Arheologia Moldovei最新文献

{"title":"Hillforts of the Scythian Period in the Middle Course of the Seim River","authors":"D. Karavaiko","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.020","url":null,"abstract":"Despite many years of studies of the Scythian Age hillforts of the Seim River Putyvl region, their research has only just begun. This is largely the merit of the works of the Putyvl archaeological expedition, which surveyed all the fortified settlements of the region during 2012—2016. New topographic plans were created, the peculiarities of the cultural layer of a particular settlement were clarified. The research conducted allows identifying the general characteristics of the fortified settlements of the region. All the hillforts are located on promontories, with one or more ramparts on the field side. A characteristic feature is the presence of two or more sharp ridges, which gently descend to the floodplain. Minor studies of defensive structures were conducted only at three sites. The presence of a defensive ditch is assumed, although it can be traced only visually at two sites. In addition, a significant part of the hillforts is fortified by slopes. Based on the cultural layer we can distinguish three groups: the fortified settlement with a thick layer which has existed for a long time; the fortified settlement with a layer approximately 0.5 m thick; the fortified settlement with a thin layer and a small number of finds and objects. The latter are probably unfinished hillforts or administrative centres, combining several unfortified settlements. A comprehensive research of the material complex, given the small number of finds, is impossible. However, even with a superficial analysis there can be traced the connection of the Middle Seim tribes with the Yukhniv population of the forest belt. It is possible to assume the presence of mixed marriages, which led to the appearance of specific forms of ceramic vessels and some items in the population of the northern part of the Left Bank forest-steppe. The question about the time of existence of the sites in the Seim River Putyvl region remains open. Preliminarily we can speak about the middle of the 6th—4th centuries BC. However, in the 4th century BC there was only one fortified settlement – Shyriaievе.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"112 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79735260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Once Again about the Pit Burials of the Early Medieval Verkhnii Saltiv Catacomb Burial Ground","authors":"V. Aksionov","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.069","url":null,"abstract":"On the site of the main Verkhnii Saltiv catacomb burial ground, explored in 1984—1989 by the expedition of the Kharkiv Historical Museum, in addition to 76 catacomb burials, 17 burials in pits of various designs were found (nine in simple soil pits and eight in pits with lining). All studied pit burials belonged to children and adolescents, 14 of them were associated with specific catacombs, because they were located in the immediate vicinity of the dromoi of the catacombs or were let into their filling (burials nos. 13; 15 — catacombs nos. 72; 74). The inventory of the studied pit burials did not differ in composition, typology and quantitative indicators from the inventory that accompanied the bones of children from the burial chambers of the catacombs of the same burial ground. This inventory serves as an indicator of a certain property and social status of families whose members were children buried in pit graves. The planigraphy and inventory of pit burials allows stating that the children burials and the catacombs next to which they are located should be considered as a single burial complex that belonged to close relatives or members of the same family. At the same time, six of the nine catacombs (nos. 30; 39; 41; 44; 51; 52) with which the pit burials are associated had burial chambers located longitudinally in relation to the dromos, differing in small sizes and containing the remains of two or three deceased. The burial chambers of the T-shaped catacombs (nos. 72; 73; 74), which are somewhat larger, also contained three or four human skeletons. The burial of children in separate pits of various designs is due to the lack of free space for new burials in the burial chambers of the catacombs associated with them. It was impossible because of some objective reasons (unfavorable season, lack of resources and time, nature of death, etc.) to dig new catacombs for child burials.