Evgenii Azarov

Статья представляет собой обзор имеющихся сведений о поселенческих жилых постройках на памятниках культуры «текстильной» керамики позднего бронзового века на территории Окского бассейна. Остатки жилищных построек обнаружены лишь на четырёх поселениях. Наиболее полно они изучены на поселении Фефёлов Бор I и Гришинский Исток III, фрагментарно на поселении Колтово 7 и Шагара 5. Жилища представляют собой углубленные более чем на 40 см прямоугольные постройки площадью 30-50 кв. м. Выходы-коридоры направлены в сторону водоёма. Часто с одним очагов в центре и наличием скопления обожжённых камней в углу. Находки концентрируются преимущественно в жилищах и единично рядом с одной или двумя хозяйственными ямами за пределами жилища. Обнаруженные постройки обособляют поселения культуры «текстильной» керамики Окского бассейна от поселений других археологических культур позднего бронзового века, в том числе и общности культур «текстильной» керамики Восточной Европы.
Ключевые слова: жилища, культура «текстильной» керамики, поздний бронзовый век, Окский бассейн, планиграфия поселения.

The article is an overview of the available information on settlement residential buildings located at the sites of the ‘textile’ ceramics cultures dating back to the Late Bronze Age in the territory of the Oka basin. The remains of residential buildings have only been discovered at four settlements. They were most thoroughly studied at Fefelov Bor I and Grishinsky Istok III settlement, and fragmentarily studied at Koltovo 7 and Shagara 5 settlements. The dwellings are rectangular buildings with an area of 30-50 square meters located 40 cm below the ground. The exit corridors are directed towards the reservoir. They often feature a single hearth in the centre and piles of burnt bricks in the corner. The findings are primarily concentrated in dwellings and individually alongside one or two household pits outside the dwellings. The discovered buildings distinguish the settlements corresponding to the culture of ‘textile’ ceramics located in the Oka basin from the settlements of other archaeological cultures dating back to the Late Bronze Age, including the communities of ‘textile’ ceramics cultures from Eastern Europe.
Keywords: dwellings, the culture of ‘textile’ ceramics, the Late Bronze Age, the Oka basin, settlement planigraphy.

Статья представляет собой публикацию черновиков статей или глав диссертации известного советского и российского археолога Б.А. Фоломеева (26.03.1942–19.09.2001), посвящённых классификации «текстильных» отпечатков и выявленным хронологическим особенностям их распространения. Публикация делится на две части. Они были написаны в разное время с разницей около 20 лет, но являются значительным дополнением к имеющимся разработкам классификаций Фоломеева 1975 и 1998 гг. В первой части даётся классификация «текстильных» отпечатков, в которой выделено 12 вариантов, соответствующих двум типам отпечатков – «рябчатому» и «ниточному». Как и в классификации по Тюковому городку, во главу угла поставлена разница в способе нанесения отпечатков на поверхность, но источником послужили более обширные материалы, чем один памятник. Также даны важные наблюдения по формам, орнаментации, примесям и иным особенностям во времени и пространстве. Вторая часть представляет собой выявление хронологических особенностей и построение периодизации развития «текстильных» («сетчатых») фактур («рябчатой», «ниточно-шнуровой» и «ниточно-жгутиковой»), выделенных уже по морфологическим признакам в 1998 г. по материалам археологических памятников эпохи бронзы и раннего железного века Средней Оки.Периодизация включает в себя три периода: ранний (до XII-XI вв. до н. э.), средний (развитой) (XII–XI – VII–VI вв. до н. э.) и поздний (с VII-VI вв. до н. э.).
Ключевые слова: «текстильная» керамика, «сетчатая» керамика, отпечатки на керамике, история изучения, поздний бронзовый век, ранний железный век, Среднее Поочье.

The paper represents a publication of draft papers and chapters of the thesis by a renowned Soviet and Russian archaeologist B.A. Folomeyev (March 26th, 1942 - September 19th, 2001) dedicated to the classifi - cation of ‘textile’ imprints and the discovered chronological features of their distribution. The publication is subdivided into two parts. They were written in various periods with a time diff erence of about 20 years, but represent a signifi cant addition to the existing developments of Folomeyev's classifi cations of 1975 and 1998. The first part features a classifi cation of ‘textile’ imprints is given with identifi ed 12 variants corresponding to two types of imprints - ‘pitted’ and ‘threaded’. Similarly to the classifi cation for Tyukov town, the primary criterion is the diff erence in the method of applying imprints on the surface, but an amount of material from more than a single site was used as the source. The paper also features important observations concerning the forms, ornamentation, impurities and other peculiarities of time and space. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the identifi cation of chronological features and the arrangement of the development periodization of the ‘textile’ (‘mesh’) textures (‘pitted’, ‘thread-cord’ and ‘thread-fi lament’) preciously identifi ed on the basis of morphological features in 1998 using the materials of archaeological sites dating back to the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age located in the Middle Oka region. The periodization consists of the following three periods: early (prior to the 12th-11th centuries B.C.), middle (developed) (12th-11th - 7th-6th centuries B.C.) and late (since the 7th-6th centuries B.C.).
Keywords: ‘Textile’ ceramics, ‘mesh’ ceramics, imprints on ceramics, research history, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Middle Oka region.

