The Middle Urals in the Early Bronze Age: the Koptyaki culture

The focus is on the phenomenon of the Koptyaki culture in the Middle Trans-Ural region of the early Bronze Age demonstrating the formation of a production centre in predominantly appropriating economic environment. A limited area, a small number of sites, among which the sanctuary Shaitanskoye Lake II occupies a prominent place, an unprecedented number of metal objects (over 200 are known today), the “eneolithic” appearance of some groups of pottery – all this distinguishes the Koptyaki culture sharply against the background of neighbouring and remote synchronous metalliferous cultures of the first third of the 2nd millennium BC (Petrovka, Alakul, Krotovo, Tashkovo, and Odinovo). Such an unusual combination of signs testifying to advanced metal processing technology, on the one hand, and to the preservation of many archaic features of the preceding stone era, on the other hand, requires a balanced assessment and emphasizes a particular model of the introduction and development of innovations by people living in a region devoid of conditions for cattle breeding and agriculture development. The author proposes a hypothesis of conjugation of the Ural metal complex with copper ore deposits of the Middle Trans-Urals. There is a sort of paradox which deserves a special discussion: the formation of an independent metal-working centre in the Trans-Urals in the early 2nd millennium BC which absorbed the latest achievements of the principal technological traditions of the era – those of Seyma-Turbino and Petrovka-Alakul – took place in a zone that did not provide the conditions for food production. The latter circumstance seems to be important, since it significantly expands our idea of the resource base of the Eurasian forest belt cultures and reveals the factors and conditions that ensure their integration into the system of ties of the West Asian (Eurasian) metallurgical province.

Keywords

the Urals, the Bronze Age, the West Asian metallurgical province, the Koptyaki culture, the Seima-Turbino phenomenon

Acknowledgment

The work is executed at financial support of RFBR grant 16-06-00174а.

Received

10.01.2019

Publication date

22.01.2019

Cite Download pdf To download PDF you should sign in

GOST	Korochkova O. The Middle Urals in the Early Bronze Age: the Koptyaki culture // Rossiiskaia arkheologiia – 2018. – Issue 4 C. 17-35 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/ra/s086960630003386-3-1-en (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S086960630003386-3
MLA	Korochkova, Olga "The Middle Urals in the Early Bronze Age: the Koptyaki culture." Rossiiskaia arkheologiia 4 (2018):17-35. DOI: 10.31857/S086960630003386-3
APA	Korochkova O. (2018). The Middle Urals in the Early Bronze Age: the Koptyaki culture. Rossiiskaia arkheologiia (4), pp.17-35 DOI: 10.31857/S086960630003386-3

Размещенный ниже текст является ознакомительной версией и может не соответствовать печатной

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Bel’tikova G.V., 2005. The formation environment and sites of the Trans-Urals (Itkul’) centre of metallurgy // Arkheologiya Urala i Zapadnoy Sibiri (k 80-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya Vladimira Fedorovicha Geninga): sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Archaeology of the Urals and Western Siberia (to the 80th anniversary of Vladimir Fedorovich Gening): collected papers]. Ekaterinburg: Izdatel’stvo Ural’skogo universiteta, pp. 162–186. (In Russ.)

2. Bers E. M., 1963. Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki Sverdlovska i ego okrestnostey [Archaeological sites of Sverdlovsk and its vicinity]. Sverdlovsk: Sverdlovskoye knizhnoye izdatel’stvo. 114 p.

3. Borzunov V. A., Bel’tikova G.V., 1999. A camp site of the Abashevo metal-makers in the mountain-forest Trans- Urals // 120 let arkheologii vostochnogo sklona Urala: Pervye chteniya pamyati Vladimira Fedorovicha Geninga: materialy nauchnoy konferentsii [120 years of archaeological studies of the Urals eastern slope: 1st Readings in memory of Vladimir Fedorovich Gening: proceedings of the scientific conference], 2. V. T. Kovaleva, ed. Ekaterinburg: Ural’skiy gosudarstvennyy universitet, pp. 43–52. (In Russ.)

4. Chairkina N. M., 2005. Eneolit Srednego Zaural’ya [The Eneolithic of the Middle Trans-Urals]. Ekaterinburg: Ural’skoye otdelenie RAN. 314 p.

