Between Bronze and Iron Ages (burial ground Shatmantamak I in Bashkortostan)

Abstract

This study concerns the problem of diagnosing the materials of transitional period from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age on the territory of the Urals and Kazakhstan steppes. The purpose of the work is the presentation and analysis of new materials (the Shatmantamak I burial ground) using radiocarbon dating methods. On the basis of comprehensive analysis and comparison with synchronous and asynchronous materials, the authors concluded that the burial represents a rare example of a site marking the transition period from Final Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. The results of dating for these periods were summarized for the territory from the Volga-Ural to East Kazakhstan to determine the position of new materials in the periodization system. Some of the results are published for the first time. Generalization of synchronous materials of the 9th – 8th centuries cal BC demonstrated a mosaic pattern of cultural traditions, as well as the asynchronous transition to the Early nomads Epoch in the territories west and east of the Ural Mountains. Unfortunately, the author’s conclusions rely on a relatively small series of dating results, which require significant expansion due to new analyses.

Keywords

• archaeology
• the urals and kazakhstan
• transition from the bronze age to the early iron age
• radiocarbon dating
• burials