Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 48 (4) 2020   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.4.095-105

Annotation:  Early Middle Paleolithic Industries in Southeastern Dagestan Middle Paleolithic Bone Retouchers: Size or Proportions Shulbinka Paleolithic Site, Eastern Kazakhstan, Revisited Con Moong Cave: A Stratifi ed Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Site in Northern Vietnam Novopetrovka III—an Early Neolithic Site in the Western Amur Basin and Its Chronology Peculiarities of Using 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography in Caves Elk Figurine from Tourist-2, Novosibirsk: Technological and Stylistic Features Foundries at Stary Tartas-5—an Early Bronze Age Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe Wells as a Source of Cultural and Chronological Information: The Case of Kamennyi Ambar, Southern Tr Mobility of the Suzdal Opolye Settlers in 900–1150 AD Descendants of Eleudei: The Problem of Oirat-Buryat Ethnic Contacts Floral Designs on Sacrifi cial Towels from an Old Believers’ Prayer House The Origin of the Okunev Population, Southern Siberia: The Evidence of Physical Anthropology and Gen The Paleogenetic Study of Bertek-33, an Afanasyevo Cemetery on the Ukok Plateau, the Altai Mountains   

Wells as a Source of Cultural and Chronological Information:
The Case of Kamennyi Ambar, Southern Trans-Urals

A.V. Epimakhov¹, S.E. Panteleeva², and L.N. Koryakova²

¹South Ural State University, Pr. Lenina 76, Chelyabinsk, 454080, Russia

²2Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, S. Kovalevskoi 16, Yekaterinburg, 620108, Russia

This article presents 44 radiocarbon dates from 18 water wells of different Bronze Age periods at Kamennyi Ambar settlement, in the southern Trans-Urals. At the preliminary stage, statistical outliers were identified, which enhanced the reliability of the conclusions. Potsherds from the filling of the wells, contextual analysis of dating samples, and 14C dates allowed us to carry out the cultural attribution of nearly all wells (31 out of 34). The analyzed wells were subdivided into four chronostratigraphic groups corresponding to various settlement phases. Their duration and chronological limits were estimated. Most wells were found to belong to the Sintashta-Petrovka period (densely spaced linearly arranged blocks of structures inside fortified areas). This period comprised three construction phases, the latest of which correlates with the Petrovka ceramics. The second period, marked by randomly arranged structures, is associated with the Srubnaya-Alakul artifacts, and is represented by only four wells. The simulation results suggest that the site existed for less than one and a half centuries, including a short chronological gap between the two periods. The Sintashta (phases 1 and 2) and Petrovka (phase 3) were two consecutive traditions, which may have overlapped during the late period. In the Srubnaya-Alakul period (phase 4), a transformation of the architectural tradition took place, and the layout and construction of the wells changed too.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Trans-Urals, wells, radiocarbon dating, simulation