A.E. Kravtsov, E.S. Azarov, E.V. Babkina, T.A. Marjenkina, R.N. Modin.

"Scherbinino settlement and burial grounds" - an archaeological site of rhe Mesolitithic-Bronze Age and Middle Ages in the Meschera area of Moscow Region (some results of a study of the curtural layer).

The archaeological complex “Scherbinino settlement and burial grounds” is located in the Eastern part of Moscow Region, near the town of Orekhovo-Zuevo. It is situated on the first terrace above a floodplain on the left bank of the Klyazma river, at an elevation of 6 -7m above the river. It was found in 2012 during a rescue archaeological study in an area of proposed road construction. Boundaries of the complex were determined based on the analysis of results from some 37 test pits, 26 of which displayed signs of the presence of a cultural layer. The cultural layer is a band of strata of Holocene sand covering the area of the terrace. It is contained in a band of between 5 and 70 m in width, and up to 470 m in length, at the edge of the terrace. The area of the territory containing the cultural layer is about 17000m². The depth of the cultural layer is from 15 to 40 cm. The cultural layer contains remains of human activity from the Mesolithic, Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic – Eneolithic, Early and Late Bronze Age, Ancient Russian (XII – XIII century) and Late Middle Ages – Modern period (XVII – XIX century).The entire territory containing the cultural layer that is situated within the boundaries of the proposed construction was studied by excavation with an area of 1532 m². The dominant material within the boundaries of the excavation dates from the late Bronze Age of the second half of the second millennium BC, and is attributed to the late period of development of the Pozdnyakovskaya culture (PC). In ceramics one can trace signs of the effect of the culture of “textile” ceramics on the PC. Remains of seasonal settlement of the Pozdnyakovskaya culture were investigated in the Western half of the excavation (sectors 2, 2A – 2G): in the North-East corner of the area of the settlement there was a dwelling (object 5) – rectangular, above ground or slightly immersed, of a framed construction, in a single unit, with a hearth in the middle, and a vestibule by the exit - with dimensions of 9.3x5.3-6.2 m and an area of about 54 m². The probable number of residents of the dwelling was 7 - 12 (a family?). The main types of activities in the dwelling included - preparation and eating of food, spinning, and some type of work with animal skins and or leather, probably with bone, possibly with wood. By the Northern boundary of the area of the settlement in 4 m to the West of the dwelling there was a structure where flint was worked (objects 6 – 7): round, immersed, with diameter of up to 2.75 m and depth of up to 1 m. Fire was used in this structure, and clay pottery was likely used episodically. To the South-West of the dwelling in a similar distance there was an oval pit (object 8) with traces of burning and remains of a large pot-like vessel. In 2.5 – 3.5 m to the SE of the exit from the dwelling by the South-West edge of the area of the settlement and close to the edge of the terrace there was a fire pit (object 4). Inside the area of the settlement in a distance of 11 – 21 m to the West-South-West and South-West of the dwelling there were found burier grounds pertaining to the same culture. Its materials 76  А. Е. Кравцов, Е. С. Азаров, Е. В. Бабкина, Т. А. Марьенкина, Р. Н. Модин are published elsewhere in this book (Kravtsov, et. al., 2015). Very probably the people buried here were residents of the settlement studied by the excavation.The central area of the settlement was adjoined on the North and North-East by the zone of household activity. It stretched 130 m to the North-East of the East boundary of the area of the settlement. There were found two fire pits of the Pozdnyakovskaya culture (objects 2 and 3) and a pit with traces of burning (object 1) probably connected to a short-term settlement of the Fatyanovo culture of the Bronze Age.Test pits 18 and 19 in the North-East part of the area of the archaeological site revealed a short-term Mesolithic camp. In the excavation area materials of this period were rendered by only few findings, grouped in the edge strip of the terrace, which are connected with episodic visits of the studied territory by the various hunting groups.Test pit 31 revealed a short-term camp of the Middle Neolithiс; test pit 30 revealed one of the late Neolithic – Eneolithic. Test pits 7 and 9 – 21 in the Western part of the territory of the archaeological complex revealed remains of a rural Russian settlement of the XII – XIII cent. One of the main activities of the dwellers of this settlement was iron smelting using the marsh ore. Its presence in the small lowering of the relief near the North boundary of the settlement was confirmed by test pit 25.

