Complex of the Petrovka Pottery from the Fortified Settlement of Kamenny Ambar: Analysis of Morphology and Ornamentation

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the study of ceramics of the Petrovka type from the collection of the fortified settlement of Kamenny Ambar. Analysis of morphological and ornamental characteristic allowed the author to distinguish eight typological groups. More than a half of the vessels are represented by wares of “classical” Petrovka appearance. The rest part of pottery besides the Petrovka traits demonstrates the features of other ceramic traditions of the Bronze Age (Sintashta, Alakul’, Early Srubnaya). The short term of the Petrovka phase of the settlement’s functioning enable us to suppose that all vessels were made and used relatively simultaneously. Thus, the analyzed sample reflects the process of changing of ceramic styles (from Sintashta to Alakul’), as well as the transformation of the Petrovka stereotypes under the influence of the Early Srubnaya ceramic tradition. These changes occurred very quickly, but at the same time they were not sharp. The obtained results allow the author to draw a conclusion about the complexity and extreme dynamism of cultural and genetic processes in the Southern Trans-Urals in the first third of the 2nd millennium BC.

Keywords

• archaeology
• southern trans-urals
• bronze age
• ceramics of the petrovka type
• typological analysis