, the culture of the bronze age in Ukraine is poorer than in the North Caucasus. Bronzes may have been imported, but some of the copper tools had to be supplied by the local industry. Old copper deposits were discovered in the village of Kalinovskaya near Bakhmut. Some of the pits have a depth of 20 to 30 meters. A human skull and bones impregnated with copper oxide were found in one of them. In another were excavated stone tools and bronze axes. They probably served to separate the copper ore. In the Dnieper region, where copper ore was mined, smelters ‘ reserves were discovered, consisting of copper scrap; the metal may have been imported and then used for melting. In this case, only small instruments were produced.
As for the political and ethnic structure of the population of Ukraine, it obviously underwent radical changes in the first half of the second Millennium. Around 1800 BC, a significant catastrophe similar to the enemy invasion must have occurred in the Dnieper region, resulting in the Trypillian population being partially destroyed and partially driven from its territory. Who were the winners of the Tripoli population and where they came from is an open question for discussion. According to A. M. Tallgren, they belonged to the Indo-European race came from the North-West. He suggests that after the subjugation of Tripoli territory, they continued to move East until they reached the Kuban region.
The burial grounds left by the nomads who controlled the black sea steppes in the middle of the second Millennium BC are similar in type to those of the late third and early second millennia. The bodies of the dead were also stained with ochre. Some burial grounds of this period are higher than those belonging to the previous one. In some cases, the dead were cremated. In addition to grave goods, many weapons and art stores have been excavated. Among the most remarkable is found in Borodino, Bessarabia. Talgren refers it to the period between 1300 and 1100 BC. In his attempt to establish a comprehensive chronology and classification of the black sea finds of the second Millennium, Talgren suggests that two stages in the development of copper and bronze culture of the black sea area should be distinguished: the older stage (1600 – 1400 BC) and the younger (1400-1100 BC).
Among the types of weapons and tools specific to the first stage, axes with a handle hole, having a configuration similar to the stone axes of southern Scandinavia, should be mentioned; others are similar to Balkan and Caucasian axes. The Caucasian type includes small flat axes and scrapers made of copper. The second period may include chisels similar to those found in Finland and Central Russia. The drilled spearheads of the repository in Borodino belong to the same type of Handicrafts. The outline of the blade of a typical Borodino spear tip is similar to a Bay leaf; a drilling tube runs along the middle of the blade. Daggers, copper needles, bronze rings and pins of the Borodino period were also discovered in Ukraine and the don region. The findings of sickles are evidence of the role of agriculture in the lives of people of this period. The clay vases found in the graves are mostly handmade. The ornament uses ribbon, linear and geometric types.
Central Russia
The spread of copper and bronze culture in Central Russia progressed much more slowly than in the South. Most copper and bronze instruments were imported. Some needle-like articles were, however, cast from imported metal. Stone products were still in use along with copper and bronze. Some of the stone axes of this period seem to be imitations of imported bronze axes. The culture of Central Russia of the second Millennium was basically of the same fatyan type as at the end of the third Millennium. The graves are located in shallow depressions without an external hill. Some of them have built-in stone chambers of primitive type. In such cases, the skeletons were in a crooked position with traces of ochre stains. At some sites, remains of burned ritual food are seen. The ornamented vases with spherical bottoms mentioned earlier are also characteristic of the spread of the fatyan culture of the bronze age. Comb ornament prevails; the throat of the vase is usually ornamented. In the graves of the Moscow province were found vases of thread ornamentation. Copper and bronze axes are not numerous in the Fatianov region. Some of the axes have curved protruding ends. Copper and bronze chisels, awls and sickles are also found in some of the fatyan graves, as well as silver ornaments like pendant temple rings. The hilt of the daggers are sometimes in the form of animal heads.
A more developed stage of bronze culture is represented by the cemetery of the Sejm, Dating back to the end of the second Millennium BC. It is located in the lower Oka river region. Axes, chisels, spears and knives make up the inventory of bronze tools of the Sejm graves. Some of the axes are similar to those found in the Fatianov region. One of the knives has a double-edged blade, the blade at the concave end is equipped with many prongs that must have been used as a saw. The spearheads are similar to those seen in Borodino’s vault. It should be noted that flint knives and arrowheads, as well as jade rings were found along with bronze tools. Pottery burial Sejm good in terms of craftsmanship, most vases have a spherical configuration with a flat bottom. The neck and descending parts of the vase are usually decorated with comb ornament, similar to fatianovskimi vases.
Another noteworthy cemetery in the Oka region is the so-called Volosovo cemetery near Murom. Here iron products were discovered together with bronze, which is mute evidence of the transition of culture from the bronze to the iron age. Chronologically, The Volosov cemetery can be attributed to the beginning of the first Millennium BC.