A.E. Kravtsov, E.S. Azarov, E.V. Babkina, T.A. Marjenkina, R.N. Modin.

Burial grounds of the late Bronze Age at the archeological complex "Scherbinino settlement and burial grounds" in the Meschera area of Moscow Region.

The ditch burier grounds on the territory of the archeological complex “Scherbinino settlement and burier grounds” is located in the Eastern part of Moscow Region near the town of Orekhovo-Zuevo. It is situated on the first terrace above floodplain  on the left bank of the Klyazma river at an elevation of 6.5 m above the river (+121.5 m). It was found in 2012 during salvage archeological study in a zone of proposed road construction in the South-Western part of the excavation (Kravtsov, et.al., 2015. Fig. 1, 2). Three objects (Fig. 1, 2) found beneath the floor of the cultural layer were identified as graves. They were situated in the edge strip of the area of the terrace and were grouped in a territory matching a part of the area of a settlement of the late Pozdnyakovskaya culture (late Bronze Age) in 11 to 21 m to the West-South-West of a dwelling, that was part of the settlement (Kravtsov, et.al., 2015. Fig. 1, 2, 3). No bone remains were preserved at the site. The grave pits are extended-oval in the outline; graves 2 and 3 are rectangular near the bottom with rounded corners. Profile of the grave pits 1 and 2 is troughlike. The orientation, dimensions of the pits (length x width x depth from the paleosurface) and grave goods (Fig. 1 – 3) are as follows. Grave 1: SW – NE, 337×165×116 cm, a pot-like vessel with “textile” prints, 2 flint arrowheads. Grave 2: SSW-NNE, 244×158×115 cm, a jar-like plain-walled vessel. Grave 3: WNW-ESE, found just 4 – 5 cm above the floor, 74×50×55 cm, a jar-like plain-walled vessel.
Artifacts of the cultural layer was found in the filling of the grave pits 1 and 2. Additionally, object 9 located in the same spatial group with the graves and analyzed in the context of the cultural layer of the complex (Kravtsov et.al., 2015. Fig. 2;11:1 A, B, C; 17:1) likely also belongs to the burier grounds. This is an oval pit of a bowl-like profile, extended SSW-NNE, 160×93×95 cm. The pit contained partial breakdown of a large vessel. This
object is interpreted as a trace of a funeral feast. Partial breakdowns of two other vessels (Kravtsov, et.al., 2015. Fig. 18:1,2) are likely also traces of feasts. One plain-walled jar-like was found above (by 80 cm) of the vessel found in the grave. The other was found near the graves outside of the structures (square 10-22). It is pot-like with “textile” “nail-like” prints on the
outer surface, which are smoothed out in the upper part of the vessel. The graves and the pit with traces of a feast form a file extended along the SSW – NNE line, which is characteristic of the ditch burier grounds of the Pozdnyakovskaya culture. It is possible that the burier grounds extend into the territory to the East of the excavation, which was not part of this study. The grave goods find analogies in the object material from the cultural layer of the archeological complex, including the complex of the dwelling. In totality with the spatial data this allows to assume the burier grounds as being synchronous to the settlement.

Azarov E.S. The map of archaeological monuments with "textile" ceramics of the late period of the Bronze Age in the Oka basin.

The article presents the map of archaeological monuments with "textile" ceramics of the Oka basin in the late period of the Bronze Age. Overall 321 monuments are positioned on the map? practically all of them relating to settlements (the map didn't include hillfort with early layers). The greatest number of monuments can be observed in the middle and lower parts of the Oka river. According  to the number of monuments there were marked 5 residential districts corresponding to the following relative groups: Meshchyerskaya, Sredneokskaya, Oksko-Tsnynskaya, Volosovskaya, Oksko-Klyaz'minskaya. These groups aren't synchronous, but they show the territories most intensely manned by population with "textile" creamics during the Bronze Age in the Oka basin. The author also allocates the certain region of the Upper and the western part of the Middle Oka basin in which there are no inundated settlements, peculiar to the eastern territories. However, from the point of view of the author, it is difficult to define the reason of this situation, because of the insufficient data on all historical and cultural complex of the population with "textile" ceramics living in the Volga-Oka interfluve.