5. Chairkina N. M., 2015. Torfyanikovye pamyatniki Zaural’ya: analiz i interpretatsiya: avtoreferat dissertatsii … doktora istoricheskikh nauk [Peat-bog sites of the Trans-Urals: an analysis and interpretation: the Synopsis of a doctoral thesis in History]. Novosibirsk. 42 p.

6. Chemyakin Yu.P., 1999. Koptyaki VI – a hundred years later // Tret’i Bersovskie chteniya: K 95-letiyu A. A. Bersa i 90-letiyu E. M. Bers: materialy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii [3rd Bers Readings: to the 95th anniversary of A.A. Bers and the 90th anniversary of E. M. Bers: proceedings of the Scientific and Practical Conference]. Ekaterinburg: Bank kul’turnoy informatsii, pp. 54–59. (In Russ.)

7. Chernykh E. N., Korochkova O. N., Orlovskaya L. B., 2017. Issues of the calendar chronology of the Seima-Turbino transcultural phenomenon // Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia], 2, pp. 45–55. (In Russ.)

8. Chernykh E. N., Kuz’minykh S.V., 1989. Drevnyaya metallurgiya Severnoy Evrazii (seyminsko-turbinskiy fenomen) [Ancient metallurgy of Northern Eurasia (Seima-Turbino phenomenon)]. Moscow: Nauka. 320 p.

9. Degtyareva A. D., 2010. Istoriya metalloproizvodstva Yuzhnogo Zaural’ya v epokhu bronzy [The history of metal production of the Southern Trans-Urals in the Bronze Age]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 162 p.

10. Denisov V. P., Mel’nichuk A.F., 1991. The settlement of Zaosinovo VII and the problem of the Bronze Age culture formation in the Middle Kama region // Arkheologiya i etnografiya Mariyskogo kraya [Archaeology and Ethnography of Mari Region], 19. Pozdniy eneolit i kul’tury ranney bronzy lesnoy polosy evropeyskoy chasti SSSR [The Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze cultures of the forest belt of the European USSR]. Yoshkar-Ola, pp. 102–113. (In Russ.)

11. Denisov V. P., Mel’nichuk A.F., Mitryakov A. E., 2011. Poorly studied Bronze Age chronological horizon Zaosinovo VII – Nepryakha VII – Partizany IV of the Middle Kama region // Shestye Bersovskie chteniya: sbornik statey Vserossiyskoy arkheologicheskoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii [6th Bers Readings: collected articles of the All- Russian Archaeological Scientific and Practical Conference]. Ekaterinburg: Kvadrat, pp. 107–116. (In Russ.)

12. Eding D. N., 1940. New findings from the Gorbunovo peat bog // Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki Urala i Prikam’ya [Archaeological sites of the Urals and the Kama region]. Moscow; Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR, pp. 41–57. (MIA, 1). (In Russ.)

13. Khlobystin L. P., 1976. Poselenie Lipovaya Kur’ya v Yuzhnom Zaural’ye [The settlement of Lipovaya Kur’ya in the Southern Trans-Urals]. Leningrad: Nauka. 65 p.

14. Korochkova O. N., 2006. Some aspects of the “Andronovo” historiography // Sovremennye problemy arkheologii Rossii: materialy Vserossiyskogo arkheologicheskogo s”yezda [Contemporary issues of the Russian archaeology: Proceedings of the All-Russian Archaeological Congress]. V. I.Molodin, A. P. Derevyanko, eds. Novosibirsk: IAET SO RAN, pp. 402–406. (In Russ.)

15. Korochkova O. N., 2009. Cultural integration of the late Bronze Age: factors, rates, patterns // Ural’skiy istoricheskiy vestnik [Ural Historical Journal], 2(23), pp. 40–49. (In Russ.)

16. Korochkova O. N., 2011. Vzaimodeystvie kul’tur v epokhu bronzy v Srednem Zaural’ye i podtayezhnom Tobolo- Irtysh’ye: faktory, mekhanizmy, dinamika: avtoreferat dissertatsii … doktora istoricheskikh nauk [Interaction of cultures during the Bronze Age in the Middle Trans-Urals and the under-taiga Tobol- Irtysh region: factors, mechanisms, dynamics: the Synopsis of a doctoral thesis in History]. Moscow. 37 p.

