Piotr wrote
> I've found this extremely interesting rewiew on the Web:
> http://www.csen.org/Articles_Reivews/Levine [sic!]
> I'd be interested in your opinions.
> It seems that we're still very far from understanding the
> prehistoric cultures of the Pontic steppes.
Interesting, and very complex.
Just one piece of evidence in the interminable John-Glen struggle
I quote
"Rassamakin's Conclusions. From this extensive and detailed study
Rassamakin draws seven major conclusions. Several are noteworthy: (a)
claims of eastern invasions from the Volga are groundless during the
time periods under discussion and the first genuine migrations from
the east do not occur until the Middle Bronze Age;"
and further down
"During the Stone Age (6th to mid-4th millennium BC), on the Turgai
plateau, the Makhandzhar culture was located along the Tobol and its
tributaries where the rivers providing good fishing and hunting
conditions. Populations lived in subterranean dwellings, their
ceramics were distinctive, and drilled spindle whorls indicate they
had mastered spinning and drilling techniques. Identified as the
Atbasar culture, Stone Age sites in central Kazakhstan were
concentrated along the banks of the Ishim, Chaglinka and Nura rivers
creating population micro-regions. Their tool assemblage is
distinctive and their pottery was comb-decorated, refuting the image
of a "ceramic-free" Kazakstan Neolithic. Only small and fragile
skeletal fragments of horse, cattle, and sheep are noted. Stone Age
sites in the Kyzyl-Kum were situated, not along rivers, but on the
plains between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya.
Map 4.33 is valuable as it illustrates the locales of the Neolithic
and Eneolithic cultures and their interrelationships. The Yamnaya (in
this article considered to be Eneolithic) extended from west of the
Volga to the Orenburg steppes. Adjoining on the east, the Surtandy is
sandwiched by the Botai, and the Tashkovo sites are center north
along
the Tobol, Ishim, and Irtysh rivers. Along the lower Irtysh, north
and
south of Omsk the Ekaterinisk occupied the riverbanks. Far to the
west, the Keltiminar culture was found from the eastern banks of the
Caspian, extending eastward beyond the Amu Darya. The authors note
that during the Stone Age migrations occurred from the eastern Caspian
to the Ural-Irtysh region.
Favorable climatic conditions fostered the Eneolithic (4th-3rd
millennium BC) at a time when the flint industry subsided and copper
tools were introduced. The authors note that a link cannot be traced
between the Atbasar and the subsequent Botai or between the
Makhandzhar and the succeeding Tersek culture in the Turgai region,
although no further explanation is given. Discussion of the
Eneolithic
centers around the Botai culture, specifically the type site that
existed for about 200 years (24th-22nd centuries BC), providing
schematics of stratigraphy, site plans, and settlement
reconstructions. Ritual dog burials, evidence of ancestor worship,
sawn and trepanned human skulls relate to cultic development while
the
inventory list further provides a more humanistic approach to a
society primarily renown for its horse bones (from 70,000
individuals). Botai cultural materials in the southeast share
commonalties (but we are not told what these are) with the Afanasevo
in the Altai Mountains and with the Ust-Narym culture in eastern
Kazakstan.
Early Bronze Age settlements in northern Kazakhstan represent
different cultural-economic developments found at various stages.
Domestication of plants and animals was intensive, yet because of
climatic conditions, agriculture never took a firm hold. The absence
of nomadic forms of economy and specialized horse breeding is noted.
The authors speculate that it may be possible to identify two
epicenters for the emergence of stockbreeding economies: in the
Ural-Irtysh interfluve and in the more western Volga region. Without
doubt, additional research on materials available from previous
excavations in the three areas under discussion is badly needed."
Glen there is no Eneolithic evidence from the North or the East. The
website that Piotr quotes shows that all cultural influences came
from the West and South. Again, I ask for your evidence of a movement
into the PIE area in the late mesolithic early neolithic period you
speak of.
Yamnaya culture is gerenally taken to be the first spread of IE to
the
East. It shows clear evidence of being developed out of Sredny Stog,
surrounding the Sea of Azov. Movement out and away from the Black
Sea, not towards it as you suppose.
Regards
John