CHRONOMETRY OF LATE ENEOLITHIC AND ‘EARLY BRONZE’ CULTURES IN THE MIDDLE DNIESTER AREA: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE YAMPIL BARROW COMPLEX

The paper discusses the 2010-2015 studies of the radiocarbon chronology of Podolia ‘barrow cultures’ on the left bank of the middle dniester . The studies have relied on series of 14 C dates for the Klembivka 1, Pidlisivka 1, Porohy 3a and Prydnistryanske 1 sites determined in Kyiv and Poznań laboratories . They are the first attempt to construct a regional (‘Yampil’) radiocarbon scale for ‘Early Bronze’ funerary rites (4th/3rd-2nd millennium BC) as practised by barrow builders – the communities of the Tripolye and Yamnaya cultures – and the secondary barrow users – the designers of necropolises located on barrows – belonging to the Catacomb, Babyno and Noua cultures.

THE MIDDLE-DNIESTER CULTURAL CONTACT AREA OF EARLY METAL AGE SOCIETIES. THE FRONTIER OF PONTIC AND BALTIC DRAINAGE BASINS IN THE 4TH/3RD-2ND MILLENNIUM BC.

The paper discusses the taxonomy and autogenesis of the cycle of early ‘barrow cultures’ developed by the local communities of the middle Dniester Area or, in a broader comparative context, the north-western Black Sea Coast, in the 4th/3rd-2nd millennium BC . The purpose of the study is to conduct an analytical and conceptual entry point to the research questions of the dniester Contact area, specifically the contacts between autochthonous ‘late Eneolithic’ communities (Yamnaya, Catacomb and Babyno cultures) and incoming communities from the Baltic basin . The discussion of these cultures continues in other papers presented in this volume of Baltic-Pontic Studies.

‘YAMPIL INSPIRATIONS’: A STUDY OF THE DNIESTER CULTURAL CONTACT AREA AT THE FRONTIER OF PONTIC AND BALTIC DRAINAGE BASINS

The article presents the present state of research on the general issue of the dniester region of cultural contacts between communities settling the Baltic and Pontic drainage basins . Some five domains of research shall be brought to discussion in which it is possible to see fresh opportunities for archaeological study, on the basis of ‘Yampil studies’ on dniester-Podolia (forest-steppe) barrow-culture ceremonial centres from the latter half of the 4th millennium and first half of the 3rd millennium BC . This relates to the peoples of the Eneolithic and the Early Bronze age . in terms of topogenesis, embracing the Pontic-Tripolye, Yamnaya and Catacomb cultures, as well as Globular amphora and Corded ware in central prehistoric Europe .

Late eneolithic and bronze age prologue pontic societies . Forest-steppe middle dniester and prut drainage basins in the 4th/3rd-2nd millennium bc: a history of investigations

The paper presents a historiographic context helpful in the current investigations of the cultural contacts between the societies of the east and west of Europe in the borderland of Podolia and moldova in the late Eneolithic and the prologue of the Bronze age . The focus is on the state of research (chiefly taxonomic and topogenetic) into the sequence of taxa in the age of early ‘barrow-building’, identified in the funerary rituals of societies settling the forest-steppe of the north- western Black Sea Coast in the 4th/3rd-2nd millennium BC .

ENEOLITHIC, YAMNAYA AND NOUA CULTURE CEMETERIES FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE 3RD AND THE MIDDLE OF THE 2ND MILLENNIUM BC, POROHY, SITE 3A, YAMPIL REGION, VINNITSA OBLAST: ARCHAEOMETRIC AND CHRONOMETRIC DESCRIPTION, RITUAL AND TAXONOMIC-TOPOGENETIC IDENTIFICATION

The paper presents the results of excavations and analytical studies regarding the taxonomic classification of a funeral site associated with the societies of ‘barrow cultures’ of the north-western Black Sea Coast in the first half of the 3rd and the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The study discusses the ceremonial centres of the Eneolithic, Yamnaya and Noua cultures.

ENEOLITHIC, YAMNAYA, CATACOMB AND BABYNO CULTURE CEMETERIES, PIDLISIVKA, BARROW 1, YAMPIL REGION, VINNITSA OBLAST: ARCHAEOMETRY, CHRONOMETRY AND TAXONOMY

The paper presents excavation results and analytical studies concerning the taxonomic classification of a funerary site identified with the communities of the early ‘barrow cultures’ settling the north-western Black Sea Coast in the 4th/3rd-2nd millennium BC. The study focuses on the ceremonial centres of the Eneolithic, Yamnaya, Catacomb and Babyno cultures.

ENEOLITHIC, BABYNO AND NOUA CULTURE CEMETERIES, KLEMBIVKA, SITE 1, YAMPIL REGION, VINNITSA OBLAST: ARCHAEOMETRY, TAXONOMY AND TOPOGENETICS

The paper presents excavation results and analytical studies concerning the taxonomic classification of a funerary site identified with the communities of the ‘barrow cultures’ settling the north-western Black Sea Coast in the first half of the 3rd and the middle of the 2nd millennia BC . The study focuses on the ceremonial centres of the Eneolithic communities of the Babyno and Noua cultures .

Transformation from natural (thermal contraction) to anthropogenic (resource exploitation) depressions in the Krotoszyn-Koźmin-Raszków area (Polish Lowland)

An exceptional concentration of almost identical depressions exist near the small towns of Krotoszyn, Koźmin and Raszków (southern Wielkopolska). Their origin is, however, different from that of the typical post glacial-relief: they are Man-made enlarged thermal-contraction structures that developed at the very end of the Middle Polish (Warthian) glaciation and during the North Polish (Weichselian) glaciation, most probably under periglacial conditions.

Factors influencing temporal changes in chemical composition of biogenic deposits in the middle Tążyna River Valley (Kuyavian Lakeland, central Poland)

The present paper discusses the influence of geochemical properties on biogenic deposits in the Wilkostowo mire near Toruń, central Poland. The analysed core has allowed the documentation of environmental changes between the older part of the Atlantic Period and the present day (probably interrupted at the turn of the Meso- and Neoholocene). In order to reconstruct the main stages in the sedimentation of biogenic deposits, we have used stratigraphic variability of selected litho-geochemical elements (organic matter, calcium carbonate, biogenic and terrigenous silica, macro- and micro-elements: Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr and Ni). The main litho-geochemical component is CaCO 3 ; its content ranges from 4.1 per cent to 92 per cent. The variability of CaCO 3 content reflects mainly changes in hydrolog- ical and geomorphological conditions within the catchment area. The effects of prehistoric anthropogenic activities in the catchment of the River Tążyna, e.g., the use of saline water for economic purposes, are recorded in a change from calcareous gyttja into detritus-calcareous gyttja sedimentation and an increased content of lithophilous elements (Na, K, Mg and Ni) in the sediments. Principal component analysis (PCA) has enabled the distinction the most important factors that affected the chemical composition of sediments at the Wilkostowo site, i.e., mechanical and chemical den- udation processes in the catchment, changes in redox conditions, bioaccumulation of selected elements and human activity. Sediments of the Wilkostowo mire are located in the direct vicinity of an archaeological site, where traces of intensive settlement dating back to the Neolithic have been documented. The settlement phase is recorded both in li- thology and geochemical properties of biogenic deposits which fill the reservoir formed at the bottom of the Parchania Canal Valley.