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78264845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early Scythian Spearheads with a Socket","authors":"Serhii Skoryi","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.006","url":null,"abstract":"Spears were the second most widespread (after the bow and arrows) weapon of the Scythian warriors. Now more than 1,000 iron spearheads and shafts are known. Some spears were 3 m or more long, i.e. were combat weapons. Spears in Scythia, in contrast to the eastern nomads, the Sauro-Sarmatians and the Saka, were a popular weapon, among both ordinary warriors and the elite. Scythian spears, first of all, their tips, have been studied well. However, some of them have features that need to be explained. That is the presence of horizontal ridges around the ends of the sockets of the spearheads, which were not primarily intended for decoration. Few such tips have been found so far in the Ukrainian Forest-Steppe. They belong to the Scythian archaic period, and more precisely to the period from the second half of the 7th to the beginning of the 6th centuries BC. In author’s opinion, the ridges on spear sockets had a utilitarian purpose: they served to securely fasten tassels, possibly in the shape of horse tails, or special badges that were prototypes of future flags. A similar tradition arose among the nomads of Central Asia as early as the middle-second half of the 2nd millennium BC and then it had spread throughout the Eurasian region and during later periods. The spears with bunchuks in the shape of horse or wolf tails have undoubtedly experienced evolution: at first they were symbols of tribal and military unity, over time they began to play the role of a prestigious social marker – an attribute of military leaders of different levels. As a rule, notable Scythian warriors were buried in the graves where such spearheads were found. Apparently, spears with tassels indicate that their owners were the heads of certain military contingents. Given the synchronism of the mentioned burials with the period of the Scythian campaigns to the East, the appearance of similar spears with tassels among the Scythians due to the Assyrian influence cannot be ruled out. In any case, spears with tassels are attested on the reliefs of Assyria, although of an earlier time.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84027458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Locations of Ancient Fords on the Sula River","authors":"A. Korzh","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.057","url":null,"abstract":"It is known that from ancient times rivers were not only a source of water and certain types of food, but also significant obstacles for overland travel. This especially applies toto the second-order watercourses, the length of which reached hundreds of kilometers, making it simply impossible to bypass them, including the right tributary of the Dnipro River — the Sula. Therefore, usually the most convenient places were chosen to overcome the water obstacle, which had optimal conditions, namely the width and depth of the channel, the speed of the current, the convenience of the coastline, etc. Usually there were not many of them and they functioned for a considerable period of time. In the article the issue of finding important elements of land communication of the Left-bank forest-steppe, namely crossings and fords across the Sula River, which could have existed in the Early Iron Age, was considered. Using the analysis of later cartographic materials, the locations of such important infrastructure elements of the 19th century as ferry crossings, which were usually located in the most favourable sections of the coastline and existed for quite a long time, were identified. Also, the names of settlements were taken into account, in which the answer could be found in the search for fords through the Sula. The analysis of later historical events that took place in the region helped a lot in solving the issue of finding fords and crossings, because, as mentioned above, there were few convenient places and they were usually used for thousands of years. In the paper four places on the Sula River that could have been used by the ancient population as fords and crossings, namely: Pishchanyi ford on the upper reaches of Sula and Basivka, Hlynsk and “Horoshynskyi portage” in the Sula basin. The locations on the right bank of both fortified settlements and large burial mounds of the Early Iron Age demonstrate a certain regularity that suggests the presence of crossing-points. We argue that the approach to these crossing-points was also marked on the left bank with mounds of 3—4 m height. So, the Sula River example shows the perspective of the direction of research of ancient communication routes, namely the search for places of ancient crossings and fords with the help of local historical literature, cartographic materials and analysis of later historical events that took place in the region.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"63 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76001816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Jewellery of East European Champlevé Enamel Style among Materials of Saltiv Culture: Data Analysis","authors":"Yaroslav Volodarets-Urbanovych","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.111","url":null,"abstract":"In the paper jewellery from sites and complexes of the Saltiv culture, which do not chronologically fit within the boundaries of its existence, is analysed. All finds can be divided into two groups (fig. 1): East European champlevé enamel style (group I) and “antiquities of the Antes ” (group II). The second group, in turn, is divided into products typical for the hoards of the Martynivka circle (group II, subgroup 1) and items typical for the Pastyrske hillfort (group II, subgroup 2). In the article the first group is presented. It is represented by three monuments, where four finds were discovered (Table 1). First of all, there is the Tsimliansk Right-bank hillfort. Two fibulae of East European champlevé enamel style were discovered. 