17. Korochkova O. N., 2012. Controversial issues of studying the Tashkovo culture // Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii [Bulletin of Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography], 3(18), pp. 24–33. (In Russ.)

18. Korochkova O. N., Mosunova A. V., Spiridonov I. A., Stefanov V. I., 2018. Burial assemblages from the Bronze Age sanctuary of Shaitanskoye Lake II in the Middle Urals // Ross. arkheol., 1, pp. 135–149. (In Russ.)

19. Korochkova O. N., Spiridonov I. A., 2016. Signs of the steppe in the metal objects from the Shaitanskoye Lake II sanctuary // Ural’skiy istoricheskiy vestnik [Ural Historical Journal], 4(53), pp. 68–76. (In Russ.)

20. Korochkova O. N., Spiridonov I. A., Stefanov V. I., 2015. The Late Bronze Age metalworking of the mountain-forest Trans-Urals: palstaves of the Kizhirovo type // Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Kemerovo State University], no. 2(62), vol. 6, pp. 61–67. (In Russ.)

21. Korochkova O. N., Stefanov V. I., 2010. A Bronze Age cult site on Lake Shaitanskoye near Yekaterinburg (based on the materials of 2008 excavations) // Ross. Arkheol. [Russian Archaeology], 4, pp. 120–129. (In Russ.)

22. Korochkova O. N., Stefanov V. I., 2011. Вurial rite // Satyga XVI: seyminsko-turbinskiy mogil’nik v tayezhnoy zone Zapadnoy Sibiri [Satyga XVI: Seima-Turbino burial ground in the taiga zone of Western Siberia]. A.Ya. Trufanov, ed. Ekaterinburg: Ural’skiy rabochiy, pp. 21–29. (In Russ.)

23. Korochkova O. N., Stefanov V. I., 2013. A Bronze Age cult site on Lake Shaitanskoye near Yekaterinburg (based on the materials of 2009–2010 excavations) // Ross. Arkheol., 1, pp. 87–96. (In Russ.)

24. Kosarev M. F., 1981. Bronzovyy vek Zapadnoy Sibiri [The Bronze Age of Western Siberia]. Moscow: Nauka. 287 p.

25. Kuz’minykh S.V., 1993. Quasi-Eneolithic cultures of Northern Eurasia: the periodization issue // Arkheologicheskie kul’tury i kul’turno-istoricheskie obshchnosti Bol’shogo Urala: tezisy dokladov XII Ural’skogo arkheologicheskogo soveshchaniya[Archaeological cultures and cultural-historical communities of the Great Urals: Proceedings of the XII Ural Archaeological Meeting]. Ekaterinburg: Izdatel’stvo Instituta istorii i arkheologii Ural’skogo otdeleniya RAN, pp. 117–118. (In Russ.)

26. Kuz’minykh S.V., Lun’kov V. Yu., Orlovskaya L. B., 2015. Metal from a Bronze Age ritual site on Shaitanskoye Lake (the Middle Urals) // KSIA [Brief Communications of the Institute of Archaeology], 241, pp. 89–94. (In Russ.)

27. Kuz’minykh S.V., Stefanov V. I., 2012. Pick shaft-hole hammer axes of the Bronze Age: the origins of centuries-long tradition // Arkheologo-etnograficheskie issledovaniya Severnoy Evrazii: ot artefaktov k prochteniyu proshlogo [Archaeological and ethnographic studies of Northern Eurasia: from artifacts to reading the past]. L. A. Chindina, ed. Tomsk: Agraf- Press, pp. 143–148. (In Russ.)

28. Matyushchenko V. I., Sinitsyna G. V., 1988. Mogil’nik u d. Rostovka vblizi Omska [The burial ground near the village of Rostovka in Omsk vicinity]. Tomsk: Izdatel’stvo Tomskogo universiteta. 136 p.

29. Molodin V. I., Grishin A. E., 2016. Pamyatnik Sopka‑2 na reke Omi [The Sopka‑2 site on the Om’ River], 4. Kul’turnokhronologicheskiy analiz pogrebal’nykh kompleksov krotovskoy kul’tury [Cultural and chronological analysis of the burial complexes of the Krotovo culture sites]. Novosibirsk: Izdatel’stvo IAET SO RAN. 452 p.

