The middle bronze age in the middle dniester area (catacomb culture)

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The middle bronze age in the middle dniester area (catacomb culture)

middle bronze age monument

Svetlana Ivanova

Summary

The article is devoted to the consideration of the sites of the Catacomb culture, which are located between the Middle Dniester and Prut rivers, as well as on the left bank of the Dniester. Structure of the grave, position of the buried, funeral assemblage, with other sites of this culture from the North-Western Black Sea region are analyzed. The researchers note the infiltration of the population of the Yamna and Catacomb cultures into the Syan River basin, which was reflected in the ritual site Swente (Poland).

Probably, the ways of moving ofpart of the steppe population to Central Europe in the early and middle Bronze Age could pass through the territory of the Middle Dniester. The proposals concerning the correspondence of civilization experiences of community groups, settling the north-western Black Sea Coast and the Baltic basin, should be treated as an important voice in the possible further discussion. It puts a «Сentral European perspective» on the Dniester Contact Area of interest to us.

The data of radiocarbon dating of the Catacomb sites of the Middle Dniester region are also analyzed.

Key words: Catacomb culture, North-Western Black Sea region, radiocarbon dating.

Світлана Іванова

доктор історичних наук провідний науковий співробітник, Інститут археології НАНУ (Україна, Одеса) Геннадій Тощев кандидат історичних наук доцент кафедри історії України Запорізький національний університет (Україна, Запоріжжя)

СЕРЕДНЯ БРОНЗОВА ДОБА В АРЕАЛІ

СЕРЕДНЬОГО ПОДНІСТРОВ'Я

(КАТАКОМБНА КУЛЬТУРА)

Анотація

У Середньому Подністров'ї, на території Ямпільського району (Вінницька область), ще у другій половині ХХ ст. археологи зафіксували концентрацію курганів та курганних могильників. Перші розкопки тут були проведені у 1984 р. На початку ХХІ ст. дослідження були продовжені в рамках українсько-польського проекту «Дослідження початків шляхів балтійсько-понтійського межимор'я: ІУ-І тис. до Р.Х.» (Ко^о et аі. 2014). В курганах були виявлені поховання різних епох - від енеоліту до раннього залізного віку.

Пам'ятки Середнього Подністров'я традиційно розглядалися в контексті матеріалів Північно-Західного Причорномор'я. Аналіз особливостей поховального обряду та інвентарю курганів розкопаних у 1984-2011 р., дозволив П. Влодарчаку виділити Подільській варіант ямної культури та Подільській варіант культури шнурової кераміки (Wlodarczak, 2014: 313-340). Основою Подільського варіанту ямної культури були пам'ятки саме Ямпільської, а також Кам'янської кур- ганих груп.

Авторами статті були розглянуті пам'ятки катакомбної культури, що розташовані у межиріччі Середнього Дністра та Пруту, а також на лівому березі Дністра. Особливу увагу приділено устрою могили, положенню похованого та поховальному інвентарю - на тлі пам'яток цієї культури в Північно-Західному Причорномор'ї. Це дало можливість зробити висновки щодо відсутності будь-яких підстав у виділенні локального варіанту катакомбної культури, за аналогією з ямної культурою і культурою шнурової кераміки. Проте, даний регіон виявився досить важливим з точки зору можливих зв'язків між населенням степового Причорномор'я і Центральної Європи в ранньому і середньому бронзовому столітті

Дослідники вказують на проникнення в басейн річки Сян населення ямної та катакомбної культур, що відбилося в ритуальному об'єкті Свенте (Польща). Ймовірно, шляхи просування частини степового населення в Центральну Європу в ранньому і середньому бронзовому віці могли проходити через територію Середнього Подністров'я.

В статі також проаналізовано дані радіовуглецевого датування катакомбних пам'яток Середнього Подністров'я. Вони підтверджують співіснування населення ямної та катакомбної культур на певному етапі. З іншого боку, можна говорити про досить раннє заселення Середнього Подністров'я катакомбними племенами.

Ключові слова: катакомбна культура, Північно-Західне Причорномор'я, радіовуглецеве датування.

Problem situation. The «Podolsky variant» of the Pit Grave culture and the «Podolsky variant» of the Corded Ware Culture were identified by P. Wlodarczak ((Wlodarczak, 2014: 313-340). Therefore, it is necessary to consider other cultures of the Bronze Age in the Middle Dniester area, such as Catacomb culture.