1. Bronze fibula, triangular (fig. 2: 3). The decoration belongs to late variations: from the middle of the 3rd to the 5th: type IV (fibulae with elements of degradation), subtype 2 after: G. Korzukhina (fig. 3; 4). 2. The upper part of the T-shaped fibula. The item is from the cultural layer at a depth of 20 cm (fig. 2: 2). The clasp belongs to late variations: from the middle of the 3rd to the 5th or even the middle — second half of the 4th century. Belongs to type IV, subtype 1 after: G. Korzukhina or to the third series, type 2 after: Ye. Hokhovskyi (fig. 5; 6). The lower extent of the Don River is not the only point with finds of East European champlevé enamel style. However, other finds come from sites and complexes of the Late Roman period. Such finds could have entered this region with the Late Sarmatian population. Secondly, there is the Dmitrievka cemetery which was investigated by S. Pletneva. A female burial from the end of the 8th century was discovered in catacomb no. 44. The lunar pendant was found on the belt according to G. Korzukhina. Korzukhina, although S. Pletneva claims that the item got into the catacomb by accident. This is a large three-horned lunar pendant, with round platforms at the ends also decorated with red enamel (fig. 7: 1). The decoration belongs to type I according to G. Korzukhina and is dated by the advanced stage of the style’s existence to the end of the 2d — 3dcenturies (fig. 7; 8). Eleven locations with finds of East European champlevé enamel style and 17 monuments of Kyiv culture are known in the upper reaches of the Siverskyi Donets River. Finally, there is the Sukha Homilsha cemetery 1 which was investigated by V. Mikheev. In burial no. 274, a detail of a rectangular link of a chain with slotted fields without enamel was found. This object belongs to late variants dated to the period from the middle of the 3rd to the 5th centuries. The burial itself is dated to the second half of the 8th — the beginning of the 9th century (fig. 9; 10; 11). East European champlevé enamel style finds and monuments of Kyiv culture are also known within the Kharkiv Oblast. Jewellery of Martynivka circle hoards and items typical for the Pastyrske hillfort from Saltiv monuments are often consi","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"5 4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79515327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Borys Shramko — a Researcher of Wide Chronological Range (to the 100th Anniversary of his Birth)","authors":"Valerii Skуrda","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.134","url":null,"abstract":"Borys Andriiovych Shramko (1921 — 2012) is known as a researcher of the Early Iron Age, and first of all of the largest settlement in Europe of that time — the Bilsk hillfort. However, in reality, the scholar also carried out the study of monuments from other periods. Chronologically, the earliest in his research were the monuments of the Stone Age. B. A. Shramko discovered and examined about 20 sites of this period (two Palaeolithic, one Mesolithic and 14 Neolithic) in the course of archaeological exploration. In the research legacy of the Kharkiv researcher, the Eneolithic era is represented by excavations of burial mounds of the Yamna culture near Parkhomivka and Lyptsi villages. To this period is dedicated Shramko’s article about the emergence of arable farming in the south of Eastern Europe. The researcher also discovered a significant number (143) of Bronze Age settlements and carried out excavations at some of them (the villages of Pisky Radkivski, Liubivka, etc.). Excavations were also made at burial mounds (Krasna Mohyla, Bezimenna Mohyla, etc.) and flat burials (Velyka Danylivka) of that time. B. A. Shramko also paid attention to the sites of the Late Roman times. The scholar discovered about 50 settlements (some of them were reseached) and excavated a cremation burial ground of the Cherniakhiv culture near Pavlukivka village. The inlet burial of the Kyiv culture, investigated on a hill near the village of Duvanky, belongs to the same period. The researcher paid considerable attention to the study of medieval sites among which the Donetsk hillfort held a special place. The monuments of the Ukrainian Cossacks era (the 18th century fortresses remains on the Berek River banks) also came into the field of vision of B. A. Shramko.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81617493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Redvyntsi — the Funeral and Memorial Complex of a Rider of the Scythian Period in Northern Podillia","authors":"Oleksandr Mohylov, Vitalii Hutsal","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2023.01.086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2023.01.086","url":null,"abstract":"In 1973, the archaeological expedition of Kamianets-Podilskyi Pedagogical Institute under the leadership of A. F. Hutsal and I. S. Vynokur investigated the mound no. 1 near Redvyntsi village in Khmelnytskyi District and Oblast, in the upper reaches of the Southern Buh basin. The graveyard of five mounds was located 0.5 km southwest from Redvyntsi, on the territory of the collective farm garden. The height of the embankments, located 