A forest-steppe landscape and the settlement Ksizovo-1 in the Don region during the Middle Bronze Age

Elke Kaiser; Evgenii Gak; Ekaterina Antipina; Claudia Gerling; Barbara Huber; Maxim Ivashov; Elena Lebedeva; Birgül Öğüt; Jana Eger

doi:10.4312/dp.52.7

Authors

Elke Kaiser Free University of Berlin, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Germany
Evgenii Gak State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia
Ekaterina Antipina Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Moscow, Russia
Claudia Gerling University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences, Switzerland
Barbara Huber Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany; Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Germany
Maxim Ivashov Scientific and Production Association ‘Chernozemye’, Lipetsk, Russia
Elena Lebedeva Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Moscow, Russia
Birgül Öğüt German Archaeological Institute, Orient Department, Berlin, Germany
Jana Eger Free University of Berlin, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.52.7

Keywords:

pastoral land use, landscape archaeology, bioarchaeology, molecular analyses, Catacomb culture

Abstract

Systematic investigations of Bronze Age settlements in different regions of western Eurasia have provided new insights into settlement structures, land use, and past mobile lifestyles. In this paper, we examine the single-layered site of Ksizovo-1 in the Upper Don basin, located in a microregion of the Eastern European forest-steppe. We integrate archaeological, bioarchaeological, and molecular investigations to evaluate if the Middle Bronze Age settlement was a short-lived seasonal site inhabited by a community of mobile pastoralists with distinct land use and economic strategies. Combining the results of the excavations and radiocarbon dating, as well as archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, isotopic, phytolith and organic residue analyses, allows for a more holistic understanding of the character of this site and its environmental and economic contexts. While various features and artefacts were recovered, no remains of architecture or dwellings were found during the excavations, suggesting that the site may have functioned as a temporary camp. The bioarchaeological and molecular data indicate that the community relied primarily on pastoralism, keeping herd animals for meat (mainly cattle), with some reliance on wild animals (e.g., wild pig, bear, and elk), and wild plant resources (e.g., wild fruits and nuts), indicating the wider exploitation of the forest-steppe landscape surrounding the site.

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