Analysis of research. Archaeological sites of the Middle Dniester were always considered in the context of the North-Western Black Sea region (Toschev, 1982; Dergachev, 1999; Subbotin, 1999, etc.). Excavations by team of Polish-Ukrainian project added new data and new findings of the Bronze Age of this region (Kosko, Potupczyk, Razumow, 2014).

The main idea of the article is consideration of the cultural and chronological position of the Middle Bronze Age cultures in the Middle Dniester area. Are there local variations of cultures of the Middle Bronze Age, as is known for the Early Bronze Age? On the other hand, it puts a central European' perspective on the Dniester Contact Area of interest to us.

Catacomb culture. In the area in question, CC sites are represented solely by burials. They make up 22 per cent of CC complexes known on the north-western Black Sea Coast (fig. 1). Settlements, as in the steppe zone, are not known. In total, we know of over 30 barrows, containing more than 70 CC burials. These are graves sunk into the barrow mounds of earlier cultures, mostly the YC. The barrows stand in groups or alone on high river banks, uplands or watersheds. In one mound, there are from one to six grave assemblages (Codrul Nou, k. 2). As a rule, they are concentrated in the southern portion of the mound. Usually, the entrance shaft was dug in the lower portion of the mound, with grave chambers pointing towards its centre. No case of imposition of one burial over another has been recorded, which suggests the use of grave markers. Two grave groups can be distinguished, differing in their structure and skeleton arrangement. The first group comprises assemblages with a rectangular entrance shaft and crouched skeletons lying on their back (side). The other group is made up of graves with a circular entrance shaft and an oval grave chamber in which corpses lie extended on their back. In relation to the adopted division, the burials may be considered as early (group

and late (group 2). In terms of number, late assemblages dominate. They were discovered on practically all sites under discussion. A rather compact group of early burials was exposed in the Bezeda and Te(cani barrows, while single ones were recorded in other barrows, too (fig. 2). Their characteristic trait is believed to be the covering of the entrance to the grave chamber with stone slabs. The skeletons of adults and children usually lay crouched on their back, far less often on their left side. As a rule, these were single graves, only rarely double. The orientation of the dead according to the points of the compass varies; generally, a southern orientation with some deviations dominates. The use of ochre, as shown by materials from the Te(canii and Bezeda site, is very limited. On the bottom of grave chambers, rotten remains of padding are recorded, sometimes accompanied by charcoals. Inventories comprise mostly pot-like vessels, only seldom are they decorated with cord impressions. A rare find is that of a small amphora, bearing a corded and incised ornament (Corjeu(i 4/10). Other finds include stone maces, arrowheads, animal tooth ornaments, a bronze awl, adze and beads. In a triple grave (burial 5), barrow 3, Camenca-Ocni(a, a rare set was found, which included a fragment of a bronze bracelet and knife with a sharp-ending handle. Rather rare on the scale of the entire north-western Black Sea Coast, this find is strongly believed by the authors of the original publication to be analogous to the goods from Bakhmut sites in eastern Ukraine (MaH3ypa et al. 1992: 92).

