Late Bronze Age Transitions in the Southern Urals (Russia)
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Theses Department of Anthropology Spring 5-15-2011 Middle Bronze Age- Late Bronze Age Transitions in the Southern Urals (Russia). Case Study: Shifts in Settlement Patterns in the Kyzil Area, Chelyabinsk District. denis sharapov Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation sharapov, denis, "Middle Bronze Age- Late Bronze Age Transitions in the Southern Urals (Russia). Case Study: Shifts in Settlement Patterns in the Kyzil Area, Chelyabinsk District.." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/51 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MIDDLE BRONZE AGE – LATE BRONZE AGE TRANSITION IN THE SOUTHERN URALS (RUSSIA). CASE STUDY: SHIFTS IN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE KYZIL AREA, CHELYABINSK DISTRICT. by DENIS SHARAPOV Under the Direction of Jeffrey Glover ABSTRACT The following paper focuses on the transitional period between the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and the Late Bronze Age (LBA) in the Southern Urals, Russia. GIS-based analysis of Bronze Age settlement patterns in the Kyzil Area points to a number of important findings. The study concludes the demographic impossibility of an autonomous development scenario of the Sintashta – Srubnaya-Alakul cultural transformation, rejects the presence of ‘proto-city’ or urbanization developments in the region during the Bronze Age, and points to the shift to a more collective form of control over natural resources during the LBA period. The study also examines the spatial distribution of ‘kurgan’ cemeteries in the area. Among other things, this thesis illustrates how settlement pattern studies can add to and complement the heavily burial data - driven research, often relied upon in the archaeological analysis of the Eurasian Steppes. INDEX WORDS: Bronze Age, Urals, Settlement patterns, GIS, Russia, Sintashta, Kurgans MIDDLE BRONZE AGE – LATE BRONZE AGE TRANSITION IN THE SOUTHERN URALS (RUSSIA). CASE STUDY: SHIFTS IN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE KYZIL AREA, CHELYABINSK DISTRICT. by DENIS SHARAPOV A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2011 Copyright by Denis Sharapov 2011 MIDDLE BRONZE AGE – LATE BRONZE AGE TRANSITION IN THE SOUTHERN URALS (RUSSIA). CASE STUDY: SHIFTS IN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE KYZIL AREA, CHELYABINSK DISTRICT. by DENIS SHARAPOV Committee Chair: Jeffrey Glover Committee: Jeffrey Glover Zachary Hruby Bryan Hanks Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... viii 1 Introduction .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1 Purpose of the study and the expected results ..... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Southern Urals: geography, ecology, and climate ................................................ 3 2 Russian vs. American archaeology .............................................................................. 7 2.1 Historical trajectories ............................................................................................ 7 2.1.1 North America ............................................................................................. 7 2.1.2 Russia ........................................................................................................ 10 2.2 Comparison of the two schools of thought ........................................................ 13 2.3 Differences in motivations and methodological practices ................................. 14 2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 17 3 Settlement pattern studies and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ................ 19 3.1 Theoretical and methodological perspectives in settlement pattern research . 19 3.2 Role of GIS in regional settlement pattern research .......................................... 25 3.3 GIS and environmental determinism .................................................................. 28 3.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 31 4 Southern Urals during the Bronze Age ...................................................................... 33 4.1 Archaeological “culture”: history and definition ................................................ 33 4.2 Bronze Age archaeological cultures of the Southern Urals ................................ 36 v 4.2.1 Early Bronze Age ....................................................................................... 37 4.2.2 Middle Bronze Age .................................................................................... 38 4.2.3 Late Bronze Age ......................................................................................... 42 4.3 Subsistence base and metal production in the Southern Urals .......................... 45 4.4 Conslusion ........................................................................................................... 49 5 MBA - LBA transition in the Southern Urals ............................................................. 51 5.1 Prevalent hypotheses in archaeological literature ............................................. 52 5.1.1 Archaeological culture genesis and the Sintashta-Alakul transition ........ 52 5.1.2 Role of migration-diffusion processes in the MBA LBA transition ............ 55 5.1.3 Climatic shifts during the Bronze Age in the Southern Urals .................... 60 5.2 Role of metallurgy in shaping the Southern Urals society .................................. 66 5.2.1 Craft specialization and social structure ................................................... 67 5.2.2 Metallurgists and social status in the Bronze Age .................................... 70 5.2.3 Spread of metallurgical knowledge during the LBA period ....................... 71 5.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 76 6 Case study: MBA LBA settlement patterns in the Kyzil Area, Southern Urals ........ 77 6.1 Kyzil Area: geography and brief description ....................................................... 77 6.2 Data used in the case study ................................................................................ 79 6.3 Case study methodology ..................................................................................... 80 6.3.1 GIS techniques ........................................................................................... 80 6.3.2 Burial vs. settlement evidence ................................................................... 86 6.4 Research questions ............................................................................................. 88 vi 6.5 Findings ............................................................................................................... 89 6.5.1 Paleodemographic estimates .................................................................... 90 6.5.2 Autonomous development vs. outside influence ...................................... 95 6.5.3 Proto-towns and the urbanization hypothesis .......................................... 96 6.5.4 New social order: collective control over resources ................................ 111 6.5.5 Spatial distribution of kurgan cemeteries ............................................... 122 7 Conclusions............................................................................................................... 134 References ...................................................................................................................... 138 Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 150 Appendix A: Attribute data of LBA/FBA sites .............................................................. 150 Appendix B: Attribute data of MBA sites .................................................................... 153 vii List of Tables Table 5.1 Climatic fluctuations in the Eurasian Steppes ............................................................... 62 viii List of Figures Figure 1.1 Southern Urals ............................................................................................................... 4 Figure 1.2 The Eurasian Steppes ..................................................................................................... 5 Figure 4.1 MBA cultures of the Volgo-Urals and Western Siberia ............................................... 39 Figure 4.2 Late Bronze Age archaeological cultures of the steppes ............................................. 43 Figure 5.1 Seima-Turbino sites ....................................................................................................