Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
19 Dm Ulyanova str., Moscow, 117036, Russia
E-mail: archmetal@rambler.ru
The" steppe belt "of Eurasia is a kind of "domain" of nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoral cultures. From west to east, it stretches for 8 thousand km (from the Black Sea to the Yellow Sea), covering an area of up to 8 million km2. The first signs of the formation of the "steppe belt" cultures coincide with the Eneolithic period (V millennium BC) and with the activation of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province. The origin of powerful blocks of pastoral crops occurs in the early and Middle periods of the Bronze Age (IV-III thousand years). BC) within the Circum-Pontic metallurgical Province. The most striking event of this time was the phenomenon of the Maikop kurgan culture in the North Caucasus. This period also includes clear evidence of the development of horses for riding (primitive cavalry), as well as metal weapons (arrowheads and spears). At the end of the third millennium BC, militant pastoral communities were born in the center of Asia (Sayano-Altai, Mongolia). The most important event at the turn of the third and second millennia BC can be considered the oncoming movement of two" waves " of cultures. From the Urals to the east (up to the Altai and Xinjiang), masses of steppe pastoralists of the Abash-Sintashta, and then Andronovo communities moved. From Central Asia to the Urals and further to the borders of Eastern Europe, militant Seimin-Turbine groups rushed. By the middle of the second millennium BC, the formation of the "steppe belt" was completed. This phenomenon lasted until Modern times. Pastoral cultures of the "steppe belt" at various stages very often played a key role in the history of the Eurasian peoples.
Introduction: the view of a historian and archaeologist
At the apogee of its development, the Eurasian "steppe belt" of pastoral cultures appears to modern researchers truly vast in its length: from west to ...
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