In terms of all markers (structure, corpse position, inventory), the group of catacombs discussed above corresponds to features encountered in the south, in the steppe zone. The burials of group 2 are more numerous (up to 70%). They are found in barrow mounds together with earlier ones or they make up separate cemeteries. Individual graves dominate with supine extended skeletons. Collective burial 2, barrow 2, Codrul Nou, held four skeletons. In this case, a rare custom of adding the dead to a grave was encountered, with the bones of those buried earlier being moved aside. In grave 4, barrow 3, of the same site, the bones of the deceased were placed as a `package'. Grave inventories are dominated by pottery, with stone goods being rare: a mace (Corpaci 3/7) and shaft-hole axes (Cotiujeni, 1/1). In the Hancau^i 1/8 burial, next to the skeleton, three hollow-base points were found. Other flint goods were represented by a knife (Dumeni, 1/9). Bronze goods are very rare. A set of beads was discovered in grave 9, barrow 1, on the Dumeni site. Cenotaphs are also known (Duruitoarea Noua, 2/5; Dumeni, 3/4). `Catacomb' materials from the forest-steppe zone are fully consistent with better-known materials from the Dni- ester-Prut interfluve steppe. On the other hand, isolated sites in Romanian Moldavia testify to single cases of penetration of the right bank, (Burtanescu, 2002). In the forest-steppe portion of the Dniester drainage basin, the situation is different. However, the presence of only single CC assemblages may be explained by the small range of excavations. So far, the north-westernmost point of the CC area is the site of Swi<?te in the upper Vistula drainage basin on which the traits of both YC and CC have been recorded (Косько et al., 2012). Generally speaking, it must be observed that in CC grave assemblages, in the forest-steppe portion of the Dniester-Prut interfluve, both early (corner entrance shafts, corpse arrangement) and late (oval grave chambers, grave goods) traits occur (fig. 3). This trait co-occurrence can be explained by the prolonged settlement of the area by CC communities. Further, the find of a CC vessel in a YC burial apparently testifies to the co-occurrence of the YC and CC in this zone, (burial 2, barrow 1, Pereritaw, Briceni district) (Курчатов, 2006: 285). Similar cases were recorded on steppe zone sites (Toschev, 2013). In general, they bear out the conclusions of researchers about the co-existence of the late YC and CC in a specific period. A small series of 14C dates for the CC in the north-western Black Sea Coast fits into the interval of 2580-2341 to 2267-1981 BC (Иванова et al., 2012). Relying on materials from the Dniester-Prut interfluve, E. Kaiser dated CC sites to the interval of 2450-1950 BC (2003). Directly for the area under discussion, 14C dates were obtained for a single assemblage: Prydnistrianskoe 1/I-4 (Goslar et al., 2015), found in a barrow forming part of the Dniester Barrow Site Group. This assemblage is the only to be recorded among those discovered in this group (four Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze mounds were excavated) and among all Yampil barrows as well.

The `catacomb' burial with two skeletons which was excavated on the Pridniestranskoje 1/4 was furnished with a mace head. It has analogies in `catacomb' Most sites were excavated in the 1980s; it cannot be ruled out that peculiar catacomb assemblages located on mound edges were not noticed at that time [Harat et al., 2014]. burials from various stages (Ktohko, 2006: 105, Fig. 37, 45). Corpse arrangement (crouched on their back and leaning sideways) provides grounds to assign this burial to the final portion of the early `catacomb period'. This conclusion is not contradicted either by four dates obtained for human bones and wood (table. 1): 27262493 BC; 2633-2495 BC; 2566-2406 BC; 2565-2406 BC (68.2%) (Goslar et al., 2015), which generally fit into the brackets set by the dates mentioned earlier. The forest-steppe materials known so far do not supply any data on direct contacts between the CC and the central European CWC (Wlodarczak, 2006; Toschev, 2013).

Conclusions. «Catacomb» materials from the forest-steppe zone are fully consistent with better-known materials from the Dniester-Prut interfluve steppe. This is only natural as the protracted conquest of territories

Table 1

Results of C14 dating for CC from Middle Dniester area (Goslar et al., 2015)

lying further north originated in the south and southeast, with the Prut drainage basin being conquered more intensively. It was there in fact that a site concentration was recorded on the left bank of the Prut. On the other hand, isolated sites in Romanian Moldavia testify to single cases of penetration of the right bank (Burtanescu, 2002). A similar situation can be observed further south, in the steppe zone.

The proposals concerning the correspondence of civilization experiences of both community groups, settling the north-western Black Sea Coast and the Baltic basin, should be treated as an important voice in the necessary discussion. It puts a central European' perspective on the Dniester Contact Area of interest to us.

Acknowledgements for translation to Piotr T. Zebrowski.

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Fig. 2. Complexes and artifacts of the 1-st (early) stage 1-2 - Medveja, 4/6; 3-4 - Corjeuji 4/10; 5 -Prydnistryanske 1/4; 6 - Cuzmin, 2,5; 7 - Duruitoarea Noua 3/2; 8 -9 - Ocnfya 3/5

Fig. 3. Complexes and artifacts of the 2-st (late) stage.

1-3 - Dumeni 1/9; 4, 4 - Cotiujeni 1/1; 5 - Dumeni 1/4; 7 - Duruitoarea Noua 1/4; 6,8 - Corpaci 3/7

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