50—60 m from each other, was 1.8—2.7 m, the diameter — 14—18 m. The height of the mound no. 1 (the biggest in the group), located in the eastern part of the burial ground, was 2.5 m, the diameter — 18 m. A burial and memorial complex was discovered under the mound: the cenotaph. It had a wooden structure with a diameter of 4.4 m. It was located on the top of the soil filling. In the centre of the layout there was a complex of items. On the side, traces of ritual hearths and ceramics near them were found. Among the finds, bridle items made of bronze should be noted. Moreover, there were plates that had the shape of a circle, a rosette and and a diamond. Buckles were found with them. Weapons include an iron spearhead and bronze three-bladed arrowheads. A glass bead was found among the jewellery. The finds have analogies in many areas of the Northern Black Sea region during the Scythian period: the Eastern Podillia group, the Dnipro River Right-bank forest-steppe region, the Ukrainian Left-bank forest-steppe, the Middle Don region and Steppe Scythia. Mound no. 1 in Redvyntsi, due to the lack of a burial, can be interpreted as a cenotaph: during the construction of which fire rituals took place, which have comparisons in the Ukrainian forest-steppe. According to analogies, the burial mounds in Redvyntsi can be dated by the 4th century BC. The significant size of the mound, as well as the rich inventory, indicate that it was built in the memory of an ancient warrior-horseman. The deceased, who could have died in a foreign land, probably belonged to the local nobility, and headed one of the communities of the Scythian period, which lived in the 4th century BC in the upper reaches of the Southern Buh.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"284 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90794142","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On One More Concept of “Neolithic” Based on the Postmodernism Approach","authors":"D. Haskevych","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2022.04.105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2022.04.105","url":null,"abstract":"Valerii Manko and Guram Chkhatarashvili published their article in the “Arheologia”, No. 2, 2022. In the paper, they discussed the migration of bearers of four Neolithic flint industries from Southwest Asia through the Caucasus to the south of Eastern Europe from the final Pleistocene to the early Atlantic. According to the authors, stable connections between these remote areas led to the emergence of four “information networks”, which they called “Cultural-Historical Regions” (CHR). The authors believe that the first region of such type in human history was the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) in the Near East. Therefore, they call the “theoretical basis” of their study “the idea of understanding the Neolithic as an epoch of the formation of global information networks, within which innovations created in the Near and Middle East were disseminated.” V. Manko began to develop the described theoretical views in 2010 when he wrote that the reason for the emergence of the CHR is the ability to communicate, formed due to the mental changes of inhabitants of the PPNA large settlements. The statement about specific psyche and worldview as the basis of Neolithic has been expressed as an idea of Post-Processual archaeology long before V. Manko announced it. In particular, Trevor Watkins developed this concept in detail. However, V. Manko does not mention publications by any post-processualists in his articles. The statement about the formation of the ability to communicate only in the Neolithic is V. Manko’s novelty. He based it on one reference to a publication of Alexey N. Sorokin, who allegedly claimed that the bearers of different flint industries did not contact each other in the central part of European Russia in the Mesolithic. V. Manko misinterpreted this particular subjective observation and gave it the meaning of a global pattern. Thus, his definition of the Neolithic is controversial, because of using this erroneous premise. Generally, V. Manko’s theoretical reasoning is full of contradictions, logical errors, terminological chaos, and rhetoric in the postmodernism style. It is noteworthy that V. Manko himself does not fully adhere to his previous theoretical views in his later works.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90662085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Interpretation of T-shaped Antler Artefact from Ostriv Burial Ground","authors":"Dmytro Diachenko","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2022.04.072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2022.04.072","url":null,"abstract":"The paper is devoted to one of the categories of equipment of a warrior of the 11th century, discovered at the Western Baltic Ostriv burial ground in Porossia (Middle Dnipro region). The red deer antler item has a T-shaped form, the distance between two longitudinal sections is 13.3 cm, and between the upper hole and the solid wall of the object is 11.3 cm. The lateral holes are not symmetrical: the diameter of the larger one is 4.7 cm, the smaller one — 4 cm, and the upper one — 2.8 cm. Two small drilled holes are located near the last one for fixing a stopper