E.S. Azarov. The Late Bronze Age settlement and ground cemetery Korablino.

This article sets out to publish materials from the late period of the Bronze Age excavated by an expedition of the State Historical Museum in 1986–1994 at the stratified  archaeological  site  of Korablino  (Ryazan  Region,  Ryazan  District). The  complex consists  of  a  settlement  and  a  ground  cemetery  and  it  dates  from  the  Bronze Age.  In the course of the excavations two foundation trenches for dwellings consisting of semidugouts were cleared and what are assumed to be the remains of two further dwellings; seven burials dating from the Late Bronze Age were also found. The collection of finds includes pottery, items made of clay and stone and one bronze object. Analysis of the assemblage has made it possible to identify at least two cultural groups that existed in the Bronze Age – the Pozdnyakovo culture and the Textile Pottery culture. The date when
the settlement was in existence has been specified, within the framework of traditional chronology, as the period from the third quarter of the II to the beginning of the I millennium BC. The materials published here reflect complex processes taking place at the end
of the Bronze Age within the territory of the middle reaches of the Oka River

N. I. Shishlina, Yu. O. Larionova, I. A. Idrisov and E. S. Azarov.
Variations of 87Sr/86Sr ratios in different natural objects make it possible to obtain new data havinggreat importance for the identification of the possible place of origin and migration routes of ancient humans.The discussed data were obtained from contemporary snail samples inhabiting the landscapes of the easternCaucasus, which is characterized by different parent rocks. It has been found that the 87Sr/86Sr ratios in sam󰀭ples originating from landscapes with rocks of the same type are generally the same, while those in samplesoriginating from landscapes distinguished by the character of underlying rocks vary to a significant degree/

Поселенческие памятники древнейших скотоводов эпохи раннего металла в пустынных степях юго-востока Русской равнины: подходы и модели. Вид сверху.

Целью доклада служит некоторое обобщение имеющихся точек зрения о существовании и характере поселенческих памятников в пустынных степях юго-востока Русской равнины в бронзовом и раннем железном веках. Обобщение строится на выделении в различных объяснительных моделях поселенческой системы особенностей использования пространства, рельефа и природы местности древними обществами скотоводов. Сами модели, в свою очередь, строятся на различных подходах в определении системы жизнеобеспечения и оценки экономического уклада обществ, населявших сальско-манычские степи.


В зависимости от выбора того или иного подхода, на первый план выступают те или особенности пространства и рельефа и определяется их важность. Так, например, для выпаса скота необходимы пастбищные пространства, которые, в зависимости от сезона, могут располагаться в разных топографических условиях. На продуктивность и полезность таких пастбищ в разные сезоны влияют такие параметры как влажность, уровень снежного покрова, наличие ветра, количество солнечного света и др., которые также имеют зависимость от рельефа. Для исследования последнего строится цифровая модель поверхности в ГИС-программе, которая затем анализируется в поиске наиболее благоприятных мест как для ведения пастбищного хозяйства в разное время, так и кратковременных стоянок, расположенных неподалёку.


При сопоставлении данных о наиболее благоприятных мест для выпаса и стоянок с различными подходами при определении типа хозяйства скотоводов (сезонность, отгонное, кочевое и пр.) можно выделить различные модели использования окружающего пространства древним человеком. Проверка таких моделей археологическими исследованиями на местности с применением комплексов естественнонаучных методов позволяет поставить вопрос о системе расселения древнейших скотоводов эпохи раннего металла в пустынных степях юго-востока Русской равнины, поселенческие памятники которых до сих пор практически неизвестны.

22nd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA)
A new methodological approach used to detect seasonal campsites occupied by Bronze and Early Iron Age pastoralists living in the desert and steppe area in the South-East of the Russian Plain helped identify different subsistence and economic activities.
Comprehensive studies of two types of the sites by employing the methods of archaeology, soil studies, geography, geomorphology, geoinformatics, geochemistry, paleobotany provided an opportunity to obtain conceptually new data on the location and operation pattern of winter and summer pastures and camps themselves. To identify temporary camps, it is important to identify those land areas located in proximity to the camps where grazing was the most suitable at certain times of the year, taking into account natural features. For the winter season it has been demonstrated that deeply cut gullies withrather steep slopes facing south, south-west and south-east are most suitable for winter grazing, determining the existence of temporary winter camps in suchareas. The arrangement of summer temporary camps demonstrates a reverse pattern. It is assumed that summer camps and
pastures were located near streams on open windswept watershed sections rather than near subordinate features of the relief.
Such camps can be discovered only if the soil was overlaid by natural deposits, which may occur on sections with sand.