Judging by the Central Russian findings of the second Millennium, agriculture, hunting and fishing were the main areas of employment. The similarity of some imported tools with Scandinavian (chisels), as well as with Caucasian and Balkan types (axes, daggers, spearheads) is an indication of the wide scope of trade relations of the Central Russian region during this period; a region that stretched to the Baltic sea on the one hand, and to the Black sea on the other.
Turkestan and Siberia
As in Central Russia, copper and bronze culture spread slowly in Siberia. The peoples of Siberia began to use copper products not earlier than 2000 BC. we have seen that clay vases inlaid with copper were found in the burial ground of Afanasyev, which can be attributed to this date. Given the likelihood of commercial ties between Afanasiev and the Aral sea region, it is possible that copper was imported from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, in turn, was culturally connected with Khorezm. Since 1938. the antiquities of Khorezm were systematically studied by members of the archaeological expedition organized by the Institute of history of material culture. The early culture of Khorezm, which, as we have seen, is similar to the culture of Afanasiev, is known as the culture of Kelteminar. During the second Millennium BC, Khorezm played an active role in the expansion of the so-called “steppe bronze ” culture, one of the stages of which is now known as the Tazabagiab culture. Khorezm becomes one of the important points of coupling of cultural ways.
The culture that spread in the first half of the second Millennium BC across the region of Kazakhstan and southern Siberia is known as the Andronovo culture, as the first typical burial site was excavated near the village of Andronovo in the Achinsk region. In Kazakhstan, this type is represented by burials in the state farm “Giant”, Karaganda region, investigated by P. S. Rykov, as well as burials on the Ural river, excavated by M. p. Gryaznov. Inventory Andronovo graves demonstrates some similarities with the finds samskog culture. The mounds over the graves of the Andronovo type are generally low. They are usually surrounded by a low stone fence. Tombs of stone blocks or wooden chests served as burial chambers. Skeletons usually lie on their sides with their arms bent at the elbows and their legs bent both at the level of the pelvis and at the knees, the knees pressed against the body. The clay vessels with a flat bottom belonging to two following types are abundantly presented: 1-the rough handicraft work decorated with the depressed or cut in ornament simple on type; 2-a thin craft product with concave or convex walls, decorated with geometric ornaments-triangles, diamonds, convolutions and swastikas. Both stone and copper tools were found in Andronov graves. Among the former may be mentioned scrapers and arrowheads, and among the latter chisels and daggers. Copper plates for belts and copper pendants inlaid with gold leaf were also found. Beads are made of various materials: copper, sardonic, stone, animal teeth. Bones of a horse, a bull and a sheep were found in the remains of funeral food; in one of the graves the skeleton of a dog was preserved. People of the Andronovo culture, obviously, had domesticated animals and led a pastoral way of life.
By the end of the second and the beginning of the first Millennium, the region of Kazakhstan and southern Siberia became the home of a more developed copper culture, known as the Karasuk culture, from the name of the Karasuk river – a tributary of the Yenisei, where typical burial grounds were excavated (Bograd region, Khakass region). The burial chambers in these tombs are similar to Andronov’s, lined and covered with stone slabs. Skeletons lie on their backs. In some cases, funeral customs included cremation. As in the Andronov burial grounds, many clay vases were found, most of them with a spherical bottom and a high throat, fine handicraft work. The ornament belongs to the rifled type. Copper tools are more numerous than in Andronov’s graves. Copper chisels and knives of various configurations were found in abundance, as well as pendants and rings. At least some of them are produced in this place. In the remains of the burial food found joints of a RAM. In one of the graves was only the skeleton of a dog, which is evidence of the veneration of this animal. The dog could be revered as a faithful guardian of the herd. Stone sculptures were discovered, some of them in the form of a human face, others-the image of the head of a RAM. They may have had a totemic character. People Karasuk culture was obviously first and foremost a farmer. Karasuk culture extended to the South and West of Minusinsk region. Tools and vessels of the Karasuk type were recently discovered in Tannu-Tuva and in the region of Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
Around the ninth and eighth centuries BC, bronze tools and vessels began to appear in southern Siberia. The center of copper and bronze culture in Siberia was the Minusinsk region, rich in copper ore. Numerous burials in the southern steppe zone of Siberia belong to this so-called Minusinsk culture. It was in its heyday in the middle of the first Millennium BC, that is, during the Scythian rule in southern Russia. We shall meet with it accordingly in the next Chapter.
Note: * Since in all archaeological publications before 1917 and even in some that appeared after that date, the topography of the area is adapted to the old administrative division of the Russian Empire, we must in many cases refer to the boundaries of the old provinces.