30. Molodin V. I., Neskorov A. V., 2010. The collection of Seima- Turbino bronzes from the Irtysh region (the tragedy of a unique monument destroyed by unauthorized excavations in the 21st century) // Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia], 3(43), pp. 58–71. (In Russ.)

31. Petrin V. T., Nokhrina T. I., Shorin A. F., 1993. Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki Argazinskogo vodokhranilishcha (epokhi kamnya i bronzy) [Archaeological sites of the Argazi Reservoir (the Stone and Bronze Ages)]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 211 p.

32. Sal’nikov K.V., 1964. Some issues of the history of the forest Trans-Urals in the Bronze Age // Voprosy arkheologii Urala [Issues of the Uralian Archaeology], 6. Sverdlovsk: Ural’skiy gosudarstvennyy universitet, pp. 5–23. (In Russ.)

33. Savinov D. G., 2013. Two ways of distribution of Seyma-type bronze objects to the East // Teoriya i praktika arkheologicheskikh issledovaniy: sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Theory and practice of archaeological research: Collected papers], 2(8). Barnaul: Altayskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet, pp. 5–16. (In Russ.)

34. Serikov Yu.B., 2013. Shaytanskoye ozero – svyashchennoye ozero drevnosti [Shaitanskoye Lake: a sacred lake of antiquity]. Nizhniy Tagil: Nizhnetagil’skaya gosudarstvennaya sotsial’no-pedagogicheskaya akademiya. 408 p.

35. Serikov Yu.B., Korochkova O. N., Kuz’minykh S.V., Stefanov V. I., 2009. Shaitanskoye Lake II: new subjects in studying the Uralian Bronze Age // Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia], 2(38), pp. 67–78. (In Russ.)

36. Stefanov V. I., 2011. Pottery // Satyga XVI: seyminsko-turbinskiy mogil’nik v tayezhnoy zone Zapadnoy Sibiri [Satyga XVI: Seima-Turbino burial ground in the taiga zone of Western Siberia]. A.Ya. Trufanov, ed. Ekaterinburg: Ural’skiy rabochiy, pp. 51–55. (In Russ.)

37. Stefanov V. I., Korochkova O. N., 2000. Andronovskie drevnosti Tyumenskogo Pritobol’ya [The Andronovo antiquities in Tyumen area of the Tobol region]. Ekaterinburg: Poligrafist. 108 p.

38. Stefanov V. I., Korochkova O. N., 2006. Urefty I: zaural’skiy pamyatnik v andronovskom kontekste [Urefty I: a Trans-Ural site in the Andronovo context]. Ekaterinburg: Izdatel’stvo Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 160 p.

39. Viktorova V. D., 1999. The Koptyaki culture in the mountainforest Trans-Urals // Tret’i Bersovskie chteniya: K 95-letiyu A. A. Bersa i 90-letiyu E. M. Bers: materialy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii [3rd Bers Readings: to the 95th anniversary of AA. Bers and the 90th anniversary of E. M. Bers: Proceedings of the Scientific and Practical Conference]. Ekaterinburg: Bank kul’turnoy informatsii, pp. 49–54. (In Russ.)

40. Viktorova V. D., 2001. Burial complexes on Kamennye Palatki island // Okhrannye arkheologicheskie issledovaniya na Srednem Urale [Rescue archaeological research in the Middle Urals], 4. Ekaterinburg: Bank kul’turnoy informatsii, pp. 95–107. (In Russ.)

41. Viktorova V. D., 2011. The genesis of the Koptyaki culture // Shestye Bersovskie chteniya: sbornik statey Vserossiyskoy arkheologicheskoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii [6th Bers Readings: collected papers of the All-Russian Archaeological Scientific and Practical Conference]. Ekaterinburg: Kvadrat, pp. 98–106. (In Russ.)

42. Zakh V. A., Ivanov S. N., 2007. The Bronze Age complex of the multilayer settlement Chepkul’ 20 in the North of Andreevskoye Lake system // Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii [Bulletin of Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography], 7, pp. 12–21. (In Russ.)

43. Zakh V. I., 2012. The Koptyaki culture in the Lower Tobol region // Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii [Bulletin of Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography], 2(17), pp. 29–40. (In Russ.)