made of organic materials, with the subsequent suspension to the belt with a rope. Near the smaller lateral hole was found an iron plate and the remains of the fabric in which it was wrapped. The weight of the artefact is 190 gr. We assume the sample from Ostriv is a container made from antler. The T-shaped form of the item when suspended by small holes on the upper channel provided for the direction of the main load of the contents on the lower solid wall of the object. The fabric-wrapped metal plate provided a much better sidewall overlap density and could withstand more weight pressure than organic material tires. The contents of the container had to meet the needs of a person whose daily life is directly related to certain military activities, possibly far from the place of permanent residence and regardless of weather conditions. The study history, area of distribution, chronology, and interpretation of the functional purpose of this category of objects are considered. From the given analogies, it is obvious that such a thing was not common, maybe even considered prestigious. We believe that the container from Ostriv was used for compact storage of loose organic and mineral substances — salt, spices, medicinal herbs, etc., preventing the ingress of moisture. The issue of the container origin is debatable, as such artefacts are not typical for the South-East Baltic. Therefore, the Baltic warrior could have obtained it in one of the distribution zones of antler containers at the end of the 10th — the beginning of the 12th century: within the settlement of the Western Slavs in the Elbe and Oder rivers in the north of modern Germany; adopted from the Turkic population of the Eastern European steppes; or it should be connected with the workshop discovered in the Voin stronghold in the Middle Dnipro River. We claim the last case to be the most promising.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87563349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"About Caucasian Migration and Ukrainain Neolithization","authors":"L. Zalizniak","doi":"10.15407/arheologia2022.04.120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15407/arheologia2022.04.120","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, Ukrainian archaeologist V. O. Manko has been boldly revising key positions in traditional ideas about the Mesolithic and Neolithic of South-Eastern Europe, to which his latest article in the journal Arheologia, written in co-authorship with the Georgian researcher G. L. Chhatarashvili, is devoted. The article begins with a call to abandon the traditional definition of the Neolithic, proposed by the classic scholar of prehistory V. Gordon Childe (the Neolithic is the era of the invention and spread of the reproductive economy) and replace it with an innovative one: the Neolithic is an information system. Since everything in the world is a system, the question arises: What is the meaning and benefit of such an innovative definition of the Neolithic? The co-authors of the article resolutely reject the Balkan-Danube version of the neolithization of Central-Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine, founded by the already mentioned G. Child, as the brainchild of “improper research methodology”. Of course, the classics are also wrong, but a discussion with serious scientists requires serious argumentation, which, unfortunately, is catastrophically lacking in V. O. Manko’s constructions. The researcher proposes to replace the classical version of the neolithization of Europe from the Balkans through the Danube to the Caucasian route of the movement of Neolithic colonists to the Northern Black Sea; however, the arguments for his alternative are clearly insufficient. V. O. Manko boldly solves the complex problems of the genesis of a number of Mesolithic cultures of Ukraine and the Caucasus: Hrebenyky, Kukrek, Shpan-Koba, Swider, Mariupol and others. Loud revolutionary statements not supported by proper arguments and facts look like unconvincing declarations, which give rise to doubts and a skeptical attitude of the reader towards them. I will not claim that all the cultural communities highlighted in the article are illusory, and the migration routes from the Middle East through the Caucasus to the Black Sea region are ephemeral. However, the scant information on the typology of the flint inventory of cultural communities provided by its authors and clearly insufficient illustrative material in most cases does not allow imagining what it is actually about. Therefore, the topic chosen by the authors of the article of systematization of the cultural communities of the Mesolithic of the Caucasus and their cultural connections with the Black Sea region is definitely relevant, but its solution is complicated by the significant defects of the source base of the region and poor argumentation of the proposed hypotheses. Perhaps if the authors did not try to solve all the problems of the Mesolithic of the Caucasus and its neighboring regions in one article, then their conclusions would be more thorough, convincing and understandable for the readers.","PeriodicalId":37391,"journal":{"name":"Arheologia Moldovei","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83132458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}