Archaeological and Natural Scientific Studies of Pit-Grave Culture Barrows in the Volga-Ural Interfluve/ Volga Ja Uurali Jogedevahelise Ala Aukhaudade (Jamnaja) Kultuuri Kaabaste Arheoloogilised Ning Loodusteaduslikud Uuringud

Introduction The Pit-Grave culture spread on huge territory of Eastern Europe steppe from Kazakhstan and south Ural to the Dniestr region. The eastern Pit-Grave artefacts were found in the Volga-Ural interfluve and in the south Ural region on the territory of the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, and Orenburg oblasts, Russia. The environmental conditions of the steppe existed on the most part of the territory and forest steppe--in the north (Fig. 1). Today, natural conditions are determined by the continental climate, which corresponds to hot summers with low precipitation and severe winters with a lot of snow. The flora of watersheds is typical for the Volga sheep fescue-feather grass steppe (the type of steppe where sheep fescue and feather grass flourish). Various kinds of meadow grass, bushes, and streamside forests grow in river valleys and gulches. The paleoclimatic conditions of the Pit-Grave culture are different to the modem climate. Eneolithic and Pit-Grave culture existed in the favourable natural conditions practically all the time. The precipitation was 50 mm higher compared to the humidity today. The environmental conditions and temperature drops were milder than we had in past decades (Spiridonova & Aleshinskaya 1999; Khokhlova et al. 2006; 2010; Khokhlova 2012). Many scientists think that the climate change and the emergence of aridity period coincided with the start of the Late (Poltavka) stage of the Pit-Grave culture and the Catacomb culture spread to the west of Volga (Demkin et al. 2006; Shishlina 2007; Khokhlova et al. 2010; Khokhlova 2012). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] V. V. Golmsten, P. S. Rykov, I. V. Sinitsyn, K. F. Smirnov, N. Ya. Merpert, V. P. Shilov, N. K. Kachalova, I. B. Vasilyev and other archaeologists studied the Pit-Grave sites in the Volga-Ural interfluve in the 20th century. During the Smirnov expedition the first Pit-Grave culture barrows (kurgans) were discovered at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s. Smirnov (1965) compared the Ural materials with the Lower Volga graves and found that there are skeletons in right lateral crouched position. After considering unique metal finds (a knife and a hammer) archaeologists came to the conclusion that during the Pit-Grave period an independent metallurgy center appeared on the base of the Kargala copper deposit (80-90 km to the north of Orenburg) in the south Ural region (Chernykh 1966, 68 f.). Later, at the end of the 20th century, the research by E. N. Chernykh proved the above-mentioned statement. This added the original character of the Ural group of the Pit-Grave culture and historical area (Chernykh 2002, 7 ff). At the beginning of the 1970s N. Ya. Merpert published the monograph, in which he summarized all the data concerning the Pit-Grave culture (Merpert 1974). The scholar singled out three local groups of sites within the Volga-Ural Pit-Grave cultural and historical area: the Ural, the Lower Volga, and the Middle Volga. Since 1977 the Pit-Grave research has been carried out under the guidance of N. L. Morgunova in the Orenburg oblast. She discovered diverse Pit-Grave complexes. In the second part of the 1980s the Pit-Grave culture research became well targeted and systematic. It resulted in considerable growth in the number of analysed Pit-Grave barrows (Morgunova & Kravtsov 1994). The first periodization of the Ural Pit-Grave culture was put forward. Scholars raised some questions concerning the economy and the structure of the Early Bronze Age society (Morgunova 1991). We formed the hypothesis of singling out the Middle Volga-Ural local type of the Pit-Grave culture (Turetskij 1999). Results of various kurgan studies in the area together with a lot of finds--various metal artefacts substantially changed the popular opinion that the Ural Pit-Grave culture had peripheral character. However, by the end of the 20th century it had become quite clear that the Pit-Grave sites were essential for applying new methods so that archaeologists could exploit new sources to find solutions for different complicated problems first of all the issues concerning the origin, the periodization and the chronology of the culture. …